[olivierduval]

I do use Nginx in docker for (personal hobby) dockerized applications... but I didn't fully understand some of your reasons:

* AFAIK "docker exec NGINX_DOCKER nginx -s reload" works to 'hot reload' configurations

* You're right that "in place NGINX binary upgrade" won't work. The "bright side" of this problem is that the "NGINX container binary" is immutable and can be easily "rebooted" if any corruption occures (instead of having to reinstall everything). For hobby websites (including the condo mail server), the downtime is acceptable (not much traffic, not really 24/7, fast restart, few versions of NGINX every year...)

For me: having an isolated (dockerized) NGINX is easier to manage (like a dockerized mail server) because it limits the amount of processes "on bare linux with files everywhere" and make is easier to backup/replace/upgrade (just start a new docker with a new version). YMMV

[ebenes]

* Docker containers can be modified at runtime, it is just more involved to do so. Hot-reloading inside Docker works best if you mount a host directory.

It drives the container philosophy to an ad absurdum. When I serve paying customers then I refrain from what is possible. I try to stick to what appears to be the simplest thing.

* I haven't encountered a corrupted Nginx binary, so far. I think that it is very unlikely to happen. I consider my Nginx binary "almost immutable" even without Docker. Since I am the only one working on my VPS I also know who to blame if that's not the case :D

I see Docker as an amazing fit for isolating business applications. They tend to have many dependencies (often less stable than evergreen libraries like libc), get continuously update and deployed.