Build path ... either does not exist, is not accessible, or is not a valid URL. : exit status 1

[KES777]

Before you start, we need a little bit more information from you:

Use Case: Using Portainer at Home

Have you reviewed our technical documentation and knowledge base? Yes

Question:
If I have next compose.yaml:

version: '3.7'

services:
  api:
    image: proj/modules:2.0
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: modules.Dockerfile
    container_name: proj_modules
    entrypoint: bash -c 'while true; do sleep 600; done'

I get error:
Deployment error failed to deploy a stack: Building api Cannot locate specified Dockerfile: modules.Dockerfile : exit status 1

When I provide absolute path:

version: '3.7'

services:
  api:
    image: chimera/modules:2.0
    build:
      context: /home/kes/work/projects/Proj-DevEnv/xx
      dockerfile: modules.Dockerfile
    container_name: chimera_modules
    entrypoint: bash -c 'while true; do sleep 600; done'

Deployment error failed to deploy a stack: build path /home/kes/work/projects/Proj-DevEnv/xx either does not exist, is not accessible, or is not a valid URL. : exit status 1

How to upload into portainer my custom Dockerfile?

[KES777]

Would be nice if I can upload docker-compose.yaml and Dockerfile as tar, then portainer can run build without problem

[samdulam]

Using our Git functionality, it is possible to build an image. Keep in mind any paths for build need to be relative as we clone the repo into Portainer container’s file system.

[KES777]

Yes, I know that option. But I do not have private repository and do not want to share my code with third parties, so .tar option would be nice to have

[samdulam]

Fair enough, re-opening as an enhancement request.
Ideally though, you should look at building separately and using a registry.

[lyh16]

I would definitely like this feature to be implemented. Issue #7018 would be the ideal solution.

But for now, I found a workaround. A non-optimal solution, yes, but at least it works.

If you read the error message that is shown when referencing a Dockerfile inside your docker-compose.yml while using Portainer to spin your docker up, you can observe that no matter what path you specify for your Dockerfile, Portainer will try to find that path inside its data volume (which is called "portainer_data" if you have installed Portainer as per the official documentation). So, from the standpoint of Portainer, the path that is searched for your Dockerfile is: "/SOME/PATH/compose/SOMENUMBER/{THE_PATH_YOU_SPECIFIED}".

Since, the default location for your docker volumes is "/docker/volumes/portainer_data/_data", you can create a folder just for storing Dockerfiles per app and specify the relative path to your Dockerfile in the docker-compose.yml inside Portainer.

For example:
If you have a directory structure like the following on your Portainer host server,

portainer_data
|_ _data
   |_compose
   |    |_SOME_NUMBER
   |       |_docker-compose.yml
   |       |_.env
   |
   |_SOME_NAME
       |_MY_APP
          |_Dockerfile

Specify your build path like this in your docker-compose.yml:

version: "3"

services:
  server:
    build: ../../SOME_NAME/MY_APP/Dockerfile

This way, you can have Portainer build the relevant image according to your Dockerfile.

Edit: Refine graphical representation of directory tree.

[tamarahenson]

@KES777

I wanted to follow up on this request. We had an internal request that is a bit related here that was resolved in 2.16.

Have you upgraded? And, can provide feedback?

Thanks!

[KES777]

@tamarahenson I do not know how it was resolved. I did not upgrade. I just using WA, provided by @lyh16.

[tamarahenson]

@lyh16

I wanted to follow up on this request. Upon upgrade, has the issue been resolved?

Thanks!

[lyh16]

@tamarahenson
I can confirm that this issue still persists in Portainer Business Edition v2.17.1.
The below "docker-compose.yml" fails to build, because the specified path for the Dockerfile cannot be found by Portainer.

version: "3"

services:
  server:
    build:
      context: /PATH/TO/MY_APP/
      dockerfile: Dockerfile

[bothrajsuga]

Can anyone share a complete Dockerfile? When I try to write a Dockerfile, it causes errors.

/var/www/html/Explorer/portainer
│── data/
│── portainer-develop/
│ ├── api/
│ ├── app/
│ ├── build/
│ ├── dev/
│ ├── dist/
│ ├── distribution/
│ ├── node_modules/
│ ├── plop-templates/
│ ├── portainer/
│ ├── translations/
│ ├── pkg/
│ ├── ATTRIBUTIONS.md
│ ├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
│ ├── CONTRIBUTING.md
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ ├── LICENSE
│ ├── Makefile
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── babel.config.js
│ ├── binary-version.json
│ ├── docker-compose.yml
│ ├── go.mod
│ ├── go.sum
│ ├── jsconfig.json
│ ├── lint-staged.config.js
│ ├── mustache-templates
│ ├── package.json
│ ├── plopfile.js
│ ├── postcss.config.js
│ ├── tailwind.config.js
│ ├── tsconfig.json
│ ├── vitest.config.mts
│ ├── webpack
│ ├── webpack.config.js
│ ├── yarn.lock

[SMHRambo]

I can confirm that this issue still persists in Portainer Community Edition 2.33.3 LTS.

If you refer to the Docker Compose documentation in the web UI,
then it should also have the same range of functions.
This includes build context with absolute paths, just as is the case with volumes.

https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/build/