Change node version using nvm and docker-compose - docker

Question

I have a Dockerfile running centos/systemd that also installs nvm and have an entrypoint.sh that runs /usr/sbin/init (as required by docs) it also accept an argument from docker-compose command to control the node version being used - BUT it seems the node version is not persistent/kept for some reason.
How can I control node version from docker-compose file?
Dockerfile:
FROM centos/systemd
# Install & enable httpd
RUN yum -y update
RUN yum -y install \
httpd \
autofs \
gcc-c++ \
make \
git \
fontconfig \
bzip2 \
libpng-devel \
ruby \
ruby-devel \
zip \
unzip
RUN yum clean all
RUN systemctl enable httpd.service
# Setting up virtual hosts
RUN echo "IncludeOptional apps/*.conf" >> /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
# Install nvm to later use in compose
ENV NVM_DIR /root/.nvm
ENV NODE_VERSION 13.10.0
RUN curl --silent -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/master/install.sh | bash
# install node and npm
RUN source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh \
&& nvm install $NODE_VERSION \
&& nvm install 12.16.1 \
&& nvm install 11.9.0 \
&& nvm install 10.9.0 \
&& nvm alias default $NODE_VERSION \
&& nvm use default
# add node and npm to path so the commands are available
ENV NODE_PATH $NVM_DIR/v$NODE_VERSION/lib/node_modules
ENV PATH $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v$NODE_VERSION/bin:$PATH
# Expose ports
EXPOSE 80
EXPOSE 443
COPY entrypoint.sh ./entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x ./entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["./entrypoint.sh"]
entrypoint.sh:
#!/bin/bash
source root/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm use "$#"
node --version
exec /usr/sbin/init
docker-compose:
version: '3'
services:
httpd:
build: '..\Web-Server\Apache'
privileged: true
ports:
- 80:80
- 443:443
command: 11.9.0
docker-compose up (output):
httpd_1 | Now using node v11.9.0 (npm v6.5.0)
httpd_1 | v11.9.0
docker exec -it /bin/sh -lc "node --version":
v13.10.0
Thanks!

Answer 1

If you create a dockerfile for each project then, combine them with docker-compose files, for each deployment, that is your best option. If you want to facilitate for code reuse you can look at creating a generic base image to which all your dockerfiles use.

Answer 2

Answering my own question after endless searches across the web.
2 things to note/change:
We need to set the default node version as well (inside the shell script). Unfortunately, I don't no why it's necessary to set it as default to keep it persistent but it just works (if anyone can explain that, please do). So entrypoint.sh looks like this:
#!/bin/bash
source root/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm use "$#" && nvm alias default "$#"
node --version
exec /usr/sbin/init
when running bash with docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/sh -c "node --version" and not in interactive mode or login to shell it will not read startup scripts so node version set by using source /root/.nvm/nvm.sh and nvm use XXX is not red and thats why it's not "changed" for this specific bash session. Solution is to login to container and run node --version from within OR source nvm.sh as well before running node --version e.g. docker exec -it <container_id> sh -c "source /root/.nvm/nvm.sh && node --version"
Hope that helps to anyone that came across the same issue.