Dockerfile: how to set env variable from file contents - shell

I want to set an environment variable in my Dockerfile.
I've got a .env file that looks like this:
FOO=bar.
Inside my Dockerfile, I've got a command that parses the contents of that file and assigns it to FOO.
RUN 'export FOO=$(echo "$(cut -d'=' -f2 <<< $(grep FOO .env))")'
The problem I'm running into is that the script above doesn't return what I need it to. In fact, it doesn't return anything.
When I run docker-compose up --build, it fails with this error.
The command '/bin/sh -c 'export FOO=$(echo "$(cut -d'=' -f2 <<< $(grep FOO .env))")'' returned a non-zero code: 127
I know that the command /bin/sh -c 'echo "$(cut -d'=' -f2 <<< $(grep FOO .env))"' will generate the correct output, but I can't figure out how to assign that output to an environment variable.
Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Environment Variables
If you want to set a number of environment variables into your docker image (to be used within the containers) you can simply use env_file configuration option in your docker-compose.yml file. With that option, all the entries in the .env file will be set as the environment variables in image and hence into containers.
More Info about env_file
Build ARGS
If your requirement is to use some variables only within your Dockerfile then you specify them as below
ARG FOO
ARG FOO1
ARG FOO2
etc...
And you have to specify these arguments under the build key in your docker-compose.yml
build:
context: .
args:
FOO: BAR
FOO1: BAR1
FOO2: BAR2
More info about args
Accessing .env values within the docker-compose.yml file
If you are looking into passing some values into your docker-compose file from the .env then you can simply put your .env file same location as the docker-compose.yml file and you can set the configuration values as below;
ports:
- "${HOST_PORT}:80"
So, as an example you can set the host port for the service by setting it in your .env file
Please check this

First, the error you're seeing. I suspect there's a "not found" error message not included in the question. If that's the case, then the first issue is that you tried to run an executable that is the full string since you enclosed it in quotes. Rather than trying to run the shell command "export", it is trying to find a binary that is the full string with spaces in it and all. So to work past that error, you'd need to unquote your RUN string:
RUN export FOO=$(echo "$(cut -d'=' -f2 <<< $(grep FOO .env))")
However, that won't solve your underlying problem. The result of a RUN command is that docker saves the changes to the filesystem as a new layer to the image. Only changes to the filesystem are saved. The shell command you are running changes the shell state, but then that shell exits, the run command returns, and the state of that shell, including environment variables, is gone.
To solve this for your application, there are two options I can think of:
Option A: inject build args into your build for all the .env values, and write a script that calls build with the proper --build-arg flag for each variable. Inside the Dockerfile, you'll have two lines for each variable:
ARG FOO1=default value1
ARG FOO2=default value2
ENV FOO1=${FOO1} \
FOO2=${FOO2}
Option B: inject your .env file and process it with an entrypoint in your container. This entrypoint could run your export command before kicking off the actual application. You'll also need to do this for each RUN command during the build where you need these variables. One shorthand I use for pulling in the file contents to environment variables is:
set -a && . .env && set +a

Related

settings environment in makefile

I am trying to export an env variable in make to use in on the next lines. I am doing as suggested here Setting environment variables in a makefile.
eks-apps:
export KUBECONFIG=$(CURDIR)/terraform/kubernetes/cluster/$(shell ls terraform/kubernetes/cluster/ | grep kubeconfig)
kubectl get all
But its not using that kubeconfig in the kubectl command. What am I missing?
Every line in a recipe will be executed in a new shell. As this you have to use a single shell for all your commands:
eks-apps:
( \
export KUBECONFIG=$(CURDIR)/terraform/kubernetes/cluster/$(shell ls terraform/kubernetes/cluster/ | grep kubeconfig); \
kubectl get all \
)
From the answer you are linked to:
Please note: this implies that setting shell variables and invoking shell commands such as cd that set a context local to each process will not affect the following lines in the recipe.2 If you want to use cd to affect the next statement, put both statements in a single recipe line

