cannot replace to directory /var/lib/docker/overlay2/if2ip5okvavl8u6jpdtpczuog/merged/app/node_modules/@ampproject/remapping with file

Question

On my Windows machine, I am attempting to build a containerized node.js application with the following Dockerfile:

  # use latest version of nodejs
  FROM node:lts-alpine
  
  # install aurelia-cli to build the app & http-server to serve static contents
  RUN npm i -g http-server
  RUN npm i -g aurelia-cli
  
  # set working directory to app
  # henceforth all commands will run inside this folder
  WORKDIR /app
  
  # copy package.json related files first and install all required dependencies
  COPY package*.json ./
  RUN npm install
  
  # copy the rest of the files and folders & install dependencies
  COPY . ./
  RUN npm run build
  
  # by default http-server will serve contents on port 8080
  # so we expose this port to host machine
  EXPOSE 8080
  
  CMD [ "http-server" , "dist" ]

However, docker build . fails at the line Copy . ./. with the message cannot replace to directory /var/lib/docker/overlay2/if2ip5okvavl8u6jpdtpczuog/merged/app/node_modules/@ampproject/remapping with file.

What do I need to do to get my container image to build?

Answer 1

Add node_modules to a .dockerignore file in the same directory as your Dockerfile, as outlined here: (h/t David Maze).

Less gracefully, simply delete the project's node_modules directory then rerun docker build.