source nvm.sh in dockerfile onbuild not work

[rickywu]

My situation is:

1 base:builder docker image

ENV NVM_DIR=/opt/nvm

nvm_install.sh

ONBUILD source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh

another dockerfile to build front-end app:

FROM base:builder as builder

RUN nvm use xxx

nvm command not found error.

I tried ONBUILD bash -c "source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" got the same problem, I just want to create one base builder image, user can ignore setup nvm and use node directly.

[ljharb]

nvm.sh has to be sourced in every RUN command, i believe.

nvm already provides a dockerfile on dockerhub; is there a reason you cant use that?

[rickywu]

Yes, I use in this way. But want to optimize, is possible?

[ljharb]

I'm not sure what you'd need to optimize, but the way to have a user not need to know nvm exists is just setting the default alias.

[rickywu]

I mean user can skip source nvm.sh and use default node directly in docker image build

[ljharb]

That's not something you can really do in a practical sense. You could, I suppose, hardcode the PATH - but why wouldn't you just want the user to have nvm available?

[rickywu]

set path seems not a good practice, because other env config also need to be set, such as node_modules dir

I provide base builder image for users with multi node version option, but most of them use npm directly in dockerfile, I have to notify them add source nvm.sh in one RUN command, lot of communication work.

I need nvm set a default version and can be used directly, when need change version then source nvm.sh is acceptable.

[ljharb]

I'm not sure if this is possible, although I suspect nvm's own dockerfile allows this. cc @PeterDaveHello for the docker question

[PeterDaveHello]

What's the scenario for this request? Does the user need to switch between different node.js versions in a Docker image?

[rickywu]

Yes, some user need 16, someone need 18, I just want provide only one base image

[PeterDaveHello]

Maybe using ENTRYPOINT or login shell with bashrc will help?

[rickywu]

I tried ENTRYPOINT, but source only effect in new forked shell, so not work

[PeterDaveHello]

So, what's your ENTRYPOINT command?