Fix Bash Error in Docker

By  on  

I really enjoy working with Docker because it gives me more insight into creating and maintaining your own environments, mostly from scratch.  I instantly gained a greater appreciation for Ops engineers, package creators, and other engineers who work on low level software.  I think what I'm trying to say is that I've made a whole bunch of mistakes and completed an insane amount of Google searches for help.

One of the more basic errors I've recently encountered was trying to run a bash script within the container, only to get the following error:  env: can't execute 'bash': No such file or directory.  I was under the impression that bash was always a given in Linux machines, but apparently not in alpine images.  The fix was adding the following to my Dockerfile file:

RUN apk update && apk add bash

Or if you're in the machine, just run:

apk update && apk add bash

That command installs bash and your bash scripts should then work!

Recent Features

  • By
    39 Shirts – Leaving Mozilla

    In 2001 I had just graduated from a small town high school and headed off to a small town college. I found myself in the quaint computer lab where the substandard computers featured two browsers: Internet Explorer and Mozilla. It was this lab where I fell...

  • By
    Create a CSS Flipping Animation

    CSS animations are a lot of fun; the beauty of them is that through many simple properties, you can create anything from an elegant fade in to a WTF-Pixar-would-be-proud effect. One CSS effect somewhere in between is the CSS flip effect, whereby there's...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    MooTools ASCII Art

    I didn't realize that I truly was a nerd until I could admit to myself that ASCII art was better than the pieces Picasso, Monet, or Van Gogh could create.  ASCII art is unmatched in its beauty, simplicity, and ... OK, well, I'm being ridiculous;  ASCII...

  • By
    “Top” Watermark Using MooTools

    Whenever you have a long page worth of content, you generally want to add a "top" anchor link at the bottom of the page so that your user doesn't have to scroll forever to get to the top. The only problem with this method is...

Discussion

  1. Hamish

    Alternatively, you can use ash instead of bash.

    Not sure what the differences are, but I would expect parity on most standard features.

  2. If the script is simple you can use the default /bin/sh shell.

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!