Setting RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR in RabbitMQ 3.9.22 Docker image crashes on init

[David-Lor]

I want to install a certain custom plugin (.ez file) not bundled with RabbitMQ, which I'm running in Docker.
For this purpose, I'm trying to set a custom RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR path. However, setting this environment variable crashes the container on init.

Here's a reproducible example:

sudo docker run -it --name=rabbitmq-testing-plugins -v $(pwd)/plugins:/mnt/plugins -e RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR=/mnt/plugins rabbitmq:3.9.22

The error shown is the following:

$ sudo docker run -it --name=rabbitmq-testing-plugins -v $(pwd)/plugins:/mnt/plugins -e RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR=/mnt/plugins rabbitmq:latest
2022-09-04 14:06:18.361461+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> No configuration schema found

BOOT FAILED
===========
2022-09-04 14:06:18.371879+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> 
2022-09-04 14:06:18.371879+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> BOOT FAILED
2022-09-04 14:06:18.371879+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> ===========
2022-09-04 14:06:18.371879+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> Error during startup: {error,no_configuration_schema_found}
2022-09-04 14:06:18.371879+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> 
Error during startup: {error,no_configuration_schema_found}

2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>     supervisor: {local,rabbit_prelaunch_sup}
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>     errorContext: start_error
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>     reason: no_configuration_schema_found
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>     offender: [{pid,undefined},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {id,prelaunch},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {mfargs,{rabbit_prelaunch,run_prelaunch_first_phase,[]}},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {restart_type,transient},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {significant,false},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {shutdown,5000},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0>                {child_type,worker}]
2022-09-04 14:06:19.373836+00:00 [error] <0.131.0> 
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>   crasher:
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     initial call: application_master:init/4
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     pid: <0.129.0>
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     registered_name: []
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     exception exit: {{shutdown,
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>                          {failed_to_start_child,prelaunch,
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>                              no_configuration_schema_found}},
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>                      {rabbit_prelaunch_app,start,[normal,[]]}}
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>       in function  application_master:init/4 (application_master.erl, line 142)
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     ancestors: [<0.128.0>]
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     message_queue_len: 1
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     messages: [{'EXIT',<0.130.0>,normal}]
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     links: [<0.128.0>,<0.44.0>]
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     dictionary: []
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     trap_exit: true
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     status: running
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     heap_size: 233
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     stack_size: 28
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>     reductions: 170
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0>   neighbours:
2022-09-04 14:06:19.374400+00:00 [error] <0.129.0> 
2022-09-04 14:06:19.382343+00:00 [notice] <0.44.0> Application rabbitmq_prelaunch exited with reason: {{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,prelaunch,no_configuration_schema_found}},{rabbit_prelaunch_app,start,[normal,[]]}}
{"Kernel pid terminated",application_controller,"{application_start_failure,rabbitmq_prelaunch,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,prelaunch,no_configuration_schema_found}},{rabbit_prelaunch_app,start,[normal,[]]}}}"}
Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) ({application_start_failure,rabbitmq_prelaunch,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,prelaunch,no_configuration_schema_found}},{rabbit_prelaunch_app,start,[normal,[]]}}})

The ./plugins directory contains this file: https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-message-timestamp/releases/download/v3.10.0/rabbitmq_message_timestamp-3.10.0.ez

This happens with rabbitmq:3.9.22, rabbitmq:3.9.22-management and rabbitmq:latest.

[David-Lor]

I've rather published the issue on the Docker image repository, as it may be more related to the Docker image than RabbitMQ itself: docker-library/rabbitmq#572

[michaelklishin]

This node fails to find any rabbitmq.conf schema files, very likely because RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR is overridden in a way that does not include the directory with plugins and libraries that ship with RabbitMQ.

Also, you may have noticed that the plugin name says "3.10". You cannot use plugins built for 3.10 against 3.9.x nodes. Either move to 3.10 or use an older version of the plugin.