Docker command fails during build, but succeeds while executed within running container - docker

Question

the command :
docker build -t nginx-ubuntu .
whith the Dockerfile below :
FROM ubuntu:12.10
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get -y install libpcre3 libssl-dev
RUN apt-get -y install libpcre3-dev
RUN apt-get -y install wget zip gcc
RUN wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN gunzip nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN tar -xf nginx-1.4.1.tar
RUN wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/max-l/nginx_accept_language_module/archive/master.zip
RUN unzip master
RUN cd nginx-1.4.1
RUN ./configure --add-module=../nginx_accept_language_module-master --with-http_ssl_module --with-pcre=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --with-openssl=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
Fails at the last line (./configure ...)
If I remove the last line and run a bash in the container, and
execute the last line manually, it works.
I would expect that whatever command runs successfully within a container should work
when the command is appended in the Dockerfile (prefixed by RUN)
am I missing something ?

Answer 1

The pwd is not persistent across RUN commands. You need to cd and configure within the same RUN.
This Dockerfile works fine:
FROM ubuntu:12.10
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get -y install libpcre3 libssl-dev
RUN apt-get -y install libpcre3-dev
RUN apt-get -y install wget zip gcc
RUN wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN gunzip nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN tar -xf nginx-1.4.1.tar
RUN wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/max-l/nginx_accept_language_module/archive/master.zip
RUN unzip master
RUN cd nginx-1.4.1 && ./configure --add-module=../nginx_accept_language_module-master --with-http_ssl_module --with-pcre=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --with-openssl=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu

Answer 2

As an alternative to #creak's answer, you can change the default working directory in a Dockerfile with the WORKDIR command:
FROM ubuntu:12.10
# Run update & install together so that the docker cache doesn't
# contain an out-of-date APT cache (leading to 404's when installing
# packages)
RUN apt-get update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install libpcre3 libssl-dev libpcre3-dev wget zip gcc
ADD http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN tar -zxf nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/max-l/nginx_accept_language_module/archive/master.zip
RUN unzip master
WORKDIR nginx-1.4.1
RUN ./configure --add-module=../nginx_accept_language_module-master --with-http_ssl_module --with-pcre=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --with-openssl=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
This also affects the default directory when you use docker run (overridden by the -w switch).

Answer 3

When I called wget or tar with RUN I needed to specify a path, it looks like ADD is the correct approach if you want to use WORKDIR as it's path instead. So either of the below resolved my issue.
RUN
RUN wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz -P ~/directory
RUN tar -zxf ~/directory/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz -C ~/directory
or
ADD
WORKDIR ~/directory
ADD http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
RUN tar -zxf nginx-1.4.1.tar.gz
The second approach prevented me from needing to install wget in the container.

Answer 4

Another way of doing this using the \ operator to start a new line and proceed with an additional command
Example
RUN cd /Desktop \
cd Work \
pwd