Docker does not search for a file in a directory - docker

Question

I created a docker file.
FROM node:13.6.0-alpine3.10
WORKDIR /src
RUN apk add --no-cache bash
COPY ./package.json .
COPY ./package-lock.json .
RUN npm install
COPY . .
EXPOSE 8081
CMD npm run start:dev
Structure of my project.
.
└── my-app
└── docker-compose.yml
└── ...
└── server
└── docker
└── Dockerfile
└── src
└── ....
├── package.json
├── package-lock.json
└── ...
When I build the container, I get an error.
ERROR: Service 'server' failed to build: COPY failed: stat /var/lib/docker/tmp/docker-builder791989542/package.json: no such file or directory
I understand that my files are in a different directory. I tried to solve my problems like this.
COPY ./../package.json .
COPY ./../package-lock.json .
But I also got an error
ERROR: Service 'server' failed to build: COPY failed: Forbidden path outside the build context: ../package.json ()
How to tell the docker so that he is looking for files not in the docker folder where the dockerfile file is located, but in the src folder, where my package-lock.json and package.json files are located
I created a docker-compose.yml file.
version: "3.3"
services:
server:
container_name: server
command:
- npm
- run
- start:dev
build:
context: ./server/docker
dockerfile: dockerfile
environment:
PORT: 8081
ports:
- 8081:8081
restart: on-failure
volumes:
- ./server:/src/

Answer 1

As explained earlier in comments and previous answers, you cannot copy files which are outside of the build context. So you either need to change the context up the directory path or to move the needed files inside the current context.
Looking at your layout, I would go for the first solution and by default use your base directory as context (once you understand the solution, you can adapt context and dockerfile to fit your exact needs).
In your Dockerfile, change the following lines:
COPY ./server/package.json .
COPY ./server/package-lock.json .
Note: the line COPY . . should be removed (or you need to explain a littke better what you actually try to achieve with this)
The build section in your docker-compose.yml file should become:
build:
context: .
dockerfile: server/docker/Dockerfile
The equivalent manual build would be
cd /path/to/my-app
docker build -f server/docker/Dockerfile .

Answer 2

You cannot do that, because first step of build, is to build the context dirs. You need to change the context.
Straight from docker docs,
COPY obeys the following rules:
The path must be inside the context of the build;
you cannot COPY ../something /something, because the first step of a docker build is to send the context directory (and subdirectories) to the docker daemon.