Month: September 2014

Speeding up CPAN module contributions using the Docker language stack images

Using the Docker perl language stack image for speeding up contributions to CPAN modules.

Docker Inc. just released our first set of programming language images on the Docker Hub. They cover c/c++ (gcc), clojure, go (golang), hy (hylang), java, node, perl, php, python, rails, and ruby.

As I need to do some work on API testing when I come back from holidays, I thought I’d look at the Net:Docker CPAN module – and of course, there is no Perl on my Boot2Docker image, so its a perfect opportunity to see what I should do.

After forking and cloning the Git repository, I created the following initial Dockerfile:


FROM perl:5.20
MAINTAINER Sven Dowideit SvenDowideit@home.org.au

COPY . /docker-perl
WORKDIR /docker-perl

RUN cpanm --installdeps .
RUN perl Build.PL
RUN ./Build build
RUN ./Build test

It fails to build during the ‘test’ step:


$ docker build -t docker-perl .

... snip ...

Step 6 : RUN ./Build test
---> Running in 367afe04c77e
Can't open socket var/run/docker.sock: No such file or directory at /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0/LWP/Protocol/http/SocketUnixAlt.pm line 27. at t/docker-api.t line 9.

Tests were run but no plan was declared and done_testing() was not seen.

Looks like your test exited with 255 just after 1.

t/docker-api.t ....
Dubious, test returned 255 (wstat 65280, 0xff00)
All 1 subtests passed
Can't locate IO/String.pm in @INC (you may need to install the IO::String module) (@INC contains: /docker-perl/blib/arch /docker-perl/blib/lib /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0/x86_64-linux /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0 /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.20.0/x86_64-linux /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.20.0 .) at t/docker-start.t line 3.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/docker-start.t line 3.
t/docker-start.t ..
Dubious, test returned 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
No subtests run

Test Summary Report

t/docker-api.t (Wstat: 65280 Tests: 1 Failed: 0)
Non-zero exit status: 255
Parse errors: No plan found in TAP output
t/docker-start.t (Wstat: 512 Tests: 0 Failed: 0)
Non-zero exit status: 2
Parse errors: No plan found in TAP output
Files=2, Tests=1, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.02 usr 0.00 sys + 0.21 cusr 0.03 csys = 0.26 CPU)
Result: FAIL
2014/09/26 16:08:19 The command [/bin/sh -c ./Build test] returned a non-zero code: 1

I’m going to have to give this Dockerfile a DOCKER_HOST (incorrectly using http://) setting (to one of my insecure plain text tcp based servers :), and add IO::String and JSON:XS to the cpanfile.

Unfortunately, because cpanm --installdeps . uses the files in the build context, this way does not use the build cache – so its slow. Its worth duplicating the contents of the cpanfile before the COPY instruction for speed.

So the working Dockerfile looks like:


FROM perl:5.20
MAINTAINER Sven Dowideit SvenDowideit@home.org.au

RUN cpanm Module::Build::Tiny
RUN cpanm Moo
#', '1.002000';
RUN cpanm JSON
RUN cpanm JSON::XS
RUN cpanm LWP::UserAgent
RUN cpanm LWP::Protocol::http::SocketUnixAlt
RUN cpanm URI
RUN cpanm AnyEvent
RUN cpanm AnyEvent::HTTP
RUN cpanm IO::String

COPY . /docker-perl
WORKDIR /docker-perl

RUN cpanm --installdeps .
RUN perl Build.PL
RUN ./Build build

This is a terrible cheat.

