Feature Request: Attach to specific process ID inside Docker container
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- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 6.1k
- Forks
- 2.2k
- Avg merge
- 1d 15h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 43
Description
Description
As of today, the Docker CLI allows you to attach to a running container's entrypoint process. However, it is not possible to attach to a specific process inside a container.
Steps to reproduce the issue:
- Spin up a MySQL container
docker run --detach --env MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=blah --pull always mysql:latest - Create an interactive Bash process running in the same container
docker exec --interactive --tty <containerId> bash - Detach from the Bash shell with CTRL + P, CTRL + Q
- Inspect processes inside container
docker top <containerId> - Notice that Bash process is still running, we've just detached from it.
- Attach to the Bash process inside the container .... this capability doesn't exist.
- I would imagine being able to run a command similar to:
docker attach <containerId> <processId>

Output of docker version:
Client:
Cloud integration: v1.0.20
Version: 20.10.10
API version: 1.41
Go version: go1.16.9
Git commit: b485636
Built: Mon Oct 25 07:47:53 2021
OS/Arch: windows/amd64
Context: default
Experimental: true
Server: Docker Engine - Community
Engine:
Version: 20.10.10
API version: 1.41 (minimum version 1.12)
Go version: go1.16.9
Git commit: e2f740d
Built: Mon Oct 25 07:41:30 2021
OS/Arch: linux/amd64
Experimental: false
containerd:
Version: 1.4.11
GitCommit: 5b46e404f6b9f661a205e28d59c982d3634148f8
runc:
Version: 1.0.2
GitCommit: v1.0.2-0-g52b36a2
docker-init:
Version: 0.19.0
GitCommit: de40ad0
Output of docker info:
Client:
Context: default
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
buildx: Build with BuildKit (Docker Inc., v0.6.3)
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc., v2.1.1)
scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc., 0.9.0)
Server:
Containers: 6
Running: 3
Paused: 0
Stopped: 3
Images: 10
Server Version: 20.10.10
Storage Driver: overlay2
Backing Filesystem: extfs
Supports d_type: true
Native Overlay Diff: true
userxattr: false
Logging Driver: json-file
Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
Cgroup Version: 1
Plugins:
Volume: local
Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local logentries splunk syslog
Swarm: inactive
Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux runc
Default Runtime: runc
Init Binary: docker-init
containerd version: 5b46e404f6b9f661a205e28d59c982d3634148f8
runc version: v1.0.2-0-g52b36a2
init version: de40ad0
Security Options:
seccomp
Profile: default
Kernel Version: 5.10.60.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Operating System: Docker Desktop
OSType: linux
Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 6
Total Memory: 15.59GiB
Name: docker-desktop
ID: LUJQ:6XRO:QAGY:NC7E:DBP2:HH3H:TIA6:Q3TN:U53M:4MH3:PO3R:WI26
Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
Debug Mode: false
Registry: https://index.docker.io/v1/
Labels:
Experimental: false
Insecure Registries:
127.0.0.0/8
Live Restore Enabled: false
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the docker attach command and reproduce the documented MySQL and Bash process steps. Investigate how a process ID could be selected inside a container, including the proposed command syntax; done means a specific in-container process can be attached to and the behavior is covered by appropriate CLI tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- docker, go
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100