How to install nvm in docker?

Question

I am in the process of building a new Docker image and I'm looking to get NVM installed so I can manage nodejs.

Reading the docs on how to install NVM they mention that you need to source your .bashrc file in order to start using NVM.

I've tried to set this up in a Dockerfile, but so far building fails with the error:

"bash: nvm: command not found"

Here are the relevant lines from my Dockerfile:

ADD files/nvm_install.sh /root/
RUN chmod a+x  /root/nvm_install.sh
RUN bash -c "/root/nvm_install.sh"
RUN bash -l -c "source /root/.bashrc"
RUN cd /root
RUN bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"

Here is the output from trying to build:

docker build -t nginx_dock .

Step 0 : FROM ubuntu
---> 826544226fdc
Step 1 : MAINTAINER dficociello
---> Using cache
---> da3bc340fbb3
Step 2 : RUN apt-get update
---> Using cache
---> 6b6b611feb4f
Step 3 : RUN apt-get install nginx curl -y
---> Using cache
---> 159eb0b16d23
Step 4 : RUN touch /root/.bashrc
---> Using cache
---> 5e9e8216191b
Step 5 : ADD files/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/
---> Using cache
---> c4a4a11296a2
Step 6 : ADD files/nvm_install.sh /root/
---> Using cache
---> b37cba2a18ca
Step 7 : RUN chmod a+x  /root/nvm_install.sh
---> Using cache
---> bb13e2a2893d
Step 8 : RUN bash -c "/root/nvm_install.sh"
---> Using cache
---> 149b49a8fc71
Step 9 : RUN bash -l -c "source /root/.bashrc"
---> Running in 75f353ed0d53
---> 0eae8eae7874
Removing intermediate container 75f353ed0d53
Step 10 : RUN cd /root
---> Running in feacbd998dd0
---> 284293ef46b0
Removing intermediate container feacbd998dd0
Step 11 : RUN bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"
---> Running in 388514d11067
bash: nvm: command not found
2014/09/17 13:15:11 The command [/bin/sh -c bash -l -c "nvm install 0.10.31"] returned a non-zero         code: 127

I'm pretty new to Docker so I may be missing something fundamental to writing Dockerfiles, but so far all the reading I've done hasn't shown me a good solution.

Answer 1

When you RUN bash... each time that runs in a separate process, anything set in the environment is not maintained. Here's how I install nvm:

# Replace shell with bash so we can source files
RUN rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

# Set debconf to run non-interactively
RUN echo 'debconf debconf/frontend select Noninteractive' | debconf-set-selections

# Install base dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y -q --no-install-recommends \
        apt-transport-https \
        build-essential \
        ca-certificates \
        curl \
        git \
        libssl-dev \
        wget \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

ENV NVM_DIR /usr/local/nvm # or ~/.nvm , depending
ENV NODE_VERSION 0.10.33

# Install nvm with node and npm
RUN curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.20.0/install.sh | bash \
    && . $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh \
    && nvm install $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm alias default $NODE_VERSION \
    && nvm use default

ENV NODE_PATH $NVM_DIR/v$NODE_VERSION/lib/node_modules
ENV PATH      $NVM_DIR/v$NODE_VERSION/bin:$PATH