78

I have installed TensorFlow using the following command 

docker run -it b.gcr.io/tensorflow/tensorflow:latest-devel

and I need to set up TensorFlow Serving on a windows machine. I followed the instructions and while running the below-mentioned sudo command while installing TensorFlow Serving dependencies:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
     build-essential \
     curl \
     git \
     libfreetype6-dev \
     libpng12-dev \
     libzmq3-dev \
     pkg-config \
     python-dev \
     python-numpy \
     python-pip \
     software-properties-common \
     swig \
     zip \
     zlib1g-dev

The following error is displayed:

bash: sudo: command not found
Peter V. Mørch
  • 13,830
  • 8
  • 69
  • 103
Vasanti
  • 1,207
  • 2
  • 12
  • 24
  • What's with the folks voting to close-as-Superuser? Questions about writing a Dockerfile are certainly dev-related; this one should be closed for not having sufficient information to reproduce (not containing the full Dockerfile, run command, or even the error except behind an image link), not as belonging on SU. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 20:24

3 Answers3

123

docker comes along with root it doesnt require sudo.

BTW if you want sudo in docker if you want to install sudo,

try this,

apt-get update && \
      apt-get -y install sudo

now you can use sudo along with your command in docker...

Mohideen bin Mohammed
  • 18,813
  • 10
  • 112
  • 118
  • 8
    There is no reason to weaken the security of the container by installing `sudo` in it, even if you can. – Peter V. Mørch Oct 19 '19 at 12:18
  • In case apt-get is not installed use: `apk add --update sudo` – Mihai.Mehe Jul 31 '20 at 01:57
  • 1
    @PeterV.Mørch isn't it useful for commands like `sudo --user postgres psql -d template1`? – dumbledad Feb 09 '22 at 15:21
  • 1
    @PeterV.Mørch - how do you run chmod then? I get Operation not permitted . So I guess thats why I need sudo – Darius.V Apr 06 '22 at 10:38
  • @Darius.V You can run `chmod` on files you own or have the rights to modify, but not on other files. Hopefully, if you need to `chmod` other files, you can do that in `Dockerfile` while building the image (where you _can_ do things as root), but once the image has been built, you shouldn't need `chmod` for files your user doesn't have rights for. And if you do, your app requires root access, in which case my claim here is that then it needs a security review, likely for multiple other reasons too :-) – Peter V. Mørch Apr 06 '22 at 10:57
  • @PeterV.Mørch How security weakens since the user is already root? – alper May 25 '22 at 20:21
  • 1
    @alper It is safe to be root while you're building the container using `Dockerfile`. For that you don't need `sudo`, because you're root already. It is *not* safe to be root while *running* the container. So you shouldn't need `sudo`. Just installing `sudo` weakens security. If for some reason your application needs `sudo` *at runtime*, my claim is that your application is broken form a security standpoint. Or tell me the specifics that require `sudo` and we'll take it from there. – Peter V. Mørch May 26 '22 at 11:13
  • In my bash scripts I have plenty of `sudo ...` commands like `sudo mkdir /work` or `sudo rm -rf /...`. When `sudo` is not installed, bash scripts does not work in the container. Its hard to maintain the same bash script for the container and the host machine – alper May 26 '22 at 11:58
26

Docker images typically do not have sudo, you are already running as root by default. Try

apt-get update && apt-get install -y build-essential curl git libfreetype6-dev libpng12-dev libzmq3-dev pkg-config python-dev python-numpy python-pip software-properties-common swig zip zlib1g-d

If you wish to not run as root, see the Docker documentation on the User command.

Haralan Dobrev
  • 7,617
  • 2
  • 48
  • 66
Sam Myers
  • 2,112
  • 2
  • 15
  • 13
  • The backslashes are actually harmful if, as here, you're putting everything on one line (since in this case, they're escaping whitespace, making the argument that would be `build-essential` instead be `build-essential`); they're only correct in a multi-line command, as the OP was attempting to enter but failed to code-format. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 19:55
  • @sam: On running the command "apt-get update && apt-get install -y \ build-essential \ curl \ git \ libfreetype6-dev \ libpng12-dev \ libzmq3-dev \ pkg-config \ python-dev \ python-numpy \ python-pip \ software-properties-common \ swig \ zip \ zlib1g-d", the error "bash: apt-get: command not found" is displayed. – Vasanti Oct 11 '16 at 19:57
  • @Vasanti, well, that's pretty straightforward on its face, no? What's the base image you're extending? – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 19:58
  • @CharlesDuffy: I run the following command to build my container "docker run -it b.gcr.io/tensorflow/tensorflow:latest-devel" – Vasanti Oct 11 '16 at 20:02
  • Hmm. If that's based on the Dockerfile at https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/tools/docker/Dockerfile.devel, then it *is* Ubuntu-based, and so *should* have apt-get. Be interesting to figure out if the internal PATH is wrong, or if it's not really a match for that Dockerfile. Easy to do that, though -- just `echo $PATH` and `ls -l /usr/sbin` inside the container. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 20:22
  • @Vasanti, ...btw, please edit these clarifications **into the question itself**, rather than having them exist only as comments. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 20:23
  • @CharlesDuff: on running the command, ls -l /usr/bin/sbin, the following error is displayed: – Vasanti Oct 11 '16 at 20:26
  • ls: cannot access 'usr/bin/sbin': No such fifle or directory – Vasanti Oct 11 '16 at 20:27
  • @Vasanti, `/usr/bin/sbin`? Huh? I said `/usr/sbin`. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 20:33
  • @CharlesDuffy: It still shows the same error message "ls: cannot access '/usr/sbin": No such file or directory" – Vasanti Oct 11 '16 at 20:36
  • I'd suggest using the official Tenserflow dockerfile to build the image yourself, rather than something off Google's repository, then; the aforementioned official Dockerfile definitely is Ubuntu-based and doesn't prune sbin. – Charles Duffy Oct 11 '16 at 20:38
6

We don't want to weaken the security of the container by installing sudo in it. But we also don't want to change existing scripts that work on normal machines just so that they work in docker, which doesn't need the sudo.

Instead, we can define a dummy bash script to replace sudo, which just executes the arguments without elevating permissions, and is only defined inside the docker image.

Add this to your Dockerfile:

# Make sudo dummy replacement, so we don't weaken docker security
RUN echo "#!/bin/bash\n\$@" > /usr/bin/sudo
RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/sudo
TamaMcGlinn
  • 2,840
  • 23
  • 34
  • I couldn't get this to work with an Ubuntu image. I tried switching to the `/bin/bash` to `/bin/sh` but still kept getting `/bin/sh: 1: sudo: not found` – crypdick Aug 24 '22 at 15:40
  • strange, it worked for me. With just an ubuntu image and the lines above, can you `docker run -it ... bash` and examine the /usr/bin/sudo file? Perhaps /usr/bin isn't in PATH in your image? – TamaMcGlinn Aug 25 '22 at 07:59
  • I already moved on and solved it another way. I actually lied a bit-- I was using `atlassian/default-image:3`, which they claim is based off Ubuntu's image. Maybe they did something funny. Thanks for the help, anyway – crypdick Aug 25 '22 at 15:36
  • This seems to be the correct answer for situations where a script is being executed that invokes `sudo`, so thanks – brasskazoo Sep 17 '22 at 13:10
  • 1
    I had to add '-e': e.g. RUN echo -e "#!/bin/bash\n\$@" > /usr/bin/sudo – trash80 Jan 13 '23 at 18:50