Starting from version v6.0, Mock allows users to use an OCI container image for pre-creating the buildroot (build chroot). It can be either an online container image hosted in a registry (or cached locally), or a local image in the form of a tarball.

Be cautious when using chroot-compatible images (e.g., it is not advisable to combine EPEL ppc64le images with fedora-rawhide-x86_64 chroot).

Example Use-Case

1. Mock aggressively caches the build root, so clean up your chroot first:

    $ mock -r fedora-rawhide-x86_64 --scrub=all
   

2. Perform any normal Mock operation, but select the OCI image on top of that:

    $ mock -r fedora-rawhide-x86_64 \
        --buildroot-image registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:41 \
        --rebuild /your/src.rpm
   

Using Exported Buildroot Image

The export_buildroot_image plugin allows you to wrap a prepared buildroot as an OCI archive (tarball). If you have this tarball, you may select it as well:

$ mock -r fedora-rawhide-x86_64 \
    --buildroot-image /tmp/buildroot-oci.tar \
    --rebuild /your/src.rpm

Again, ensure that you do not combine incompatible chroot and image pairs.