Can't run rake db:create in Dockerfile with docker-compose

Question

I have a Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml like in the tutorial except I'm starting with an existing app.

My docker-compose.yml looks like:

db:
  image: postgres
  ports:
    - "5432"
web:
  build: .
  command: bundle exec rails s -p 3000 -b '0.0.0.0'
  volumes:
    - .:/myapp
  ports:
    - "3030:3030"
  links:
    - db

and Dockerfile :

FROM ruby:2.1.4
RUN apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y build-essential libpq-dev nodejs
RUN mkdir /myapp
WORKDIR /myapp
ADD Gemfile /myapp/Gemfile
RUN bundle install
ADD . /myapp
# RUN bundle exec rake db:create
# RUN bundle exec rake db:migrate
# RUN bundle exec rake db:seed

and database.yml

development:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: utf8
  database: myapp_development
  host: db
  pool: 5
  username: postgres
  password:

As you can see, I commented RUN bundle exec rake db:create because I was receiving an error:

could not translate host name "db" to address: Name or service not known
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1222:in `initialize'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1222:in `new'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1222:in `connect'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:324:in `initialize'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `new'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `postgresql_connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:315:in `new_connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:325:in `checkout_new_connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:247:in `block (2 levels) in checkout'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:242:in `loop'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:242:in `block in checkout'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/2.1.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:239:in `checkout'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:102:in `block in connection'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/2.1.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:101:in `connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:410:in `retrieve_connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:171:in `retrieve_connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:145:in `connection'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:144:in `rescue in create_database'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:85:in `create_database'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:62:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:62:in `each'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/activerecord-3.2.21/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:62:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:240:in `call'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:240:in `block in execute'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:235:in `each'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:235:in `execute'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:179:in `block in invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/2.1.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:172:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/task.rb:165:in `invoke'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:150:in `invoke_task'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:106:in `block (2 levels) in top_level'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:106:in `each'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:106:in `block in top_level'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:115:in `run_with_threads'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:100:in `top_level'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:78:in `block in run'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:176:in `standard_exception_handling'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/lib/rake/application.rb:75:in `run'
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rake-10.4.2/bin/rake:33:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/local/bundle/bin/rake:16:in `load'
/usr/local/bundle/bin/rake:16:in `<main>'
Couldn't create database for {"adapter"=>"postgresql", "encoding"=>"utf8", "database"=>"myapp_development", "host"=>"db", "pool"=>5, "username"=>"postgres", "password"=>nil}

Instead I had to docker-compose build then docker-compose run web rake db:create etc.

Why can't I have the db-creation/migration in the Dockerfile. It would be so much clearner. Can I achieve that?

Answer 1

When your web image is built (following the instructions of the Dockerfile ), it doesn't have a connection to a db container.

The webserver and database images are independents and the containers are linked when you launch them (following the definitions of the docker-compose.yml file).

You cannot link to a container during the image build because it would break the principle that an image build must be reproducible . Similarly, you cannot mount a volume from the host machine during an image build neither.

The docker-compose run web rake db:create command you used is a correct way to initalize the database.

Alternatively, you could launch the containers normaly with docker-compose , and then use the docker exec command to execute rake db:create in the web container.

Answer 2

Below is the correct order

❯ docker-compose run web rake db:create
Starting devops-hello-world_db_1 ... done
Creating devops-hello-world_web_run ... done
Created database 'myapp_development'
Created database 'myapp_test'

❯ docker-compose up
devops-hello-world_db_1 is up-to-date
Starting devops-hello-world_web_1 ... done
...

Answer 3

You may want to mount /tmp/db into your postgres container's /var/lib/postgresql/data .

By that the DB will be synced to your host and the next time you restart/rebuild the app this DB will automatically be initialized. Doings so have to run docker-compose run web rake db:create only once when you setup the project like you would to natively and from then on continue with just docker-compose run web rake db:create etc.

version: '3'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres
    volumes:
      - ./tmp/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data # Here you go!
  web:
    build: .
    command: bundle exec rails s -p 3000 -b '0.0.0.0'
    volumes:
      - .:/myapp
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    depends_on:
      - db

I really wonder why they didn't wrote that into the docs you linked. I opened a PR to add this.