Using addFile (Closure)

[sfitts]

This is totally user error, but I cannot figure out how to use the variant of addFile that takes a closure. My assumption is that it wants a copySpec closure, something like

{
    from 'myFile'
    into stageDir
}

But this fails on the line that uses the closure as a substitution parameter for the ADD line. There is something I'm missing here (I'm a groovy newbie).

[dwellner]

@mattgruter @sfitts Did you find a solution for your problem?

I also find the addFile API a bit confusing. There seems to be 2 addFile overloads:

addFile(File file), which puts the given file in the output folder and adds it to the dockerfile as ADD <file> /

This seems to be pretty useless, since usually files tend to go somewhere else than /.

Then there is addFile(Closure copySpec), which gives full control over copying the file, but that seems a bit unnecessary because typically the file just needs to go into the docker build folder. (stageDir)

Instead, if anyhow possible I would like to see something as simple as this

void addFile(File file, String destination) {
        stageDir.mkdir()
        project.copy {
            from file
            into stageDir
        }
        instructions.add("ADD ${file.name} " + destination)
    }

Or did I completely misunderstood something here?

[mattgruter]

@sfitts The addFile(Closure copySpec) API seems to be broken. Honestly I'm not sure how it ever worked. I'm working on a fix. So, no user error on your part.

@dwellner The recommended way to use the addFile(File file) API is with tar archive files:

addFile file('archive.tar')

Adding tar archives in a Dockerfile implictly unpacks the archive (see http://docs.docker.io/reference/builder/#add). The idea here is to add the docker payload by first creating a tar archive with the correct directory structure (e.g. an archive created by a distTar application task) and then passing the archive to addFile.

Until the addFile(Closure copySpec) API call is fixed, creating a tar archive is the most flexible way to add files. We'll probably also add a possibility to addFile(File file, String destination) in the next release (coming soon).

Cheers, Matthias

[sfitts]

Thanks for the update and for the explanation of how the other variant is designed to be used.

[mattgruter]

Fixed on branch 'dev'. Included in upcoming version 1.2