docker-compose exec on running container with arguments

Question

I would like to use the existing container multiple times by providing different arguments. I have a docker-compose.yml file with entrypoint: ["/bin/bash", "entrypoint.sh"].

To run the container I use the command docker-compose run foo --database=foo --schema=boo --tables=puah. It works perfect. Container does the job.

Here is the docker-compose.yml

version: "3"
services:
   bcp:
      image: ubuntu:18.04
      restart: always
      tty: true
      entrypoint: ["/bin/bash", "/ingestion/bcp-entrypoint.sh"]
      volumes:
          - ./services/bcp:/ingestion/services/bcp
          - ./bcp-entrypoint.sh:/ingestion/bcp-entrypoint.sh

Here is the bcp-entrypoint.sh

#!/bin/bash

INGESTION_DIR=/ingestion
TMP_DIR=/tmp/ingestion

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get clean -y
apt-get install -y python3-pip
apt-get install -y curl

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | apt-key add -
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/prod.list | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/msprod.list

apt-get update
ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y mssql-tools unixodbc-dev

cd ${INGESTION_DIR}
mkdir ${TMP_DIR}

python3 -m --database $database --schmema $schema --tables ${TABLES}

My problems:

The container restarts all the time and keeps retrieving the data with the same arguments provided in docker-compose run bcp ...?
I would like to use one container and overwrite the arguments, so I can skip costly installation.

Maybe there is a combination of entrypoint & command in docker-compose.yml? So, basically, I would like to execute python3 -m --database ... --schema ... --tables .... Ideally I would do it purely in docker-compose without a dockerfile.

Pierre B. · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-12 10:21:42Z

2

I would like to use the existing container multiple times by providing different arguments.

If you want to change entrypoint or cmd of an already existing container, you can't. Once a container is created, most of its configuration cannot be changed (see docker update for updatable container configs)

Keep in mind:

docker-compose run will create and start a container with given arguments (you can then override entrypoint or cmd)
docker-compose exec run a command in a running container. It won't work in a stopped container, and won't create a new container.
docker start start a stopped container, the container will start with already defined cmd and entrypoint. You won't be able to change that.

You can do something like docker-compose run --entrypoint 'sleep 9999' foo which will start your container and ensure it's running for 9999 seconds, then execute commands with docker-compose exec such as

# similar to what would happen with 'docker-compose run foo --database=foo --schema=boo' considering entrypoint is ["/bin/bash", "entrypoint.sh"]'
# '--database=foo --schema=boo' would be passed as argument of entrypoint.sh
docker-compose exec "/bin/bash -c 'entrypoint.sh --database=foo --schema=boo'"
docker-compose exec "/bin/bash -c 'entrypoint.sh --database=blah --schema=wooow'"

answered Aug 12, 2020 at 10:21

Pierre B.

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2 Comments

abe Over a year ago

Can I use tty: true instead? In the docker-compose.yml. Unfortunately the command does not work.

abe Over a year ago

Thanks for the reply! I have updated the question. Now, you have more transparency! Maybe that will help!

Eddie · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-12 08:38:37Z

0

docker-compose run is using an image to create a container with the provided arguments.

Use docker-compose run foo --name foo1 --[other arguments] to end up with a container for each set of arguments.

If you don't want to keep the container once the job is done then include the -rm option to remove the container on close.

answered Aug 12, 2020 at 8:38

Eddie

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3 Comments

abe Over a year ago

Thanks for the reply. The point is, I do want to use one container once created after run command, since there is a lot packages to be installed in the container as per entrypoint.sh. Thus, if I docker-compose run ... every time, it will take a lot of time to install all these packages to run a single command. To avoid this, I want to use existing container with different arguments - i.e., no need to create another container from the image.

David Maze Over a year ago

If you're installing packages, you probably want to do it via a Dockerfile, so it will get done just once. Once you've done that, creating new containers from the image should be fairly cheap.

abe Over a year ago

I take the image of ubuntu and then do apt-get install ... in entrypoint.sh. If I do docker-compose run -service- then new container is created and all packages are installed another time (since a new container). That is why I avoid --rm while creating a container.

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