Best practice - Anonymous volume vs bind mount

Question

In a container,

anonymous volume can be created

with syntax(VOLUME /build) in Dockerfile

or

below syntax with

Answer 1

Actually, anonymous volumes (/build) usage is encouraged over the use of bind mounts (/tmp/cache:/cache):

Volumes have several advantages over bind mounts:

• Volumes are easier to back up or migrate than bind mounts.
• You can manage volumes using Docker CLI commands or the Docker API.
• Volumes work on both Linux and Windows containers.
• Volumes can be more safely shared among multiple containers.
• Volume drivers let you store volumes on remote hosts or cloud providers, to encrypt the contents of volumes, or to add other functionality.
• New volumes can have their content pre-populated by a container.

Regarding your second question, yes. You can create anonymous volumes in docker-compose file or in the Dockerfile. No need to specify in both places.