This topic tells you how to configure the descriptors of your Tanzu Build Service.
About descriptors
Tanzu Build Service descriptors are curated sets of dependencies, including stacks and buildpacks, that are continuously released on VMware Tanzu Network to resolve all workload Critical and High CVEs. Descriptors are imported into Tanzu Build Service to update the entire cluster.
There are two types of descriptor, lite and full, available on the Tanzu Network Build Service Dependencies page. The different descriptors can apply to different use cases and workload types. For the differences between the descriptors, see Descriptor comparison.
You configure which descriptor is imported when installing Tanzu Build Service.
Lite descriptor
The Tanzu Build Service lite descriptor is the default descriptor selected if none is configured.
It contains a smaller footprint to speed up installation time. However, it does not support all workload types. For example, the lite descriptor does not contain the PHP buildpack.
The lite descriptor only contains the base stack. The default stack is installed, but is identical to the base stack. For more information, see Stacks.
Full descriptor
The Tanzu Build Service full descriptor contains more dependencies, which allows for more workload types.
The dependencies are pre-packaged so builds don’t have to download them from the Internet. This can speed up build times and allows builds to occur in airgapped environments.
The full descriptor contains the following stacks, which support different use cases:
basefulltinybase-jammyfull-jammytiny-jammydefault(identical tobase-jammy)
For more information, see Stacks. Due to the larger footprint of full, installations might take longer.
Descriptor comparison
Both lite and full descriptors can be used in production environments, but the full dependencies will provide a better experience in most cases.
| lite | full | |
|---|---|---|
| Faster installation time | Yes | No |
| Shorter build times | No | Yes |
| Dependencies pre-packaged | No | Yes |
| Support for Airgapped environments | No | Yes |
| Contains base stack | Yes | Yes |
| Contains full stack | No | Yes |
| Contains tiny stack | No | Yes |
| Supports Java workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Node.js workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Go workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Python workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports .NET Core workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports PHP workloads | No | Yes |
| Supports Ruby workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Web Servers workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports static workloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supports binary workloads | Yes | Yes |
