diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index af9840a02..585f2ce83 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/ironic-python-agent/requirements.txt
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir /tmp/ironic-python-agent
 
 # Remove no longer needed packages
-RUN apt-get -y purge gcc-4.6 gcc python2.7-dev git && \
+# NOTE(jroll) leave git to avoid strange apt issues in downstream Dockerfiles
+# that may inherit from this one.
+RUN apt-get -y purge gcc-4.6 gcc python2.7-dev && \
     apt-get -y autoremove && \
     apt-get clean
 RUN rm -rf /tmp/ironic-python-agent