Can't use yum inside Docker container running on CentOS

Question

I am unable to run any yum commands inside my Docker container without getting the following error:

ovl: Error while doing RPMdb copy-up:
[Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/lib/rpm/Group'
You need to be root to perform this command.

I'm confused because I'm pretty sure docker containers are run with the default user root. Still, if I try putting sudo in front of a yum install -y <package> or yum update -y command I get:

/bin/sh: sudo: command not found

I'm using the following base image so I can easily run a Java Wildfly application inside Docker: https://hub.docker.com/r/jboss/wildfly/

The underlying distro is CentOS Linux release 7.2.1511 (Core)

I don't think sudo is in the base images by default. – Jess Mar 16 '20 at 19:34 — Jess, Mar 16 '20 at 19:34

NateW · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-20T01:54:49.717

99

Turns out the user was set to jboss in the base image.
When is switched to user root with the dockerfile command USER root everything worked.

edited Feb 20 '18 at 01:54

answered Jun 30 '16 at 22:08

NateW

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Got this running `centos/nodejs-6-centos7`... What a shame! – Marcello DeSales Apr 26 '18 at 23:46
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Ditto on `centos/python-36-centos7` – tutuca Dec 02 '19 at 20:35
after switching to `root` to perform `yum` step, should you change it back to the original user? In your case `jboss` – cryanbhu Oct 20 '20 at 06:21
Yeah, switching to ROOT is likely a security concern. Check out this thread for better docker user management: https://stackoverflow.com/a/48957722/4447761 – NateW Jul 29 '21 at 19:48

Can't use yum inside Docker container running on CentOS

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