DevContainer PostCreateCommand is not consistent with VSCode

[hinate13]

I'm trying to setup a barebone simple devContainer for use with VSCode on Windows 11 and also GitHub runner. I'm running into what seems like an obvious roadblock to make this happen. I was hoping the GitHub CLI would find the sh file to execute, but it's not searching from the right path. Any help to clarify the failure appreciated!

Here's my .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
    "name": "Test CI/CD Project",
    "build": { 
        "dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
    },
    "features": {
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {
            "version": "latest"
        }
    },
    "postCreateCommand": "chmod +x scripts/*.sh && scripts/post-create.sh",
    "postStartCommand": "chmod +x scripts/*.sh && scripts/post-start.sh",
    "customizations": {
        "vscode": {
            "extensions": [
                "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker"
            ],
            "settings": {
                "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "bash"
            }
        }
    },
    "remoteUser": "root",
    "forwardPorts": []
}

Here's .devContainer/scripts/post-create.sh:

#!/bin/bash

# This script runs after the container is created
echo 'Post-create script running (/.devcontainer/scripts)...'
echo "Current folder: $(pwd)"
echo "Current user: $(whoami)"

I also added /scripts/post-create.sh (note the difference in first echo showing identifying which script runs):

#!/bin/bash

# This script runs after the container is created
echo 'Post-create script running from (/workspace/scripts)...'
echo "Current folder: $(pwd)"
echo "Current user: $(whoami)"

Expectation: This build works in VSCode, and it prints

'Post-create script running (/.devcontainer/scripts)...'

However, when run from github runner, it will show:

Post-create script running from (/workspace/scripts)

See logs logs.txt

Here's my github workflow:

name: Test CI/CD with DevContainer Builder

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  test-custom-builder:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    # Add permissions for pushing to GitHub Container Registry
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
    
    steps:    
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v3

    # Add authentication step for GitHub Container Registry
    - name: Log in to GitHub Container Registry
      uses: docker/login-action@v2
      with:
        registry: ghcr.io
        username: ${{ github.actor }}
        password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

    - name: Pre-build dev container image
      uses: devcontainers/ci@v0.3
      with:
        imageName: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}/devcontainer
        # cacheFrom: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}/devcontainer
        # push: always    

    - name: Run make ci-build in dev container
      uses: devcontainers/ci@v0.3
      with:    
        push: never
        runCmd: python3 special_add.py
    # ...existing code...

[hinate13]

Curious if anyone else has PostOnCreateCommand or PostOnStartCommand invoking an external .sh file working? I've been scratching my head over this for a few days and tempted to move as much out of DevContainer.json and back to plain vanilla Dockerfile.

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @hinate13,

Thank you for raising the issue!

I’ve tested this use case in VSCode and observed the following behavior:

The postCreateCommand is executed only once, after the container is created and before the container starts.

The postStartCommand is executed every time the container starts.

However, I’ve noticed that the postStartCommand runs consistently, while the postCreateCommand only executes the first time the container is created. After clearing the cache and restarting the container, both commands are triggered again.

Have you experienced the same behavior on your end?

Could you please try this "build": { "noCache": true } in your devcontainer.json

Please let me know in case of any further concerns.

Thanks,
Sireesha

[hinate13]

Hi @sireeshajonnalagadda , my issue isn't whether those postCreateCommand and postStartCommand execute. They do execute as expected. The problem is that the working folder from which it searches for .sh files referenced inside postCreateCommand/postStartCommand is not in line with expectation. My postCreateCommand might be something like this:

"postCreateCommand": "chmod +x scripts/*.sh && scripts/post-create.sh",

so one would expect the file to exist as:

/workspace
  /.devContainer
    /scripts
        post-create.sh

However, as you can see from the logs, the github runner looks for it as /workspace/scripts/post-create.sh (missing .devContainer) altogether. I'm also open to alternative solutions; maybe I'm not using it the way others are, but if so, I'd love to know how others are handling this.

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @hinate13,
Thank you for providing a detailed overview of the issue.

I have seen from the logs your pwd (present working directory is /workspaces/test-ci-cd).
I assume you have also created another scripts folder here (/workspaces/test-ci-cd).

postcreatecommand is considering this script.

# This script runs after the container is created
echo 'Post-create script running from (/workspace/scripts)...'

Can you try to give the absolute path as (.devcontainer/scripts/post-create.sh)

Let me know if it works!

please feel free to reach out to me in case of any other concerns.

Thanks,
Sireesha

[hinate13]

@sireeshajonnalagadda , I had it use absolute path like this:

    "postCreateCommand": "chmod +x /workspaces/test-ci-cd/scripts/*.sh && /workspaces/test-ci-cd/scripts/post-create.sh",
    "postStartCommand": "chmod +x /workspaces/test-ci-cd/scripts/*.sh && /workspaces/test-ci-cd/scripts/post-start.sh",

And that does seem to provide a working solution for development on the build server. Not sure why I didn't think of that earlier! Thank you for the tip.

I will caveat though, it still would be more ideal if the working directory path for the CI devContainer execution was running similar to the dev/VSCode so that relative paths could still work. I'm concerned other places may use relative path, and this subtle inconsistency could still lead to issues.

I'll leave it to your discretion how to proceed, but I'm glad to be able to move forward for now. Thanks!!!

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @hinate13,
Even though the working directory path for the CI devContainer execution is similar to the one in dev/VSCode,
for the command to execute successfully using a relative path, the script must be located within your working directory (PWD). If it's not, you'll need to use the absolute path.
The logs are also indicating the same issue.
I've tested this in other repositories as well, and it seems that using the absolute path with postcreatecommand is the standard approach for now.

Please proceed with this method. I’ll go ahead and close the issue as resolved, but feel free to reopen it if you have any further concerns.