ENV DOCKER_HOST http://10.10.10.4:2375

RUN ./Build test
RUN ./Build install

CMD ["docker.pl", "ps"]

and then docker build -t docker-perl . results in:


bash-3.2$ docker build -t docker-perl .
Sending build context to Docker daemon 138.8 kB
Sending build context to Docker daemon
Step 0 : FROM perl:5.20
---> 4d4674548e76
Step 1 : MAINTAINER Sven Dowideit SvenDowideit@home.org.au
---> Using cache
---> 4ad0946e76aa
Step 2 : RUN cpanm Module::Build::Tiny
---> Using cache
---> f1b94d36a51c
Step 3 : RUN cpanm Moo
---> Using cache
---> 98de8c3a19a8
Step 4 : RUN cpanm JSON
---> Using cache
---> 73debd4ee367
Step 5 : RUN cpanm JSON::XS
---> Using cache
---> 89378a425f0b
Step 6 : RUN cpanm LWP::UserAgent
---> Using cache
---> 252fe329cf22
Step 7 : RUN cpanm LWP::Protocol::http::SocketUnixAlt
---> Using cache
---> a77d289faf19
Step 8 : RUN cpanm URI
---> Using cache
---> 6804b418778d
Step 9 : RUN cpanm AnyEvent
---> Using cache
---> c595f66bcf73
Step 10 : RUN cpanm AnyEvent::HTTP
---> Using cache
---> 31b25b2da3c4
Step 11 : RUN cpanm IO::String
---> Using cache
---> e54cd3d01988
Step 12 : COPY . /docker-perl
---> 4d4801209a79
Removing intermediate container c42897136186
Step 13 : WORKDIR /docker-perl
---> Running in 36575a59e465
---> 7042c67cf1b7
Removing intermediate container 36575a59e465
Step 14 : RUN cpanm --installdeps .
---> Running in c1b5cbb75c4a
--> Working on .
Configuring Net-Docker-0.002005 ... OK
<== Installed dependencies for .. Finishing.
---> 071f9caca472
Removing intermediate container c1b5cbb75c4a
Step 15 : RUN perl Build.PL
---> Running in fae9bbce142f
Creating new 'Build' script for 'Net-Docker' version '0.002005'
---> 2800182bd0ff
Removing intermediate container fae9bbce142f
Step 16 : RUN ./Build build
---> Running in a98cb6c7a808
cp lib/Net/Docker.pm blib/lib/Net/Docker.pm
cp script/docker.pl blib/script/docker.pl
---> f5ba5be85f9d
Removing intermediate container a98cb6c7a808
Step 17 : ENV DOCKER_HOST http://10.10.10.4:2375
---> Running in 1e8b3273974c
---> fffb42d69011
Removing intermediate container 1e8b3273974c
Step 18 : RUN ./Build test
---> Running in 3baacccbf17e
t/docker-api.t .... ok
t/docker-start.t .. ok
All tests successful.
Files=2, Tests=41, 5 wallclock secs ( 0.02 usr 0.02 sys + 0.26 cusr 0.06 csys = 0.36 CPU)
Result: PASS
---> f5d371cdc1fa
Removing intermediate container 3baacccbf17e
Step 19 : RUN ./Build install
---> Running in 60cd90714e02
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0/Net/Docker.pm
Installing /usr/local/bin/docker.pl
---> 62c6368a2fb0
Removing intermediate container 60cd90714e02
Step 20 : CMD ["docker.pl", "ps"]
---> Running in cb5ade11e146
---> 94984ed5756d
Removing intermediate container cb5ade11e146
Successfully built 94984ed5756d

So that I can use it:


bash-3.2$ docker run --rm -it docker-perl
ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS
e619112eae2f 10.10.10.2:5001/sve bash 1411104597 Up 7 days ARRAY(0x2b84a48)
363ec1c45841 10.10.10.2:5001/sve bash 1411104470 Up 7 days ARRAY(0x29bae20)

You can also run the container with bash – docker run --rm -it docker-perl bash so you can do some more testing, or try out more complex examples.

In this case, the ./Build test step probably needs to happen in the docker run phase, as it needs access to a working Docker daemon – this issue will be true for modules that talk to external resources.

I’ve made a pull request for the tiny changes to get me this far. Perhaps Dockerfiles like this could be a gateway into the world of contributing quick fixes for open source libraries.