Lifecycle Scripts Absent From Pre-Build

[cadojo]

When I read the specification, it appears that onCreateCommand should be included in pre-built images. When I run the following in my MWE, it's clear that onCreateCommand did not run. (In the MWE, onCreateCommand is set to touch ~/on-create-command-ran.success.)

git clone https://github.com/cadojo/devcontainer-mwe
cd devcontainer-mwe
devcontainer build --workspace-folder .   # outputs an image name

docker run -it --entrypoint bash $IMAGE   # set to the image name above 

root ➜ / $ ls ~ # no output

Am I misunderstanding the specification? Or is this a bug in the reference implementation?

[Kaniska244]

Hello @cadojo ,

Thank you for reporting this issue. I think if you use devcontainer up --workspace-folder . instead of combination of devcontainer build & docker run, the command will build & spin up the container at once with the lifecycle hock onCreateCommand executed while the container gets created.

@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ devcontainer up --workspace-folder . 
[2 ms] @devcontainers/cli 0.77.0. Node.js v18.16.0. linux 6.8.0-1027-azure x64.
[+] Building 42.2s (6/6) FINISHED                                                                                                  docker:default
 => [internal] load build definition from updateUID.Dockerfile-0.77.0                                                                        0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 1.52kB                                                                                                       0.0s
 => WARN: InvalidDefaultArgInFrom: Default value for ARG $BASE_IMAGE results in empty or invalid base image name (line 4)                    0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye                                                      0.3s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                            0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                              0.0s
 => [1/2] FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye@sha256:2dd143fa2284adee704e327dbe06db70abf4c59bce8c15161286b72f16047  39.5s
 => => resolve mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye@sha256:2dd143fa2284adee704e327dbe06db70abf4c59bce8c15161286b72f160471  0.0s
 => => sha256:2ba6162e783b00c9d76f65aaf958748f4cddb11b68d508c792cf177b22e6bb9e 3.54kB / 3.54kB                                               0.0s
 => => sha256:2dd143fa2284adee704e327dbe06db70abf4c59bce8c15161286b72f160471c0 1.61kB / 1.61kB                                               0.0s
 => => sha256:fb6373ec305f3b06c7b45bcc3dc0128f79dbabc91ab0fa019f72cc69a39866ab 23.59kB / 23.59kB                                             0.0s
 => => sha256:06b6c820e694a6c19c297492ef4009391c7dfc83ecae735895f31a89e78b31fc 15.76MB / 15.76MB                                             1.4s
 => => sha256:54107f2de180b7b6e9f909d2f1c6c18e10c700a6bd80a035d931768b06bb2905 53.75MB / 53.75MB                                             1.4s
 => => sha256:9a69a02035012d2783a66ac7ecc549af09c1718d81affa5f9c39abcf969da971 54.76MB / 54.76MB                                             1.4s
 => => extracting sha256:54107f2de180b7b6e9f909d2f1c6c18e10c700a6bd80a035d931768b06bb2905                                                    1.6s
 => => sha256:bb2ae7d02b3f23ddeb790a210c9a38d2c12c50205cdecb812f0c9a731dba91f0 6.05MB / 6.05MB                                               1.6s
 => => sha256:e94932625c5ab18ebb7640ecd70dd33061ba90cc7666b7ff06042a8bd7cf63fb 197.13MB / 197.13MB                                           5.7s
 => => sha256:1af37987f5dd83e8ddfc45287278eba6a51093c14526e9d29351afa3ceaec59a 26.15MB / 26.15MB                                             1.9s
 => => sha256:477c922f4daa1832365b81a893085c9afaaf26c52d9527595cf7560ebc9242ef 248B / 248B                                                   1.9s
 => => sha256:f0844e4129dcf912d6ac3a47e214877f88fc7d17ccf12ccd70c8fe3c52cfc580 14.39MB / 14.39MB                                             2.3s
 => => sha256:a08299ba64bb97872163e0f759e130bcf0168a8769dfba493ee03a9ed9b91dd6 8.62MB / 8.62MB                                               2.3s
 => => sha256:f8b2515ebada4b87d8bd9046b368a78913df6ac2bec168faf646ad3d621b6dda 135B / 135B                                                   2.4s
 => => sha256:51bbf8c869b36f0953ea5a4e7e3583c8a21ca41b854b16d43827e7256e0ddcf1 407B / 407B                                                   2.4s
 => => sha256:66a691cf8bdc8776e773ac40124a4ab4a58676b1186ea2e058ac1fb7a1b52b3d 223B / 223B                                                   2.4s
 => => sha256:2143721ac31e2345cae2bc178e7610fa845f34b613b99ad54edab734784aefcd 236B / 236B                                                   2.4s
 => => sha256:bd6965240dec51147a2757c4f0b5f71801c838b1eabbfc3a4d5d6ee23ac9911f 65.40MB / 65.40MB                                             5.6s
 => => sha256:3e59a99d12b81c952b817175901bffc4abed0c613fd573b389b5b03c0358e2da 66.58MB / 66.58MB                                             5.7s
 => => extracting sha256:06b6c820e694a6c19c297492ef4009391c7dfc83ecae735895f31a89e78b31fc                                                    1.1s
 => => sha256:f64a3caaf287e8a5831cedde8f2be18eb3968959a5c06099d961b2e126f859c7 2.28MB / 2.28MB                                               5.8s
 => => sha256:e69c84677a1306677c2c5d8939db6fcb768efd370ede0911b1a937c438b5c104 68.48MB / 68.48MB                                             6.5s
 => => extracting sha256:9a69a02035012d2783a66ac7ecc549af09c1718d81affa5f9c39abcf969da971                                                    1.8s
 => => extracting sha256:e94932625c5ab18ebb7640ecd70dd33061ba90cc7666b7ff06042a8bd7cf63fb                                                    4.4s
 => => extracting sha256:bb2ae7d02b3f23ddeb790a210c9a38d2c12c50205cdecb812f0c9a731dba91f0                                                    0.2s
 => => extracting sha256:1af37987f5dd83e8ddfc45287278eba6a51093c14526e9d29351afa3ceaec59a                                                    0.5s
 => => extracting sha256:477c922f4daa1832365b81a893085c9afaaf26c52d9527595cf7560ebc9242ef                                                    0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:f0844e4129dcf912d6ac3a47e214877f88fc7d17ccf12ccd70c8fe3c52cfc580                                                    0.2s
 => => extracting sha256:a08299ba64bb97872163e0f759e130bcf0168a8769dfba493ee03a9ed9b91dd6                                                    0.5s
 => => extracting sha256:51bbf8c869b36f0953ea5a4e7e3583c8a21ca41b854b16d43827e7256e0ddcf1                                                    0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:f8b2515ebada4b87d8bd9046b368a78913df6ac2bec168faf646ad3d621b6dda                                                    0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:66a691cf8bdc8776e773ac40124a4ab4a58676b1186ea2e058ac1fb7a1b52b3d                                                    0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:2143721ac31e2345cae2bc178e7610fa845f34b613b99ad54edab734784aefcd                                                    0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:bd6965240dec51147a2757c4f0b5f71801c838b1eabbfc3a4d5d6ee23ac9911f                                                    3.5s
 => => extracting sha256:3e59a99d12b81c952b817175901bffc4abed0c613fd573b389b5b03c0358e2da                                                    2.1s
 => => extracting sha256:f64a3caaf287e8a5831cedde8f2be18eb3968959a5c06099d961b2e126f859c7                                                    0.1s
 => => extracting sha256:e69c84677a1306677c2c5d8939db6fcb768efd370ede0911b1a937c438b5c104                                                    2.9s
 => [2/2] RUN eval $(sed -n "s/vscode:[^:]*:\([^:]*\):\([^:]*\):[^:]*:\([^:]*\).*/OLD_UID=\1;OLD_GID=\2;HOME_FOLDER=\3/p" /etc/passwd);  ev  0.2s
 => exporting to image                                                                                                                       2.2s
 => => exporting layers                                                                                                                      2.1s
 => => writing image sha256:bd6d30383d9f1e4b96007f2cea459610a9c3306dc3f0dc5550207161af74c466                                                 0.0s
 => => naming to docker.io/library/vsc-devcontainer-mwe-71919b40363d34d8434bc24d516dd689ec9b5f1c892b4c390e91adf3ab417ec9-uid                 0.0s

