I can't get env var in the Docker container

Question

I've ran my Docker container using this command: docker run --name test1 -d -e FLAG='***' rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd Now, when I connect to it via SSH, I can't get my env there via printenv FLAG. How can I fix this? When running with -it and sh, I can my get env via printenv FLAG.

Maybe envs passed using `-e` are used only for entrypoint and aren't set in container environment? — Dmitry Sharshakov, Mar 15 '19 at 12:03
@Alkaline yes! but if I connect via ssh and run `env` I don't see it — Dmitry Sharshakov, Mar 15 '19 at 12:16
u need to read this article: https://docs.docker.com/engine/examples/running_ssh_service/, especially part about variables — Dmitrii, Mar 15 '19 at 12:16

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 15 '19 at 13:40

Now, when I connect to it via SSH, I can't get my env there via printenv FLAG. How can I fix this? When running with -it and sh, I can my get env via printenv FLAG

You are doing two different things:

docker run -it -e FLAG='***' rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd sh will run a container in interactive mode with a shell, and this shell session will have the environment variable you passed on the command line. With docker run -d -e FLAG='***' rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd, a SSH daemon process will start with defined env vars.
when you connect in the container with SSH you will create a new shell session which does not have these environment variable set.

This can be observed when running a container, connecting to it using ssh and showing all processes and their environment variable:

docker run -d -p 2222:22 -e FLAG='test' rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd
ssh root@localhost -p 2222
...

We are now connected into the container, we can see the SSH daemon process (PID 1) and our SSH session process (PID 7):

root@788fa982c2d0:~# ps -xf
  PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
    1 ?        Ss     0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -D  # <== does have the FLAG env var
    7 ?        Ss     0:00 sshd: root@pts/0   # <== no FLAG env var

Lets check it out, print our current process env var, and the env var of the SSH daemon process:

root@788fa982c2d0:~# printenv FLAG # Nothing
root@788fa982c2d0:~# cat /proc/1/environ # We see the FLAG env var!
[..]FLAG=test[...]

As pointed out by @Dmitrii, you can read Dockerize an SSH service for more details.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 15 '19 at 12:41

1

Try Using below Command:

docker exec <container-id> bash -c 'echo "$<variable-name>"'

answered Mar 15 '19 at 12:41

Shrijan Tiwari

673
6
17

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 15 '19 at 14:39

As suggested by docs you might need to create your own Dockerfile with following changes

Project  
|--Dockerfile  
|--entrypoint.sh

Dockerfile

FROM rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd
COPY entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh"]
CMD ["/usr/sbin/sshd", "-D"]

File: entrypoint.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo "export FLAG=$FLAG" >> /etc/profile
exec "$@"

Command:

 docker build -t your-ubuntu-sshd .
 docker run --name test1 -d -e FLAG='abc' -p 2222:22 your-ubuntu-sshd

I can't get env var in the Docker container

3 Answers3