docker_image repository does not override default

[kuza55]

Describe the bug
Setting the repository flag on a docker_image target does not seem to override the default defined in pants.toml:

docker_image(
    name="base",
    image_tags=["0.1-{pants.hash}"],
    registries=[
        "@gcp",
    ],
    repository = "project/image",
)

Does not override

[docker.registries.gcp]
default = true
address = "europe-west4-docker.pkg.dev"
repository = "project/{directory}/{name}"

Pants version
2.17.0

OS
Linux via WSL

[kaos]

Hi @kuza55,

Sorry for the confusion. This is not clearly called out in the docs, but you provide the default repository using [docker].default_repository. Any repository configured on the registry takes precedence over that configured on the docker_image.

Consider the example where you have multiple registries all with their own repository pattern. If you want to repository from the target, simply leave out the repository config for the registry.

[kuza55]

Thanks for the explanation.

I think this behaviour is very counterintuitive though; in most systems (including in pants) the more specific configuration overrides the global configuration.

Ideally the repository and registry would be unified so that things could be overwritten in the BUILD file rather than being invalid, but invalid configurations like this could at least generate a warning with an explanation of what is happening IMO.

[kaos]

That's a fair point about the target value being more specific. I wonder if changing this to be more intuitive would cause any issues for existing uses..?
Agreed that an error/warning in case of conflicting values would make sense tho.

[vin]

I also found this confusing and inconvenient. I'd expect the more specific value specified on docker_image to be used, and fall back to the one specified on the registry otherwise (and fall back to default_repository otherwise). And it also cost me extra time that the value was silently ignored -- essentially if repository is specified on the registry then the parameter on docker_image is unusable.