How do I fix this Docker error in Jenkins (on Windows)? - windows

Question

I am trying to get into Jenkins but I am now stuck in the first step of the tutorial https://www.jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/tour/hello-world/ for hours.
I installed JDK and Docker Desktop as instructed on Windows machine. For Docker Desktop I also needed to install WSL 2 with Ubuntu.
I have created a sample GitHub Repo with only a Jenkinsfile containing the sample code from the tutorial:
/* Requires the Docker Pipeline plugin */
pipeline {
agent { docker { image 'python:3.10.7-alpine' } }
stages {
stage('build') {
steps {
sh 'python --version'
}
}
}
}
If I start a Jenkins pipeline connected to the GitHub repository and try to build it, I get the following error:
13:01:46 Connecting to https://api.github.com with no credentials, anonymous access
Obtained Jenkinsfile from 7533f199524c45c20290f15d17d103958b24abc3
[Pipeline] Start of Pipeline
[Pipeline] node
Running on Jenkins in C:\Users\wenni\.jenkins\workspace\FirstPipeline_main
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] stage
[Pipeline] { (Declarative: Checkout SCM)
[Pipeline] checkout
The recommended git tool is: NONE
No credentials specified
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe rev-parse --resolve-git-dir C:\Users\wenni\.jenkins\workspace\FirstPipeline_main\.git # timeout=10
Fetching changes from the remote Git repository
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe config remote.origin.url https://github.com/Wagnerd6/JenkinsPipelineTest.git # timeout=10
Fetching without tags
Fetching upstream changes from https://github.com/Wagnerd6/JenkinsPipelineTest.git
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe --version # timeout=10
> git --version # 'git version 2.38.1.windows.1'
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe fetch --no-tags --force --progress -- https://github.com/Wagnerd6/JenkinsPipelineTest.git +refs/heads/main:refs/remotes/origin/main # timeout=10
Checking out Revision 7533f199524c45c20290f15d17d103958b24abc3 (main)
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe config core.sparsecheckout # timeout=10
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe checkout -f 7533f199524c45c20290f15d17d103958b24abc3 # timeout=10
Commit message: "Python docker img"
> C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe rev-list --no-walk e7de46ec1626389bb4e5c5577013ebaa8f214de2 # timeout=10
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // stage
[Pipeline] withEnv
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] isUnix
[Pipeline] withEnv
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] bat
C:\Users\wenni\.jenkins\workspace\FirstPipeline_main>docker inspect -f . "python:3.10.7-alpine"
.
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // withEnv
[Pipeline] withDockerContainer
Jenkins does not seem to be running inside a container
$ docker run -d -t -w C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main/ -v C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main/:C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main/ -v C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main#tmp/:C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main#tmp/ -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** -e ******** python:3.10.7-alpine cmd.exe
[Pipeline] // withDockerContainer
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // withEnv
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // node
[Pipeline] End of Pipeline
java.io.IOException: Failed to run image 'python:3.10.7-alpine'. Error: docker: Error response from daemon: the working directory 'C:/Users/wenni/.jenkins/workspace/FirstPipeline_main/' is invalid, it needs to be an absolute path.
See 'docker run --help'.
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.client.WindowsDockerClient.run(WindowsDockerClient.java:58)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.WithContainerStep$Execution.start(WithContainerStep.java:200)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.DSL.invokeStep(DSL.java:322)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.DSL.invokeMethod(DSL.java:196)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsScript.invokeMethod(CpsScript.java:124)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaClassSite.call(PogoMetaClassSite.java:47)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:116)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.sandbox.DefaultInvoker.methodCall(DefaultInvoker.java:20)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.Docker$Image.inside(Docker.groovy:140)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.Docker.node(Docker.groovy:66)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.Docker$Image.inside(Docker.groovy:125)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.declarative.DockerPipelineScript.runImage(DockerPipelineScript.groovy:54)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.declarative.AbstractDockerPipelineScript.configureRegistry(AbstractDockerPipelineScript.groovy:63)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.docker.workflow.declarative.AbstractDockerPipelineScript.run(AbstractDockerPipelineScript.groovy:50)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.pipeline.modeldefinition.agent.CheckoutScript.checkoutAndRun(CheckoutScript.groovy:61)
at ___cps.transform___(Native Method)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ContinuationGroup.methodCall(ContinuationGroup.java:90)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.FunctionCallBlock$ContinuationImpl.dispatchOrArg(FunctionCallBlock.java:113)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.FunctionCallBlock$ContinuationImpl.fixArg(FunctionCallBlock.java:83)
at jdk.internal.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor125.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ContinuationPtr$ContinuationImpl.receive(ContinuationPtr.java:72)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ClosureBlock.eval(ClosureBlock.java:46)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Next.step(Next.java:83)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable$1.call(Continuable.java:177)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable$1.call(Continuable.java:166)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.GroovyCategorySupport$ThreadCategoryInfo.use(GroovyCategorySupport.java:136)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.GroovyCategorySupport.use(GroovyCategorySupport.java:275)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable.run0(Continuable.java:166)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.SandboxContinuable.access$001(SandboxContinuable.java:18)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.SandboxContinuable.run0(SandboxContinuable.java:51)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThread.runNextChunk(CpsThread.java:187)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup.run(CpsThreadGroup.java:420)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup.access$400(CpsThreadGroup.java:95)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup$2.call(CpsThreadGroup.java:330)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup$2.call(CpsThreadGroup.java:294)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsVmExecutorService$2.call(CpsVmExecutorService.java:67)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
at hudson.remoting.SingleLaneExecutorService$1.run(SingleLaneExecutorService.java:139)
at jenkins.util.ContextResettingExecutorService$1.run(ContextResettingExecutorService.java:30)
at jenkins.security.ImpersonatingExecutorService$1.run(ImpersonatingExecutorService.java:70)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:539)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1136)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:635)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:833)
Finished: FAILURE
When I replace the agent { docker { image 'python:3.10.7-alpine' } } with agent any the build works but of course fails on python --version as Python is not installed.
My research only led me to there being a problem with Windows and running the Docker containers. Is it really not possible to simply follow the first tutorial page of Jenkins on a Windows machine?

Answer 1

Unfortunately the agent "docker" is not compatible in a Windows hosted Linux environment.
This is a known Problem for quiet a while and any effort to make a lasting fix failed.
The main problem is the incompatibility between Windows and Linux File paths.
Hence the often reported Error:
"Error: docker: Error response from daemon: the working directory 'C:/Jenkins/workspace/testspace/' is invalid, it needs to be an absolute path."
The only way to quickly advance in the Jenkins tutorial is to use Docker CLI (Command Line) commands.
A basic example to continue the tutorial looks like this:
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('build') {
steps {
script {
/* the return value gets caught and saved into the variable MY_CONTAINER */
MY_CONTAINER = bat(script: '#docker run -d -i python:3.10.7-alpine', returnStdout: true).trim()
echo "mycontainer_id is ${MY_CONTAINER}"
/* python --version gets executed inside the Container */
bat "docker exec ${MY_CONTAINER} python --version "
/* the Container gets removed */
bat "docker rm -f ${MY_CONTAINER}"
}
}
}
}
}
There are two major changes compared to the Jenkins tutorial script:
instead of sh Windows-based systems should use bat for executing batch commands.
avoiding the agent "docker" and replacing it with any