Use container's environment variable for a command lie

I would like to use some environment variables in a bash script that contains :
#!/usr/bin/env bash
docker-compose exec apache bash -c "\
printenv | grep BLACKFIRE\
&& blackfire-agent --register --server-id=$BLACKFIRE_SERVER_ID --server-token=$BLACKFIRE_SERVER_TOKEN \
&& /etc/init.d/blackfire-agent restart"
echo "Blackfire agent configured !"
I pass the variable from my .env :
BLACKFIRE_SERVER_ID=xxxxx
BLACKFIRE_SERVER_TOKEN=xxxxx
BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_ID=xxxxx
BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_TOKEN=xxxxx
using docker-compose.yml
environment:
- DAMART_ENV=dev
- BLACKFIRE_SERVER_ID=${BLACKFIRE_SERVER_ID}
- BLACKFIRE_SERVER_TOKEN=${BLACKFIRE_SERVER_TOKEN}
- BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_ID=${BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_ID}
- BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_TOKEN=${BLACKFIRE_CLIENT_TOKEN}
The apache container has the environment variables (here is the result of printenv)
If I change the variables by their values it works but I don't want to use them directly in this script.
How should I call the variables for them to work.
The code repository usually has a function to store secret keys and environment tokens. For instance, github secrets can be kept in https://github.com/user/repo/settings/secrets/actions for your actions or https://github.com/user/repo/settings/secrets/codespaces/new for the repo.
The problem comes from the use of " (double quotes) that made the string to be interpreted not by the container but by the machine running the docker exec. This machine did not have the env variables as they are set in the container.
Replace with ' (simple quotes) make the script to use the environment variables set in the container.
docker-compose exec apache bash -c '\
blackfire-agent --register --server-id=$BLACKFIRE_SERVER_ID --server-token=$BLACKFIRE_SERVER_TOKEN \
&& /etc/init.d/blackfire-agent restart'

Unable to pass variables to run docker container [duplicate]

