docker: having trouble running npm install after creating a new user

Question

So I have another follow-up question regarding installing a node.js-based framework under Docker on CoreOS, per this post.

So, because npm is finicky about installing from package.json via root, I've had to create a nonroot sudo user in order to install the package. This is what my Dockerfile currently looks like inside of our repo, building off of an ubuntu image:

# Install dependencies and nodejs
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y python-software-properties python g++ make
RUN add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install git
RUN apt-get install -y git

# Bundle app source
ADD . /src

# Create a nonroot user, and switch to it
RUN /usr/sbin/useradd --create-home --home-dir /usr/local/nonroot --shell /bin/bash nonroot
RUN /usr/sbin/adduser nonroot sudo
RUN chown -R nonroot /usr/local/
RUN chown -R nonroot /usr/lib/
RUN chown -R nonroot /usr/bin/
RUN chown -R nonroot /src

USER nonroot

# Install app source
RUN cd /src; npm install

I know that this is an inelegant way to do things, but I'm otherwise at a loss as to how to complete an npm install here. When I try the above, I get errors on all of the packages as they try to install:

 Error: Attempt to unlock javascript-brunch@1.7.1, which hasn't been locked
     at unlock (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:1304:11)
     at cb (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:646:5)
     at /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:655:20
     at /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:1282:20
     at afterMkdir (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cache.js:1013:14)
     at /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/mkdirp/index.js:37:53
     at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
 If you need help, you may report this *entire* log,
 including the npm and node versions, at:
     <http://github.com/npm/npm/issues>

 ...

Any thoughts as to how I should modify my Dockerfile? I can only assume that this is some permissioning issue having to do with the way that I've provisioned the nonroot user above that might be particular to the Docker framework; I have no problem doing this kind of thing on just a vanilla ubuntu install, albeit not from script.

Answer 1

so it turns out that this may be an issue with docker.

was able to get around this by switching from USER nonroot to RUN /bin/su nonroot instead, afterwards everything worked fine.

Answer 2

I was getting the similar mistakes when trying to create any yeoman project and finnally found the solution :)

I was getting that error because the owner of .npm folder in my home directory was "root" user so I used

sudo chown [username] .npm

and now I can use Yeoman and npm without errors :)

Hope it helps!

Answer 3

I have a couple of suggestions for modifications/suggestions:

• Cache your node modules earlier in the Dockerfile using something like this (put this right after the apt-get:

  ADD package.json /tmp/package.json
  RUN cd /tmp && npm install
  RUN mkdir -p /src && cp -a /tmp/node_modules /src
  

  This way if your application code changes you aren't rebuilding all your node modules each time. Put this before your ADD . /src. More details/examples are available in my blog post article.

• You shouldn't need to worry about running things as root in your Dockerfile... that is the default. Perhaps your problem isn't related to root but to the content inside your host's directory. Do you maybe need to clean out a lockfile from your code's dir?