devcontainers / devcontainers/cli

Inconsistent `pull_policy` behavior with `docker compose` when combining build and image

Open
#1,100 0 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
3k
Forks
457
Avg merge
13h 17m
Merged PRs (30d)
6

Description

https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/build/#using-build-and-image

https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/services/#image

> [Using build and image](https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/build/#using-build-and-image)
When Compose is confronted with both a build subsection for a service and an image attribute, it follows the rules defined by the [pull_policy](https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/services/#pull_policy) attribute.
>
> If pull_policy is missing from the service definition, Compose attempts to pull the image first and then builds from source if the image isn't found in the registry or platform cache.

i.e. by default it should pull `image` from registry/cache before attempting to build when using `docker compose up`, therefore I expect

```diff
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json --- JSON
1
2 {
3 "name": "Repro",
4 "dockerComposeFile": "../compose.yml",
5 "service": "devcontainer",
6 "workspaceFolder": ".",
7 "runServices": [
8 "db"
9 ]
10 }
11

compose.yml --- YAML
1 services:
2 devcontainer:
3 image: mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu
4 volumes:
5 - ../..:/workspaces:cached
6 network_mode: service:db
7 command: sleep infinity
8
9 db:
10 image: postgres:latest
11 build:
12 context: .
13 dockerfile_inline: |
14 FROM postgres:latest
15 restart: unless-stopped
16 volumes:
17 - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
18 environment:
19 POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
20 POSTGRES_USER: postgres
21 POSTGRES_DB: postgres
22
23 volumes:
24 postgres-data:
25

```
(output from `git diff`)

to *not* run `docker compose build db` when running `@devcontainers/cli up --workspace-folder .`

But it currently runs `docker compose --project-name devcontainer-repro -f /devcontainer-repro/compose.yml build db devcontainer`

Why this matters:

When trying to prebuild/cache images it is beneficial to have one `compose.yml` which both defines the image and how to build the image, otherwise you need to split the file in two `compose.build.yml` and `compose.yml`. This behavior is inconsistent and confusing.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.