diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02aa2da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+ARG DISTRO_IMAGE=ubuntu
+ARG DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION=20.04
+FROM $DISTRO_IMAGE:$DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION
+
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive 
+ENV DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y \
+# general deps \
+    curl \
+    build-essential \
+    make \
+    gcc \
+# jasper deps \
+    cmake \
+    automake \
+    autoconf \
+    libtool \
+    m4 \
+    pkg-config \
+# hlrdas deps \
+    libswitch-perl \
+    gfortran \
+    libnetcdf-dev \
+# comment libnetcdff-dev to build in 14.04 only available in newer releases \
+    libnetcdff-dev \
+    libjpeg-dev \
+    libjpeg-turbo8-dev \
+    libbz2-dev \
+    libgrib2c-dev \
+    && apt-get clean
+
+RUN apt install -y \
+    git
+
+VOLUME /src
+WORKDIR /tmp
+RUN curl -L https://github.com/mdadams/jasper/archive/version-1.900.31.tar.gz | tar xvz && \
+     cd jasper* && \
+     autoreconf -i && \
+     ./configure --prefix /usr && \
+     make install && \
+     rm -rf /tmp/jasper*
+
+WORKDIR /src
+
+COPY entrypoint.sh /
+ENTRYPOINT /entrypoint.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1573edc..e55385c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,3 +7,16 @@ Repository branch structure (as of July 27, 2018)
   master: this is the base branch and contains all finalized development before WRF release
 
   release: branch from master at WRF release intervals; may include important bug fixes after release
+
+Build default Ubuntu 20.04 container with all dependencies:
+    docker build -t hrldas:latest .
+
+Run default Ubuntu 20.04 container to compile with:
+    docker run -it --rm --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/src -w /src/HRLDAS hrldas:latest
+
+Build specific container with:
+    export DISTRO_IMAGE=ubuntu DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION=16.04; docker build --build-arg DISTRO_IMAGE=$DISTRO_IMAGE --build-arg DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION=$DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION -t hrldas:$DISTRO_IMAGE-$DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION -t hrldas:latest .
+
+Run specific Ubuntu/Debian container to compile with:
+    export DISTRO_IMAGE=ubuntu DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION=16.04
+    docker run -it --rm --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/src -w /src/HRLDAS hrldas:$DISTRO_IMAGE-$DISTRO_IMAGE_VERSION
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b810bc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#/bin/sh
+sed -E -e's%/opt/local%/usr%g' -e'/COMPILERF90/s%(=\s+).*%\1gfortran%' -e'/CPP\s/s%(=\s+).*%\1cpp%' -e'/CC\s/s%(=\s+).*%\1gcc%' -e's/-fno-underscoring//' arch/user_build_options.gfortran.serial > ./user_build_options
+
+make clean all