vmware / vmware/photon

Docker compose "init: true" causes container start failure

Open
#1,605 7 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

bug
Dominant language
C
Stars
3.2k
Forks
692
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

Describe the bug

After installing updates today, I am unable to get any Compose stack that uses "init: true" to launch properly. They start but fail with "exec /sbin/docker-init: no such file or directory".

Reproduction steps
  1. "docker compose up" on any stack with "init: true"
Expected behavior

The stack comes up and functions properly.

Additional context

I have also tested using just a standard "docker run --init" and it fails as well. i.e., "docker run --init nginx:1-alpine"

I have tested manually setting the init-path and forcing "init: true"

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 by reproducing the failure with docker compose up and docker run --init nginx:1-alpine, then compare the behavior with the manually set init-path and forced init: true cases. Trace why /sbin/docker-init is unavailable; done means stacks using init: true start and function normally.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, docker-compose
Domain
devops, infrastructure
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.