install nvm in docker

Question

I am in the process of building a new Docker image and I'm looking to get NVM installed so I can manage nodejs.

Reading the docs on how to install NVM they mention that you need to source your .bashrc file in order to start using NVM.

I've tried to set this up in a Dockerfile, but so far building fails with the error:

"bash: nvm: command not found"

Here are the relevant lines from my Dockerfile:

ADD files/nvm_install.sh /root/
RUN chmod a+x  /root/nvm_install.sh
RUN bash -c "/root/nvm_install.sh"
RUN bash -l -c "source /root/.bashrc"
RUN cd /root
RUN bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"

Here is the output from trying to build:

docker build -t nginx_dock .

Step 0 : FROM ubuntu
---> 826544226fdc
Step 1 : MAINTAINER dficociello
---> Using cache
---> da3bc340fbb3
Step 2 : RUN apt-get update
---> Using cache
---> 6b6b611feb4f
Step 3 : RUN apt-get install nginx curl -y
---> Using cache
---> 159eb0b16d23
Step 4 : RUN touch /root/.bashrc
---> Using cache
---> 5e9e8216191b
Step 5 : ADD files/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/
---> Using cache
---> c4a4a11296a2
Step 6 : ADD files/nvm_install.sh /root/
---> Using cache
---> b37cba2a18ca
Step 7 : RUN chmod a+x  /root/nvm_install.sh
---> Using cache
---> bb13e2a2893d
Step 8 : RUN bash -c "/root/nvm_install.sh"
---> Using cache
---> 149b49a8fc71
Step 9 : RUN bash -l -c "source /root/.bashrc"
---> Running in 75f353ed0d53
---> 0eae8eae7874
Removing intermediate container 75f353ed0d53
Step 10 : RUN cd /root
---> Running in feacbd998dd0
---> 284293ef46b0
Removing intermediate container feacbd998dd0
Step 11 : RUN bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"
---> Running in 388514d11067
bash: nvm: command not found
2014/09/17 13:15:11 The command [/bin/sh -c bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"] returned a non-zero         code: 127

I'm pretty new to Docker so I may be missing something fundamental to writing Dockerfiles, but so far all the reading I've done hasn't shown me a good solution.

Thanks

Answer 1

Based upon the suggestion in @Kuhess answer, I replaced the source command with the following in my Dockerfile

RUN cat ~/.nvm/nvm.sh >> installnode.sh
RUN echo "nvm install 0.10.35" >> installnode.sh
RUN sh installnode.sh

Answer 2

A key difference between the attempt to get the nvm command in the question:

RUN bash -l -c "source /root/.bashrc"

which doesn't work and the attempt to do the same in the accepted answer:

source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh

Is that the second version sources the nvm.sh script directly, whereas the original tries to do it via the .bashrc file.

The .bashrc file has a line in it early on which exits if it's being run in a non interactive shell:

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
    *) return;;
esac

So it never gets to the bit where it would have sourced nvm.sh which actually puts the nvm command in your shell.

I wouldn't be surprised if docker is running this stuff in a non interactive shell. This hadn't been explicitly pointed out, so I thought I would mention it as it's what caught me out when I was doing something similar with vagrant.

Answer 3

This is based on the top answer and works in 2018:

# Replace shell with bash so we can source files
RUN rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

# Install base dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y -q --no-install-recommends \
        apt-transport-https \
        build-essential \
        ca-certificates \
        curl \
        git \
        libssl-dev \
        wget

ENV NVM_DIR /usr/local/nvm
ENV NODE_VERSION 8.11.3

WORKDIR $NVM_DIR

RUN curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/master/install.sh | bash \
    && . $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh \
    && nvm install $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm alias default $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm use default

ENV NODE_PATH $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v$NODE_VERSION/lib/node_modules
ENV PATH      $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v$NODE_VERSION/bin:$PATH

Note that nvm is not a bash command, it is an alias. This can screw you up if you're relying on $PATH.

Answer 4

To help everyone that are looking for a way to install the Node.js with NVM on Ubuntu (last version), I made the dockerfile below. I'm using the last version of Docker, Ubuntu, Node.js and the NVM is working properly (the $PATH was fixed). I'm using this in a production environment.

$ docker info \
Server Version: 1.9.1
Kernel Version: 4.1.13-boot2docker
Operating System: Boot2Docker 1.9.1 (TCL 6.4.1); master : cef800b - Fri Nov 20 19:33:59 UTC 2015

Node.js Version: stable 4.2.4 LTS
Ubuntu Version: 14.04.3

dockerfile:

FROM ubuntu:14.04.3

# Replace shell with bash so we can source files
RUN rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

# make sure apt is up to date
RUN apt-get update --fix-missing
RUN apt-get install -y curl
RUN sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libssl-dev

ENV NVM_DIR /usr/local/nvm
ENV NODE_VERSION 4.2.4

# Install nvm with node and npm
RUN curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.30.1/install.sh | bash \
    && source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh \
    && nvm install $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm alias default $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm use default

ENV NODE_PATH $NVM_DIR/v$NODE_VERSION/lib/node_modules
ENV PATH      $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v$NODE_VERSION/bin:$PATH

RUN mkdir /usr/app
RUN mkdir /usr/app/log

WORKDIR /usr/app

# log dir
VOLUME /usr/app/log

# Bundle app source
COPY . /usr/app
# Install app dependencies
RUN npm install

EXPOSE  3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]