Use environment variables in CMD

Environment VariablesDocker

Environment Variables Problem Overview


Can I use environment variables in my CMD stanza in a Dockerfile?

I want to do something like this:

CMD ["myserver", "--arg=$ARG", "--memcache=$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_ADDR:$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_PORT"]

Where $MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_* would be set automatically by the inclusion of the --link parameter of my docker run command. And $ARG would be configurable by the user at runtime, maybe by the "-e" parameter?

This doesn't seem to be working for me, it seems to be literally passing through the string "$ARG" for example.

Environment Variables Solutions


Solution 1 - Environment Variables

This answer may be a little late. But environment for CMD is interpreted slightly differently depending on how you write the arguments. If you pass the CMD as a string (not inside an array), it gets launched as a shell instead of exec. See https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/builder/#cmd.

You may try the CMD without the array syntax to run as a shell:

CMD myserver --arg=$ARG --memcache=$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_ADDR:$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_PORT

Solution 2 - Environment Variables

CMD ["sh", "-c", "echo ${MY_HOME}"]

Answer from sffits here.

Solution 3 - Environment Variables

Both Andys had it right. The json syntax bypasses the entrypoint. When you use CMD as in their example, it is considered as an argument to the default entrypoint: /bin/sh -c which will interpret the environement variables.

Docker does not evaluate the variables in CMD in either case. In the former, the command is directly called so nothing gets interpreted, in the later, the variables are interpreted by sh.

Solution 4 - Environment Variables

I can't speak to how it is supposed to work, but I think if you called this as a shell script, e.g. CMD runmyserver.sh, then the interpretation of the shell variables would be deferred until the CMD actually ran.

So, try

myserver --arg=$ARG --memcache=$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_ADDR:$MEMCACHE_11211_TCP_PORT`` 

as a shell script?

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
Questionbrooks94View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Environment VariablesAndy ShinnView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Environment VariablesAlex PunnenView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Environment VariablescreackView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Environment VariablesAndyView Answer on Stackoverflow