Not anymore persisting the /workspace content populated by custom .Dockerfile

[complyue]

Bug description

Content populated under /workspace/ during custom .dockerfile building, ultimately get lost when the workspace is started.

Steps to reproduce

https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/complyue/tour/blob/master/welcome.edh

Workspace affected

No response

Expected behavior

Haskell toolchain (GHCup and pieces it installs) installed during custom .Dockerfile building should persist as before.

Example repository

https://github.com/complyue/tour

Anything else?

It works before, not been touching the env until recently. /workspace should persist, right?

[svenefftinge]

I don't think that has ever worked. The /workspace is a mount and with that anything that is coming from the docker file is overlayed. If you want to prefill the /workspace folder you need to make use of prebuilds.

[complyue]

I configured prebuilds, then the prebuild log shows failure, as things populated by my .Dockerfile (https://github.com/complyue/tour/blob/master/.gitpod.Dockerfile) are lost when my init task is run.

Isn't this a bug?

[axonasif]

Hi @complyue, I see that you're writing files to /workspace from your dockerfile. Please use a different location (or leave the default location value) such as $HOME.

[complyue]

Hi @axonasif , but per the doc, only /workspace will persist, $HOME will get reset every time the ws is restarted, that situation has changed? Haskell GHC toolchain is rather heavy (10 GB at least) not feasible to setup every time the ws is started.

[axonasif]

@complyue that is true (for workspace restart/prebuilds) but not when you do it from a dockerfile, since that will bake your changes into the image/container itself in a static way.

[axonasif]

BTW, I was referring to this part of your dockerfile code, my suggestion was to change the paths to somewhere else other than /workspace (e.g. $HOME)

[complyue]

that will bake your changes into the image/container itself in a static way

my suggestion was to change the paths to somewhere else other than /workspace (e.g. $HOME)

@axonasif , persisted over ws restart is a requirement, can $HOME or some other dir you'd suggest warrant that nowadays? They used to be reset every time ws restarts.

[axonasif]

They used to be reset every time ws restarts.

Yes, they still do. But your workspace docker image is static once it's built, so whatever you put in those dirs from your dockerfile will be there between restarts

[complyue]

The essential requirement is that a branch don't trigger every user a toolchain setup (lasting about an hour) when he/she gp open it the first time. Prebuilds used to work for this scenario, by persisting Dockerfile populated toolchain payloads under /workspace.

Populating a user's own image may save him/her self that setup time for later ws startups, but won't help other users, I'm afraid.

[axonasif]

@complyue prebuilds work differently now. Only members added to your Gitpod organization can access the prebuild: https://www.gitpod.io/docs/configure/repositories/prebuilds#prebuilds-are-only-available-to-organization-members

I took a look at your .gitpod.yml and .gitpod.Dockerfile, I think we can approach this problem in a different way. Can you raise a support ticket from here?

[complyue]

@axonasif thanks for your kind advice! submitted.