 1 warning found (use docker --debug to expand):
 - InvalidDefaultArgInFrom: Default value for ARG $BASE_IMAGE results in empty or invalid base image name (line 4)
[42981 ms] Start: Run: docker run --sig-proxy=false -a STDOUT -a STDERR --mount type=bind,source=/workspaces/devcontainer-mwe,target=/workspaces/devcontainer-mwe -l devcontainer.local_folder=/workspaces/devcontainer-mwe -l devcontainer.config_file=/workspaces/devcontainer-mwe/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json -u vscode --entrypoint /bin/sh -l devcontainer.metadata=[{"id":"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/common-utils:2"},{"id":"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1","customizations":{"vscode":{"settings":{"github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.instructions":[{"text":"This dev container includes an up-to-date version of Git, built from source as needed, pre-installed and available on the `PATH`."}]}}}},{"id":"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1","customizations":{"vscode":{"extensions":["dbaeumer.vscode-eslint"],"settings":{"github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.instructions":[{"text":"This dev container includes `node`, `npm` and `eslint` pre-installed and available on the `PATH` for Node.js and JavaScript development."}]}}}},{"id":"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1","customizations":{"vscode":{"extensions":["ms-python.python","ms-python.vscode-pylance","ms-python.autopep8"],"settings":{"github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.instructions":[{"text":"This dev container includes `python3` and `pip3` pre-installed and available on the `PATH`, along with the Python language extensions for Python development."}],"python.defaultInterpreterPath":"/usr/local/python/current/bin/python","[python]":{"editor.defaultFormatter":"ms-python.autopep8"}}}}},{"customizations":{"vscode":{"settings":{"python.defaultInterpreterPath":"/usr/local/bin/python"}}},"remoteUser":"vscode"},{"onCreateCommand":"touch ~/on-create-command-ran.success","containerUser":"vscode","remoteUser":"vscode"}] vsc-devcontainer-mwe-71919b40363d34d8434bc24d516dd689ec9b5f1c892b4c390e91adf3ab417ec9-uid -c echo Container started
Container started
Running the onCreateCommand from devcontainer.json...

