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
    Page Visibility API

    One event that's always been lacking within the document is a signal for when the user is looking at a given tab, or another tab. When does the user switch off our site to look at something else? When do they come back?

  • By
    How to Create a Twitter Card

    One of my favorite social APIs was the Open Graph API adopted by Facebook.  Adding just a few META tags to each page allowed links to my article to be styled and presented the way I wanted them to, giving me a bit of control...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    background-size Matters

    It's something that makes all men live in fear, and are often uncertain of. It's never spoken, but the curiosity is always there. Nine out of ten women agree in the affirmative. Advertisers do their best to make us feel inadequate but...

  • By
    How to Create a Twitter Card

    One of my favorite social APIs was the Open Graph API adopted by Facebook.  Adding just a few META tags to each page allowed links to my article to be styled and presented the way I wanted them to, giving me a bit of control...

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!