If I set an environment variable, say ENV ADDRESSEE=world, and I want to use it in the entry point script concatenated into a fixed string like:
ENTRYPOINT ["./greeting", "--message", "Hello, world!"]
with world being the value of the environment varible, how do I do it? I tried using "Hello, $ADDRESSEE" but that doesn't seem to work, as it takes the $ADDRESSEE literally.
You're using the exec form of ENTRYPOINT. Unlike the shell form, the exec form does not invoke a command shell. This means that normal shell processing does not happen. For example, ENTRYPOINT [ "echo", "$HOME" ] will not do variable substitution on $HOME. If you want shell processing then either use the shell form or execute a shell directly, for example: ENTRYPOINT [ "sh", "-c", "echo $HOME" ].
When using the exec form and executing a shell directly, as in the case for the shell form, it is the shell that is doing the environment variable expansion, not docker.(from Dockerfile reference)
In your case, I would use shell form
ENTRYPOINT ./greeting --message "Hello, $ADDRESSEE\!"
After much pain, and great assistance from #vitr et al above, i decided to try
standard bash substitution
shell form of ENTRYPOINT (great tip from above)
and that worked.
ENV LISTEN_PORT=""
ENTRYPOINT java -cp "app:app/lib/*" hello.Application --server.port=${LISTEN_PORT:-80}
e.g.
docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -d --env LISTEN_PORT=8080 my-image
and
docker run --rm -p 8080:80 -d my-image
both set the port correctly in my container
Refs
see https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/bash-shell-parameter-substitution-2.html
I tried to resolve with the suggested answer and still ran into some issues...
This was a solution to my problem:
ARG APP_EXE="AppName.exe"
ENV _EXE=${APP_EXE}
# Build a shell script because the ENTRYPOINT command doesn't like using ENV
RUN echo "#!/bin/bash \n mono ${_EXE}" > ./entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x ./entrypoint.sh
# Run the generated shell script.
ENTRYPOINT ["./entrypoint.sh"]
Specifically targeting your problem:
RUN echo "#!/bin/bash \n ./greeting --message ${ADDRESSEE}" > ./entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x ./entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["./entrypoint.sh"]
I SOLVED THIS VERY SIMPLY!
IMPORTANT: The variable which you wish to use in the ENTRYPOINT MUST be ENV type (and not ARG type).
EXAMPLE #1:
ARG APP_NAME=app.jar # $APP_NAME can be ARG or ENV type.
ENV APP_PATH=app-directory/$APP_NAME # $APP_PATH must be ENV type.
ENTRYPOINT java -jar $APP_PATH
This will result with executing:
java -jar app-directory/app.jar
EXAMPLE #2 (YOUR QUESTION):
ARG ADDRESSEE="world" # $ADDRESSEE can be ARG or ENV type.
ENV MESSAGE="Hello, $ADDRESSEE!" # $MESSAGE must be ENV type.
ENTRYPOINT ./greeting --message $MESSAGE
This will result with executing:
./greeting --message Hello, world!
Please verify to be sure, whether you need quotation-marks "" when assigning string variables.
MY TIP: Use ENV instead of ARG whenever possible to avoid confusion on your part or the SHELL side.
For me, I wanted to store the name of the script in a variable and still use the exec form.
Note: Make sure, the variable you are trying to use is declared an environment variable either from the commandline or via the ENV directive.
Initially I did something like:
ENTRYPOINT [ "${BASE_FOLDER}/scripts/entrypoint.sh" ]
But obviously this didn't work because we are using the shell form and the first program listed needs to be an executable on the PATH. So to fix this, this is what I ended up doing:
ENTRYPOINT [ "/bin/bash", "-c", "exec ${BASE_FOLDER}/scripts/entrypoint.sh \"${#}\"", "--" ]
Note the double quotes are required
What this does is to allow us to take whatever extra args were passed to /bin/bash, and supply those same arguments to our script after the name has been resolved by bash.
man 7 bash
-- A -- signals the end of options and disables further
option processing. Any arguments after the -- are treated
as filenames and arguments. An argument of - is
equivalent to --.
In my case worked this way: (for Spring boot app in docker)
ENTRYPOINT java -DidMachine=${IDMACHINE} -jar my-app-name
and passing the params on docker run
docker run --env IDMACHINE=Idmachine -p 8383:8383 my-app-name
I solved the problem using a variation on "create a custom script" approach above. Like this:
FROM hairyhenderson/figlet
ENV GREETING="Hello"
RUN printf '#!/bin/sh\nfiglet -W \${GREETING} \$#\n' > /runme && chmod +x /runme
ENTRYPOINT ["/runme"]
CMD ["World"]
Run like
docker container run -it --rm -e GREETING="G'Day" dockerfornovices/figlet-greeter Alec
If someone wants to pass an ARG or ENV variable to exec form of ENTRYPOINT then a temp file created during image building process might be used.
In my case I had to start the app differently depending on whether the .NET app has been published as self-contained or not.
What I did is I created the temp file and I used its name in the if statement of my bash script.
Part of my dockerfile:
ARG SELF_CONTAINED=true #ENV SELF_CONTAINED=true also works
# File has to be used as a variable as it's impossible to pass variable do ENTRYPOINT using Exec form. File name allows to check whether app is self-contained
RUN touch ${SELF_CONTAINED}.txt
COPY run-dotnet-app.sh .
ENTRYPOINT ["./run-dotnet-app.sh", "MyApp" ]
run-dotnet-app.sh:
#!/bin/sh
FILENAME=$1
if [ -f "true.txt" ]; then
./"${FILENAME}"
else
dotnet "${FILENAME}".dll
fi
Here is what worked for me:
ENTRYPOINT [ "/bin/bash", "-c", "source ~/.bashrc && ./entrypoint.sh ${#}", "--" ]
Now you can supply whatever arguments to the docker run command and still read all environment variables.

