I usually give up on the software if the INSTALL file only has references to Docker.
A few times I try really hard not giving up, but the reality is that Docker-only is highly correlated with non-working, so up to now I have eventually given up on every piece of Docker-only software I have met.
Same here. There are exceptions to everything, but to me it feels like if someone distributes their work via Docker they are actually not on top of the complexity they are trying to deal with. Pushing that complexity into something like a Docker image doesn't make it go away. At best, a bit chunk of bloat is generated with at least trashes your disk cache. At worst, a big hunk of unmaintained software is waiting in a corner to be taken apart and hacked to pieces.
Docker images have an air of really big bit graves.
I always cringe when the readme starts with something something Docker. "Don't try building this yourself", is an unfortunate norm for opensrc.