Consider two containers:

• db
• app1, linked to db

db is a long running container, while app1 is short-lived (there might be different app containers as well). Currently, docker builds up the links list, so at some point one needs to restart db to makes things cleaner.

Here how db might look after a number of client containers coming and going:

$ docker ps 1b0d2b05bc1a farcaller/pgsql:9.3 /bin/su postgres -c 7 hours ago Up 7 hours 5432/tcp farcaller-pgsql-2,farcaller-gitlab-3/db,farcaller-gitlab-4/db,desperate_bardeen/gl/db,farcaller-gitlab-5/db,farcaller-gitlab-6/db,farcaller-gitlab-7/db,evil_wozniak2/gl/db,sleepy_babbage/gl/db,dreamy_engelbart/gl/db,compassionate_franklin/gl/db,distracted_fermat/gl/db,condescending_brown/gl/db,lonely_bardeen6/gl/db,farcaller-gitlab-8/db,prickly_einstein3/gl/db,tender_ptolemy/gl/db,farcaller-gitlab-9/db,cocky_brown/gl/db,high_franklin5/gl/db,suspicious_galileo/gl/db,mad_curie/gl/db,farcaller-gitlab-temp/db,farcaller-gitlab-10/db,hopeful_turing/gl/db