Difference between links and depends_on in docker_compose.yml

Question

According to the Docker Compose\'s compose-file documentation:

• depends_on - Express dependency between services.
• links - Lin

Answer 1

[Update Sep 2016]: This answer was intended for docker compose file v1 (as shown by the sample compose file below). For v2, see the other answer by @Windsooon.

[Original answer]:

It is pretty clear in the documentation. depends_on decides the dependency and the order of container creation and links not only does these, but also

Containers for the linked service will be reachable at a hostname identical to the alias, or the service name if no alias was specified.

For example, assuming the following docker-compose.yml file:

web:
  image: example/my_web_app:latest
  links:
    - db
    - cache

db:
  image: postgres:latest

cache:
  image: redis:latest

With links, code inside web will be able to access the database using db:5432, assuming port 5432 is exposed in the db image. If depends_on were used, this wouldn't be possible, but the startup order of the containers would be correct.