Installing gerrit plugin in docker container - docker

Question

When running gerritcodereview/gerrit docker container. Gerrit is installed within the /var/gerrit directoy in the container. But when trying to install plugins by docker cp the plugin .jar file, downloaded from https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com/job/plugin-its-jira-bazel-stable-2.16/ into the /var/gerrit/plugins directory, plugins are not showing up in the list amongst installed plugins. Eventhough I restarted the container.
I ran gerrit with:
docker run -ti -p 8080:8080 -p 29418:29418 gerritcodereview/gerrit
And Gerrit is accessible via:
http://localhost:8080/admin/plugins
I also have a list of plugins in the plugins manager, but don't know how to add more plugins to the list, have tried to use gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com url in [httpd]. http://localhost:8080/plugins/plugin-manager/static/index.html
My gerrit.config file looks like this:
[gerrit]
basePath = git
serverId = 62b710a2-3947-4e96-a196-6b3fb1f6bc2c
canonicalWebUrl = http://10033a3fe5b7
[database]
type = h2
database = db/ReviewDB
[index]
type = LUCENE
[auth]
type = DEVELOPMENT_BECOME_ANY_ACCOUNT
[sendemail]
smtpServer = localhost
[sshd]
listenAddress = *:29418
[httpd]
listenUrl = http://*:8080/
filterClass = com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.ootb.FirstTimeRedirect
firstTimeRedirectUrl = /login/%23%2F?account_id=1000000
[cache]
directory = cache
[plugins]
allowRemoteAdmin = true
[container]
javaOptions = "-Dflogger.backend_factory=com.google.common.flogger.backend.log4j.Log4jBackendFactory#getInstance"
javaOptions = "-Dflogger.logging_context=com.google.gerrit.server.logging.LoggingContext#getInstance"
user = gerrit
javaHome = /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.212.b04-0.el7_6.x86_64/jre
javaOptions = -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom
[receive]
enableSignedPush = false
[noteDb "changes"]
autoMigrate = true

Answer 1

I am pretty sure that Gerrit runs from /var/gerrit, even for your version as that is the version I used before.
Why don't you use docker-compose together with a custom Dockerfile. This way you can easily recreate your image and don't need to worry about adding plugins again after you upgrade your version.
I would suggest that you play around with these scripts and use it for your testing.
This is what my Dockerfile looks like for my previous 2.16 installation:
FROM gerritcodereview/gerrit:2.16.8
# Add custom plugins that are not downloaded from the web
COPY ./plugins/* /var/gerrit/plugins/
# Add logo
COPY ./static/* /var/gerrit/static/
ADD https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com/view/Plugins-stable-2.16/job/plugin-avatars-gravatar-bazel-master-stable-2.16/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/bazel-genfiles/plugins/avatars-gravatar/avatars-gravatar.jar /var/gerrit/plugins/
USER root
# Fix any permissions
RUN chown -R gerrit:gerrit /var/gerrit
USER gerrit
ENV CANONICAL_WEB_URL=https://gerrit.mycompoany.net/r/
And below the docker-compose.yml
version: '3.4'
services:
gerrit:
build: .
ports:
- "29418:29418"
- "8080:8080"
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- /external/gerrit2.16/etc:/var/gerrit/etc
- /external/gerrit2.16/git:/var/gerrit/git
- /external/gerrit2.16/index:/var/gerrit/index
- /external/gerrit2.16/cache:/var/gerrit/cache
- /external/gerrit2.16/logs:/var/gerrit/logs
- /external/gerrit2.16/.ssh:/var/gerrit/.ssh
# entrypoint: java -jar /var/gerrit/bin/gerrit.war init --install-all-plugins -d /var/gerrit
# entrypoint: java -jar /var/gerrit/bin/gerrit.war reindex -d /var/gerrit

Answer 2

Finally found out a way that works for me in my use case.
copy content of your public key and insert into ssh web browser profile settings: my_gerrit_admin_username
Add key to ssh-agent:
eval `ssh-agent`
ssh-add .ssh/id_rsa
from terminal outside container, run:
ssh -p 29418 my_gerrit_admin_username#localhost gerrit plugin install -n its-base.jar https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com/job/plugin-its-base-bazel-stable-2.16/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/bazel-bin/plugins/its-base/its-base.jar
check web browser that plugin is installed among plugins.