diff --git a/build/docker/README.md b/build/docker/README.md
index c2b203b..64a5ff8 100644
--- a/build/docker/README.md
+++ b/build/docker/README.md
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@
 | js        |               |               | Unsure how to look for version info? |
 | lua       | 5.2.4         | 5.2.4         | Lua 5.3: see THRIFT-4386 |
 | nodejs    | 6.13.0        | 8.9.4         |       |
-| ocaml     | 4.02.3        | 4.04.0        |       |
+| ocaml     |               | 4.04.0        | THRIFT-4517: ocaml 4.02.3 on xenial appears broken |
 | perl      | 5.22.1        | 5.26.0        |       |
 | php       | 7.0.22        | 7.1.11        |       |
 | python    | 2.7.12        | 2.7.14        |       |
diff --git a/build/docker/ubuntu-xenial/Dockerfile b/build/docker/ubuntu-xenial/Dockerfile
index 832542e..ec2c849 100644
--- a/build/docker/ubuntu-xenial/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/docker/ubuntu-xenial/Dockerfile
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 # - dotnet: does not come with Ubuntu
 # - go: Xenial comes with 1.6, but we need 1.7 or later
 # - nodejs: Xenial comes with 4.2.6 which exits LTS April 2018, so we're installing 6.x
+# - ocaml: causes stack overflow error, just started March 2018 not sure why
 #
 
 FROM buildpack-deps:xenial-scm
@@ -183,12 +184,13 @@
 `# Node.js dependencies` \
       nodejs
 
-RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-`# OCaml dependencies` \
-      ocaml \
-      opam && \
-    opam init --yes && \
-    opam install --yes oasis
+# THRIFT-4517: causes stack overflows; version too old; skip ocaml in xenial
+# RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+# `# OCaml dependencies` \
+#       ocaml \
+#       opam && \
+#     opam init --yes && \
+#     opam install --yes oasis
 
 RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
 `# Perl dependencies` \