Overriding entrypoint and command in docker-compose.yml

[dmaze (David Maze)]

@dfee

Here is an example service container that launches a bash shell for me to work in with a virtual environment activated:

Three (or is it 4? or 5?) layers of bash shells seems to be over complicated. Is there a simpler solution?

(1) Docker containers are plenty of isolation themselves. In your Dockerfile, don’t bother creating a virtual environment, just pip install packages into the “global” space (on an Ubuntu base you’ll see files in `/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages’).

(2) Or, this is a fine use case for an entrypoint script:

#!/bin/sh
. /root/.env/api/bin/activate
p-api config
exec "$@"

Also note that the activate script is strictly optional, and you could instead

#!/bin/sh
/root/.env/api/bin/p-api config
exec "$@"

and not change the $PATH for the main container execution.