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dockerdockerfile

Conditional ENV in Dockerfile

Is it possible to conditionally set an ENV variable in a Dockerfile based on the value of a build ARG?

Ex: something like

ARG BUILDVAR=sad
ENV SOMEVAR=if $BUILDVAR -eq "SO"; then echo "hello"; else echo "world"; fi

Update: current usage based on Mario's answer:

ARG BUILD_ENV=prod
ENV NODE_ENV=production
RUN if [ "${BUILD_ENV}" = "test" ]; then export NODE_ENV=development; fi

However, running with --build-arg BUILD_ENV=test and then going onto the host, I still get 

docker run -it mycontainer bin/bash
[root@brbqw1231 /]# echo $NODE_ENV
production
Solution

  • Yes, it is possible, but you need to use your build argument as flag. You can use parameter expansion feature of shell to check condition. Here is a proof-of-concept Docker file:

    FROM debian:stable
ARG BUILD_DEVELOPMENT
# if --build-arg BUILD_DEVELOPMENT=1, set NODE_ENV to 'development' or set to null otherwise.
ENV NODE_ENV=${BUILD_DEVELOPMENT:+development}
# if NODE_ENV is null, set it to 'production' (or leave as is otherwise).
ENV NODE_ENV=${NODE_ENV:-production}

    Testing build:

    docker build --rm -t env_prod ./
...
docker run -it env_prod bash
root@2a2c93f80ad3:/# echo $NODE_ENV 
production
root@2a2c93f80ad3:/# exit
docker build --rm -t env_dev --build-arg BUILD_DEVELOPMENT=1 ./
...
docker run -it env_dev bash
root@2db6d7931f34:/# echo $NODE_ENV
development