Compose: Build context is always the location of docker-compose.yaml

[bitterjug]

Adding docker config to an old wordpress project created with wordpress in the top level dir, we have a deploy/ dir with scripts, etc. So I want to put docker-compose.yaml in there.

project/
  |-- deploy/
  |    |-- docker-compose.yaml
  |
  |-- Dockerfile
  |-- wp-config.php
  |-- index.php
  | ... etc...

(Ideally I'd like Dockerfile in deploy/ too, but first things first)

I cant find a way to build my project so that the whole project/ dir becomes the build context.]
Here's how I think it should work:

# docker-compose.yaml
version: '3'

services:
    db:
    ...

    web
      build: 
         context: ..
      ...

volumnes:
 ...

Then, in project/:

  $ docker-compose --file deploy/docker-compose.yaml build --no-cache

At which point

  $ docker-compose --file deploy/docker-compose.yaml run web ls

Should show my wordpress files. But instead it shows contents od deploy/ dir.

I've tried a bunch of variants (calling from inside deploy/ without the --file option, using --project-directory to specify the project location (which makes compose very slow!), etc). And I always see the content of the deploy/ dir. The only way I have been able to build a working site is by moving docker-compose.yaml to the project root (and adjusting the build context to .).

Is this supposed to work? If so, how should I approach it?

$ docker-compose --version
docker-compose version 1.13.0, build 1719ceb
$ docker version
Client:
 Version:      17.05.0-ce
 API version:  1.29
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   89658be
 Built:        Thu May  4 22:10:54 2017
 OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.05.0-ce
 API version:  1.29 (minimum version 1.12)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   89658be
 Built:        Thu May  4 22:10:54 2017
 OS/Arch:      linux/amd64
 Experimental: false

[shin-]

I've been meaning to look at this more closely but haven't had the time yet. Thank you for being patient!

[MrHash]

Possibly related to #3874

[kyleaclark]

Experiencing the same issue with docker-compose in a subdirectory and have tried a variety of different methods to no avail as well. Only with docker-compose.yml and Dockerfile at root of the project am I able to successfully run the container.

Will move forward for now with all files at root but am looking forward to any suggestions / resolutions on how to get this working from a subdirectory to clean up the messiness of root.

[shin-]

@bitterjug So, a similar setup works just fine for me:

$ tree
.
├── a.txt
├── deploy
│   └── docker-compose.yml
└── Dockerfile

1 directory, 3 files

$ cat Dockerfile 
FROM alpine
COPY . /optional

$ cat deploy/docker-compose.yml 
version: '2.1'
services:
  foo:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: ./Dockerfile
    command: ls /optional

$ docker-compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml build --no-cache
Building foo
Step 1/2 : FROM alpine
 ---> 4a415e366388
Step 2/2 : COPY . /optional
 ---> 08a1c85a6ba6
Removing intermediate container ca3cc5a308c7
Successfully built 08a1c85a6ba6
Successfully tagged deploy_foo:latest

$ docker-compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml run foo ls /optional
Dockerfile  a.txt       deploy

$ docker-compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml run foo cat /optional/a.txt
Hello World

Is there anything else in your Dockerfile or Compose file that could cause the discrepancy?

[notpushkin]

I have a similar problem right now, but with a slightly different directory structure:

project root/
  docker-compose.yml
  backend/
    Dockerfile
    somefile.py
  frontend/
    ...

version: '2'
services:
  web:
    build: ./backend/
    command: python somefile.py

Instead of running in ./backend/ it runs in ./, so ADD . copies the whole project and somefile.py ends up in a wrong directory.

UPD: sorry, I made a silly mistake in config. My problem is actually unrelated to this.

[bitterjug]

Schoolboy error. :blush:

I was mounting . as a volume which defaults to the root of the build context. Volumes are not constrained to be in the build context, of course. So I can put docker-compose.yaml and my Dockerfile in deploy as I wanted. And mount ../ as my volume.

[niwatolli3]

I solved this problem by using environment variables. (it is not smart solution)

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% tree ./
./
├── back
│   ├── back
│   │   └── Dockerfile
│   └── docker-compose.yml
├── docker-compose.override.yml
├── docker-compose.yml
└── ubuntu
    ├── docker-compose.yml
    └── front
        └── Dockerfile

4 directories, 6 files

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% cat back/docker-compose.yml 
version: '2'

services:
  back-web:
    build: ${BACK_ROOT}back

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% cat ubuntu/docker-compose.yml 
version: '2'

services:
  front-web:
    build: ${UBUNTU_ROOT}front

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% cat docker-compose.yml 
version: '2'

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% cat docker-compose.override.yml 
version: '2'
services:
  front-web:
    depends_on:
      - back-web
  back-web:

/home/tomi/repos/docker-compose_sample% BACK_ROOT=back/ UBUNTU_ROOT=ubuntu/ docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f back/docker-compose.yml -f ubuntu/docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml up -d --build
Building back-web
Step 1/1 : FROM ubuntu
 ---> ccc7a11d65b1
Successfully built ccc7a11d65b1
Successfully tagged dockercomposesample_back-web:latest
Building front-web
Step 1/1 : FROM ubuntu
 ---> ccc7a11d65b1
Successfully built ccc7a11d65b1
Successfully tagged dockercomposesample_front-web:latest
Starting dockercomposesample_back-web_1 ... 
Starting dockercomposesample_back-web_1 ... done
Starting dockercomposesample_front-web_1 ... 
Starting dockercomposesample_front-web_1 ... done

[achekulaev]

The bug fully shows itself when COMPOSE_FILE directive is being used.
Demonstration.
Directory /Users/alexei.chekulaev/tmp/bug_demo

Structure:

bug_demo/
  conf/
    docker-compose.yml
  build/
    Dockerfile

docker-compose.yml contents:

version: "2.1"

services:
  test:
    build: build

Actual result when building from bug_demo dir:

$ pwd
/Users/alexei.chekulaev/tmp/bug_demo

$ COMPOSE_FILE="conf/docker-compose.yml" docker-compose config
ERROR: build path /Users/alexei.chekulaev/tmp/bug_demo/conf/build either does not exist, is not accessible, or is not a valid URL.

Expected result: docker-compose should use CWD as current path, not the path where first config file was found.

[fnagel]

@bitterjug Would you mind posting your full setup? I'm still stuck with this issue :-/

[JuPlutonic]

In will be good to ignore .dockerignore file from the project's root when e.g. using .Dockerfile.development (defined in this line: dockerfile: Dockerfile.development). Such solution (usage of the project's subdirectories) seems to me never works.

[ ]. build context: .. - ~work~

[ ]. COMPOSE_FILE=F U L L _ P A T H . . .

[ ]. Possibility to ignore the .dockerignore file.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically closed because it had not recent activity during the stale period.

[holms]

I believe this is still an issue I've encountered same problem with latest RC release! It takes the path of first main docker-compose.yml file, but not the last one. https://github.com/docker/compose/issues/7350