How to define build-args in docker-compose?

Question

I have the following docker-compose file

version: '3'
services:
    node1:
            build: node1
            image: node1
            container_name: node1

    node2:
            build: node2
            image: node2
            container_name: node2

I can build both images and start them with a single command

docker-compose up -d --build

But I would like to use build-args on the builds. The original build script of the image outside of the scope of compose looks something like this

#!/bin/sh
docker build \
--build-arg ADMIN_USERNNAME_1=weblogic \
--build-arg ADMIN_PASSWORD_1=weblogic1 \
--build-arg ADMIN_NAME_1=admin \
--build-arg ...
--build-arg ... \
-t test/foo .

Both images would use build-args of the same name but different value. Also, as there are dozens of build args, it would be convenient to store them in a compose service specific build-properties file. Is this possible with docker-compose?

Answer 1

You can specify the arguments directly in your docker-compose file:

node1:
    build: node1
        args:
            ADMIN_USERNNAME: weblogic1
            ADMIN_PASSWORD: weblogic1
            ADMIN_NAME: admin1
    image: node1
    container_name: node1

See the official docs for details.