docker / docker/cli

`docker stack` subcommands: the `:?` interpolation operator and hyphens do not mix

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kind/bug status/0-triage
Dominant language
Go
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Description

Description

If a compose file processed by docker stack subcommands (deploy, config) contains an interpolation token of the form ${KEY:?hyphenated - message} then it is misinterpreted as if it were a different valid interpolation token: ${KEY- message}. This seems to be specific to docker stack -- docker compose does not exhibit the same issue.

Reproduce

No swarm or daemon required to demonstrate with docker stack config:

Files

repro-hyphen.yml:

services:
  demo:
    image: busybox
    environment:
      RESULT: ${UNSET_VARIABLE:?must be set - hyphen in this message}

repro-control.yml -- identical but for the hyphen:

services:
  demo:
    image: busybox
    environment:
      RESULT: ${UNSET_VARIABLE:?must be set; no hyphen in this message}

Demo

unset UNSET_VARIABLE

docker stack config -c repro-control.yml   # correctly fails
docker stack config -c repro-hyphen.yml    # incorrectly succeeds
docker compose -f repro-hyphen.yml config  # correctly fails — same file
Expected behavior

docker stack config -c repro-hyphen.yml should fail, emitting a message such as the one docker compose emits:

error while interpolating services.demo.environment.RESULT: required variable UNSET_VARIABLE is missing a value: must be set - hyphen in this message

docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           29.4.3
 API version:       1.54
 Go version:        go1.26.2
 Git commit:        055a478
 Built:             Wed May  6 17:10:10 2026
 OS/Arch:           linux/arm64
 Context:           default

Server: Docker Engine - Community
 Engine:
  Version:          29.4.3
  API version:      1.54 (minimum version 1.40)
  Go version:       go1.26.2
  Git commit:       56be731
  Built:            Wed May  6 17:10:10 2026
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.3
  GitCommit:        77c84241c7cbdd9b4eca2591793e3d4f4317c590
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.5
  GitCommit:        v1.3.5-0-g488fc13e
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0
docker info
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:    29.4.3
 Context:    default
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.33.0
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.1.3
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

Server:
 Containers: 59
  Running: 40
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 19
 Images: 53
 Server Version: 29.4.3
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: systemd
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Swarm: active
  NodeID: cj4qpcbulk1pygy1qv3u8pejt
  Is Manager: true
  ClusterID: ia2ohfodbrxfj4za7k4cdnajl
  Managers: 1
  Nodes: 2
  Default Address Pool: 10.0.0.0/8  
  SubnetSize: 24
  Data Path Port: 4789
  Orchestration:
   Task History Retention Limit: 5
  Raft:
   Snapshot Interval: 10000
   Number of Old Snapshots to Retain: 0
   Heartbeat Tick: 1
   Election Tick: 10
  Dispatcher:
   Heartbeat Period: 5 seconds
  CA Configuration:
   Expiry Duration: 3 months
   Force Rotate: 0
  Autolock Managers: false
  Root Rotation In Progress: false
  Node Address: <redacted>
  Manager Addresses:
   <redacted>
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: 77c84241c7cbdd9b4eca2591793e3d4f4317c590
 runc version: v1.3.5-0-g488fc13e
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  apparmor
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.17.0-1013-aws
 Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 8
 Total Memory: 30.75GiB
 Name: <redacted>
 ID: <redacted>
 Docker Root Dir: /opt/docker-data
 Debug Mode: false
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  registry:5000
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables
Additional Info

It looks like this is related to the use of the DefaultSubstitutionFuncs array in docker/cli/cli/compose/template/template.go and the behavior of the hardDefault substitution function.

It also looks like this may generalize to a broader class of issues where a default value or error message in an interpolation token contains characters matching a different operator.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in docker/cli/cli/compose/template/template.go, especially DefaultSubstitutionFuncs and hardDefault, and reproduce the behavior with the provided repro-hyphen.yml using docker stack config. Compare it with docker compose config and the control file. Done means docker stack config rejects the hyphenated :? message and reports the required-variable error instead of succeeding.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, go
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
76/100

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