Can we include git commands in docker image?

Question

I am new to docker. I would like to create an image which will run as part of my project build to check commited files.

My requirement is, Docker file should have these statements

Get commited files from current git repo
COPY myapp/ /app
CMD /app/entry.pl <git files> (as command line arg)

I would like to create an image for this process.

I should get the git commited files list from current local repo and pass those files to my application to scan those files.

While building my image I just need to copy my application but while running the container I need to run git diff to find changed files and pass that to my application as arguments.

Is it possible to run git diff by docker container?

UPDATE:

I tried to execute git diff on current repo from docker but it is saying not a git repository. I am running my docker images as part of continuous integration in gitlab yml file.

Please help me to achieve this requirement?

This is actually very similar to what some existing images do: e.g., gitlab-runner — emory
– emory, Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 15:13
I have to work with gitlab only. I am very new to gitlab and docker. Could you give me any document for this? — Techie
– Techie, Commented Jun 18, 2018 at 4:05
The usage guide is docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/docker.html. — emory
– emory, Commented Jun 18, 2018 at 13:15

Alejandro Galera · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-15 07:29:52Z

11

Yes, you can. Let me recommend some things about that.

Define a git token in github associated to a generic user. I like to give only read permissions to that user.
Declare some ARGs related to git in your Dockerfile, so you can customize your build.
Add Git installation to your Dockerfile.
Do git clone cloning only needed folders, not the whole repo.

So, your Dockerfile could be, for example for debian/ubuntu:

FROM <your linux distribution>
ARG GIT_USER
ARG GIT_TOKEN
ARG GIT_COMMIT
ARG SW_VERSION
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get -y install git
RUN git clone -n https://${GIT_USER}:${GIT_TOKEN}@github.com/<your git>/your_git.git --depth 1 && cd <your_git> && git checkout ${GIT_COMMIT} <dir_you_want_to_checkout>
COPY myapp/ /app
CMD /app/entry.pl /<your_git>/<dir_you_want_to_checkout>/...

Then, you can build as you know with:

docker build -t --build-arg GIT_USER=<your_user> --build-arg GIT_TOKEN=d0e4467c63... --build-arg GIT_COMMIT=a14dc9f454... <your_image_name> .

Good luck.

answered Jun 15, 2018 at 7:29

Alejandro Galera

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9 Comments

Techie Over a year ago

I need to run git diff while running the container to find changed files.

Alejandro Galera Over a year ago

Have you tried to execute git diff and it doesn't work? I don't understand why my proposal is not valid to you. When you install git you have all its commands.

Techie Over a year ago

Dockerfile should have only one CMD command right. So, how can I run both git diff and my application ? This is what I am trying to achieve . I am checking with Docker-compose. I started working on Docker just a week ago. So, I am trying to explore things.

ntwrkguru Over a year ago

I would put all of that logic into the perl script, but if you don't want to do that, then make the git diff as a RUN statement.

Techie Over a year ago

git diff should be executed by container whereas RUN is executed as part of build right ? correct me if I am wrong.

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Stunts · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-09 11:18:34Z

3

If you want a minimal docker image where you can use a git command I can recommend using gitlab/gitlab-runner:alpine from here as your image.

At the time of writing this image comes at 40Mb, which is close to the smallest I can picture that has git available. This will skip you some time in installing git using a package manager.

The image itself seem to be frequently maintained by the gitlab folks.

answered Oct 9, 2018 at 11:18

Stunts

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1 Comment

Sebastiaan M Over a year ago

At this moment (August 2020) the smallest I could easily find is alpine/git: alpine/git latest 974974a61fba 3 weeks ago 28.4MB

arash sc · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-15 06:41:42Z

1

you can run git commands in a docker container if you have git installed into the image.installation depends on your base image os, here is an example dockerfile based on centos 7

FROM centos:7
RUN yum clean all && yum install -y git

answered Jun 15, 2018 at 6:41

arash sc

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