Docker Golang onbuild custom action at docker run

I have a fairly easy Dockerfile for a Go app:
FROM golang:onbuild
EXPOSE 5000 5001
Now when I run it (not when building the image!) I would like to change a value in a html file which gets statically served, possibly using sed to use an environment variable previously specified with -e to docker run. How can I do that?
You can try something like this:
FROM golang:onbuild
COPY ./docker-entrypoint.sh /
EXPOSE 5000 5001
ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
Note: you need to copy entry point file with your sed script somewhere into container (done on line 2)
and docker-entrypoint.sh with your sed script
# execute sed only **if variable exists**
sed -ri "s/<title>.*/<title>$ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE</title>/" /path_to_html_file/index.html
- simple example of replacement line with new title (passed in run as env. variable) in index.html file
Note: just keep in mind to run sed only if environment variable was served as #STLMikey shows.
and run docker container with $ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE
eg:
docker run -d -t -i -e ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE='New website title' --name=container_name IMAGE_NAME
One option is to use the --entrypoint option during docker run:
docker run --entrypoint /some/sh/script.sh <imagename>
where script.sh is a file inside your container, and contains something like:
#!/bin/env bash
if [[ "$myenvvar" == 'myvalue' ]]; then
# sed your file here
else
#don't do that
fi
If you dont like the idea of overriding the entrypoint at run time, you might consider using the CMD or ENTRYPOINT options in your Dockerfile.

Setting environment variables when running docker in detached mode

If I include the following line in /root/.bashrc:
export $A = "AAA"
then when I run the docker container in interactive mode (docker run -i), the $A variable keeps its value. However if I run the container in detached mode I cannot access the variable. Even if I run the container explicitly sourcing the .bashrc like
docker run -d my_image /bin/bash -c "cd /root && source .bashrc && echo $A"
such line produces an empty output.
So, why is this happening? And how can I set the environment variables defined in the .bashrc file?
Any help would be very much appreciated!
The first problem is that the command you are running has $A being interpreted by your hosts shell (not the container shell). On your host, $A is likely black, so your effectively command becomes:
docker run -i my_image /bin/bash -c "cd /root && source .bashrc && echo "
Which does exactly as it says. We can escape the variable so it is sent to the container and properly evaluated there:
docker run -i my_image /bin/bash -c "echo \$A"
But this will also be blank because, although the container is, the shell is not in interactive mode. But we can force it to be:
docker run -i my_image /bin/bash -i -c "echo \$A"
Woohoo, we finally got our desired result. But with an added error from bash because there is no TTY. So, instead of interactive mode, we can just set a psuedo-TTY:
docker run -t my_image /bin/bash -i -c "echo \$A"
After running some tests, it appears that when running a container in detached mode, overidding the default environment variables doesnt always happen the way we want, depending on where you are in the Dockerfile.
As an exemple if, running a container in a detached container like so:
docker run **-d** --name image_name_container image_name
Whatever ENV variables you defined within the Dockerfile takes effect everywhere (read the rest and you will understand what the everywhere means).
example of a simple dockerfile (alpine is just a lighweight linux distribution):
FROM alpine:latest
#declaring a docker env variable and giving it a default value
ENV MY_ENV_VARIABLE dummy_value
#copying two dummy scripts into a place where i can execute them straight away
COPY ./start.sh /usr/sbin
COPY ./not_start.sh /usr/sbin
#in this script i could do: echo $MY_ENV_VARIABLE > /test1.txt
RUN not_start.sh
RUN echo $MY_ENV_VARIABLE > /test2.txt
#in this script i could do: echo $MY_ENV_VARIABLE > /test3.txt
ENTRYPOINT ["start.sh"]
Now if you want to run your container in detached and override some ENV variables, like so:
docker run **-d** -e MY_ENV_VARIABLE=new_value --name image_name_container image_name
Surprise! The var MY_ENV_VARIABLE is only overidden inside the script that is run in the ENTRYPOINT (and i checked, same thing happens if your replace ENTRYPOINT with CMD). It would also be overidden in a subscript that you could call from this start.sh script. But the MY_EV_VARIABLE variables that are called within a RUN dockerfile command or within the dockerfile itself do not get overidden.
In other words we would have $MY_ENV_VARIABLE being replaced by the value dummy_value and new_value depending on if you are in the ENTRYPOINT or not.

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