Passing a JSON file as environment variable in Docker

Question

I would like to pass the content of a JSON file as an environment variable during the docker run. The docker run is initialed inside a systemd service file.

I did something like:

export TEMP_CONFIG=$(cat /etc/config.json)

and run docker container as follow:

docker run \
        --env SERVICE_NAME=${CONTAINER_NAME} \
        --env TEMP_CONFIG \

But when I am inside the docker container and try to echo the variable ${TEMP_CONFIG} It's empty.

root@ip-10-109-7-77:/usr/local/nginx/conf# echo ${TEMP_CONFIG}

root@ip-10-109-7-77:/usr/local/nginx/conf#

is there a way to pass content of a JSON file as environment variable?

BTW:

--env TEMP_CONFIG=$(cat /etc/config.json) \ 

Doing above throws an exception:

docker: Error parsing reference: "\"conf\"" is not a valid repository/tag.

The content of config.json is:

{
    "conf" :
    {
        "appname" :
        {
            "dbhost" : "xxxx",
            "dbname" : "dbname",
            "dbuser" : "user",
            "dbpassword" : "xxxxx",
            "hostname" : "xxxxxx"
        },
        "cacheBaseDir" : "/storage/",
        "iccprofile" : "/etc/nginx/RGB.V1.0.icc",
        "tmpDir" : "/tmp",
        "mdb" :
        {
            "user" : "user",
            "password" : "xxxxx",
            "rights" : "GlobalAdministrator",
            "company" : "somecompany"
        }
    }
}

Any help is definitely appreciated.

Adhere

Answer 1

Updated answer

You mentioned that you use the docker run command in a systemd unit file. A systemd ExecStart options is not started in a shell. Environment variable substitution is supported by name. Also see the documentation on this:

Basic environment variable substitution is supported. Use "${FOO}" as part of a word, or as a word of its own, on the command line, in which case it will be replaced by the value of the environment variable including all whitespace it contains, resulting in a single argument.

The doc also says that StartExec is not executed in a shell:

This syntax is intended to be very similar to shell syntax, but only the meta-characters and expansions described in the following paragraphs are understood. Specifically, redirection using "<", "<<", ">", and ">>", pipes using "|", running programs in the background using "&", and other elements of shell syntax are not supported. [...] Note that shell command lines are not directly supported.

However, you can use ExecStart to start a shell and then pass a command using the -c flag (you still need to quote the variable as mentioned in my original answer below):

ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "docker run -e \"TEMP_CONFIG=$(</etc/config.json)\" ..."

---

Original answer

Your JSON string contains spaces, and without quoting your shell will interpret everything after the first space as subsequent arguments. So TEMP_CONFIG=$(cat /etc/config.json) is essentially equivalent to:

--env TEMP_CONFIG={ "conf" : { "...

In this case, the TEMP_CONFIG environmant variable will have the value {, and docker run will assume "conf" to be the next argument (in this case, the image name).

Solution: Quote your bash variables:

--env "TEMP_CONFIG=$(cat /etc/config.json)"

Also, don't use cat when you don't have to:

--env "TEMP_CONFIG=$(</etc/config.json)"

Thickening

Unfortunately it doesn't work, I am getting the same error as before. BTW, the call is within a systemd service file. – Adhere

The systemd part is important! I'll update my answer, but I'd also recommend for you to include this information in your question. – Thickening

Thanks a lot for the updated answer, I use ExecStart=/bin/bash -c in my sytemd service file, and I also tried calling docker run with "TEMP_CONFIG=$(</etc/config.json)" as an argument, still the environment variable TEMP_CONFIG inside the container is empty. Just out of curiosity, in your updated answer there's backslash at both beginning and end: \"TEMP_CONFIG=$(</etc/config.json)\" what do they mean? – Adhere

I just tried your solution out and worked as charm, now I understand why there's a backslash in front, it is to escape the quotes. That was a very naive question, in the comment before, apologise for that :) I tried it before without the backslash. – Adhere

Since JSON uses double quotes for values, wrap the whole thing in single quotes for the shell. – Aframe

Base64 encode the JSON payload outside Docker, pass the shell-safe Base64 string in as an environment variable, and decode the message once inside Docker. – Mustang

Answer 2

If you want to do it on windows this working for me: you still need to quote the variable as mentioned below. See example here

Portiere