{"outcome":"success","containerId":"fed6ef50532e19b81bec727cae9a59232a2fb4dd131c634a29d3daea99b02e1d","remoteUser":"vscode","remoteWorkspaceFolder":"/workspaces/devcontainer-mwe"}
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ 
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ 
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ 
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                                                       COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS     NAMES
fed6ef50532e   vsc-devcontainer-mwe-71919b40363d34d8434bc24d516dd689ec9b5f1c892b4c390e91adf3ab417ec9-uid   "/bin/sh -c 'echo Co…"   6 seconds ago   Up 5 seconds             gracious_knuth
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ 
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ docker exec -it fed6ef50532e bash
vscode ➜ / $ ls -lha ~/
total 48K
drwxr-xr-x  1 vscode vscode 4.0K Jun 19 05:59 .
drwxr-xr-x  1 root   root   4.0K May 30 10:56 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode  220 Mar 27  2022 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode 5.6K May 30 10:56 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 vscode vscode 4.0K May 30 10:56 .config
drwxr-xr-x  2 vscode vscode 4.0K Jun 19 05:59 .devcontainer
drwxr-xr-x 13 vscode vscode 4.0K May 30 10:56 .oh-my-zsh
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode  807 Mar 27  2022 .profile
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode   22 May 30 10:56 .zprofile
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode 4.0K May 30 10:56 .zshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 vscode vscode    0 Jun 19 05:59 on-create-command-ran.success
vscode ➜ / $ 

Note:- As you are using mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye devcontainer base image, its shipped with default vscode user which the onCreateCommand will try to use while executing the command. Therefore it should be used as containerUser and remoteUser to get the onCreateCommand command executed successfully. So slght changes in your devcontainer.json as below for the same.

@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ cat .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
{
        "name": "Python 3",
        "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye",
        "onCreateCommand": "touch ~/on-create-command-ran.success",
        "containerUser": "vscode",
        "remoteUser": "vscode"
}
@Kaniska244 ➜ /workspaces/devcontainer-mwe (main) $ 

Kindly let me know in case of further concern.

With Regards,
Kaniska

[cadojo]

Thank you! I'm trying to pre-build an image in CI using https://github.com/devcontainers/ci. It appears that the image pre-built using the instructions does not include the lifecycle commands. Even if the container is started with devcontainer up, the relevant lifecycle script contents are not included in the image that is pushed.

Does the CLI support pushing images with lifecycle script content included?

[Kaniska244]

Hello @cadojo ,

Lifecycle commands would only execute when you try creating/ starting the container which is when the lifecycle event occurs. In this case perhaps you need to be able to include the lifecycle comand in the devcontainer.json of the final devcontainer which is to be created & used. It won't work with the prebuilt image itself.

With Regards,
Kaniska

[cadojo]

Thanks again @Kaniska244. If you don't mind, I have some follow up questions. I'm perceiving some ambiguity in the documentation. For example, Speed Up Your Workflow With Prebuilds includes the following quote under the Codespaces section.

A prebuild assembles the main components of a codespace for a particular combination of repository, branch, and devcontainer.json file.

I also see a --prebuild option in the devcontainer up --help output, which references stopping the build prior after certain lifecycle commands.

My goal is to run some lifecycle scripts in onCreateCommand in CI, and pull those pre-built layers as image caches locally. Can the devcontainer up --prebuild feature help with this? Are Codespaces something I should look into instead?

[Kaniska244]

Hello @cadojo ,

The devcontainer up --prebuild will build the image & spin up the container, only difference being it will only execute onCreateCommand and updateContentCommand lifecycle events and skip other lifecycle events such as postCreateCommand.

The prebuilt codespaces could something indeed worth check as it could provide more flexibility in this case, ref. Also it could help looking into CI repo to pre-build the devcontainer images in GitHub actions CI pipeline. Only thing is that the lifecycle events would execute while spinning/ restarting the container.
Kindly let me know in case of further concern.