diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e9891094a..3a4cd20c0 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 language: go
 
 go:
-  - 1.11.x
+  - 1.12.x
 
 sudo: required
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause.alpine b/Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause
similarity index 67%
rename from Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause.alpine
rename to Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause
index 8f3709f52..cbaa81523 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause.alpine
+++ b/Dockerfile-fsfreeze-pause
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2018 the Velero contributors.
+# Copyright 2018, 2019 the Velero contributors.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -12,11 +12,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM alpine:3.8
+FROM debian:stretch-slim
 
-MAINTAINER Wayne Witzel III <wayne@heptio.com>
+LABEL maintainer="Steve Kriss <krisss@vmware.com>"
 
-RUN apk add --no-cache ca-certificates
-RUN apk add --update --no-cache busybox util-linux
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/sh", "-c", "while true; do sleep 10000; done"]
+ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/bash", "-c", "while true; do sleep 10000; done"]
diff --git a/Dockerfile-velero.alpine b/Dockerfile-velero
similarity index 71%
rename from Dockerfile-velero.alpine
rename to Dockerfile-velero
index 70c2b32a4..59f85a16b 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-velero.alpine
+++ b/Dockerfile-velero
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2017 the Velero contributors.
+# Copyright 2017, 2019 the Velero contributors.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -12,17 +12,19 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM alpine:3.8
+FROM debian:stretch-slim
 
-MAINTAINER Andy Goldstein <andy@heptio.com>
+LABEL maintainer="Steve Kriss <krisss@vmware.com>"
 
-RUN apk add --no-cache ca-certificates
-
-RUN apk add --update --no-cache bzip2 && \
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget bzip2 && \
     wget --quiet https://github.com/restic/restic/releases/download/v0.9.4/restic_0.9.4_linux_amd64.bz2 && \
     bunzip2 restic_0.9.4_linux_amd64.bz2 && \
     mv restic_0.9.4_linux_amd64 /usr/bin/restic && \
-    chmod +x /usr/bin/restic
+    chmod +x /usr/bin/restic && \
+    apt-get remove -y wget bzip2 && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 
 ADD /bin/linux/amd64/velero /velero
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper.alpine b/Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper
similarity index 84%
rename from Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper.alpine
rename to Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper
index ec1186aa7..319fbb165 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper.alpine
+++ b/Dockerfile-velero-restic-restore-helper
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2018 the Velero contributors.
+# Copyright 2018, 2019 the Velero contributors.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM alpine:3.8
+FROM debian:stretch-slim
 
-MAINTAINER Steve Kriss <steve@heptio.com>
+LABEL maintainer="Steve Kriss <krisss@vmware.com>"
 
 ADD /bin/linux/amd64/velero-restic-restore-helper .
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7695ca137..7c0917ee7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ GOARCH = $(word 2, $(platform_temp))
 # TODO(ncdc): support multiple image architectures once gcr.io supports manifest lists
 # Set default base image dynamically for each arch
 ifeq ($(GOARCH),amd64)
-		DOCKERFILE ?= Dockerfile-$(BIN).alpine
+		DOCKERFILE ?= Dockerfile-$(BIN)
 endif
 #ifeq ($(GOARCH),arm)
 #		DOCKERFILE ?= Dockerfile.arm #armel/busybox
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/1365-skriss b/changelogs/unreleased/1365-skriss
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ad35c4c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/1365-skriss
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+change container base images to debian:stretch-slim and upgrade to go 1.12
diff --git a/hack/build-image/Dockerfile b/hack/build-image/Dockerfile
index bce1a578d..30d5aeeeb 100644
--- a/hack/build-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/hack/build-image/Dockerfile
@@ -12,10 +12,9 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM golang:1.11-alpine3.8
+FROM golang:1.12-stretch
 
-RUN apk add --update --no-cache git bash && \
-    mkdir -p /go/src/k8s.io && \
+RUN mkdir -p /go/src/k8s.io && \
     cd /go/src/k8s.io && \
     git config --global advice.detachedHead false && \
     git clone -b kubernetes-1.12.0 https://github.com/kubernetes/code-generator && \