dockerutil.BuildEmptyImage() fails with bad API version

[jimcottrell]

I've got a CI/CD pipeline that's run occasionally when we rebuild a image and create an optimized version with Slim. Without anything having changed that I'm aware of (same Slim version, same pipeline runner), this process has started failing with:

dockerutil.BuildEmptyImage: dockerapi.BuildImage() error = API error (400): client version 1.12 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.24, please upgrade your client to a newer version

I thought this might be related to #637, but it seems to be a separate issue, and the same thing happens whether or not I try setting --crt-api-version. Having updated everything to the latest versions, the problem continues. The issue seems to be specific to this environment, as a local build works.

---

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

1. slim build --http-probe-off --continue-after=enter alpine

(trivial reproduction; of course not our actual image)

cmd=build state=started
cmd=build info=params target.image='alpine' continue.mode='enter' rt.as.user='true' keep.perms='true' tags='' image-build-engine='internal' target.type='image' 
cmd=build state=image.inspection.start
cmd=build info=image id='sha256:05455a08881ea9cf0e752bc48e61bbd71a34c029bb13df01e40e3e70e0d007bd' size.bytes='0' size.human='0 B' 
cmd=build info=image.stack index='0' name='alpine:latest' id='sha256:05455a08881ea9cf0e752bc48e61bbd71a34c029bb13df01e40e3e70e0d007bd' 
cmd=build state=image.inspection.done
cmd=build state=container.inspection.start
time="2024-02-26T18:12:39Z" level=error msg="dockerutil.BuildEmptyImage: dockerapi.BuildImage() error = API error (400): client version 1.12 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.24, please upgrade your client to a newer version\n / output: "
time="2024-02-26T18:12:39Z" level=fatal msg="slim: failure" error="API error (400): client version 1.12 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.24, please upgrade your client to a newer version\n" stack="goroutine 1 [running]:\nruntime/debug.Stack()\n\truntime/debug/stack.go:24 +0x5e\ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/util/errutil.FailOn({0x231e3e0, 0xc0007e62a0})\n\tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/util/errutil/errutil.go:32 +0x4b\ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/inspectors/container.(*Inspector).RunContainer(0xc000464b00)\n\tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/inspectors/container/container_inspector.go:430 +0x77a\ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build.OnCommand(_, _, {_, _}, _, {_, _}, {_, _}, {0x0, ...}, ...)\n\tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build/handler.go:1132 +0x4632\[ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build.glob..func1(0xc0003d35c0)\n\tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build/cli.go:760](http://ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build.glob..func1(0xc0003d35c0)/n/tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/command/build/cli.go:760) +0x5d51\[ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*Command](http://ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*Command)).Run(0x3396180, 0xc0000af480)\n\[tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/command.go:163](http://tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/command.go:163) +0x583\[ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*App](http://ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*App)).RunContext(0xc000266d00, {0x233bb88?, 0x340d500}, {0xc00012e000, 0x7, 0x7})\n\[tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/app.go:313](http://tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/app.go:313) +0xaa5\[ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*App](http://ngithub.com/urfave/cli/v2.(*App)).Run(...)\n\[tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/app.go:224\ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master.Run()\n\tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/app.go:15](http://tgithub.com/urfave/cli/v2@v2.3.0/app.go:224/ngithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master.Run()/n/tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/pkg/app/master/app.go:15) +0x45\nmain.main()\n\[tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/cmd/slim/main.go:15](http://tgithub.com/slimtoolkit/slim/cmd/slim/main.go:15) +0x187\n" version="linux/amd64|Transformer|1.40.11|1b271555882eacdfb4e6598d6d0552e9b9b1449b|2024-02-02_01:36:22PM"

---

Specifications

• Version: 1.40.11
• Platform: linux/amd64 (self-hosted Bitbucket pipeline runner, which is configured for privileged Docker access so Slim can run)
• Output of slim version:

cmd=version info=app container='true' dsimage='false' location='/opt/atlassian/pipelines/agent/build/dist_linux' current='1.40.11' verdict='you have the latest version' cmd='version' version='linux/amd64|Transformer|1.40.11|1b271555882eacdfb4e6598d6d0552e9b9b1449b|2024-02-02_01:36:22PM' 
cmd=version info=host cmd='version' osname='Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS' osbuild='' version='#18~22.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 10 22:54:16 UTC 2024' release='6.2.0-1018-aws' sysname='Linux' 
cmd=version info=docker server.version='25.0.3' architecture='x86_64' cmd='version' name='a640edfcc04d' kernel.version='6.2.0-1018-aws' operating.system='Alpine Linux v3.19 (containerized)' ostype='linux' 
cmd=version info=dclient build.time='2024-02-06T21:13:08.000000000+00:00' git.commit='f417435' cmd='version' api.version='1.44' min.api.version='1.24' 
app='slim' message='GitHub Discussions' info='https://github.com/slimtoolkit/slim/discussions'
app='slim' message='Join the CNCF Slack channel to ask questions or to share your feedback' info='https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C059QP1RH1S'
app='slim' message='Join the Discord server to ask questions or to share your feedback' info='https://discord.gg/9tDyxYS'
app='slim' message='Join the Gitter channel to ask questions or to share your feedback' info='https://gitter.im/docker-slim/community'

[kcq]

Interesting... need to investigate/repro. Either way, the next release should address this. Check back a bit later or follow me on Github or Twitter to be notified when the new release is out.

[jimcottrell]

Sounds good, thanks. I'll see how the next version works out. We're still having some build issues, but it looks like if we set a DOCKER_API_VERSION environment variable, we can at least get past this error.

[jimcottrell]

For reference, other versions may work (1.44 did not), but we seem to be back in business with

export DOCKER_API_VERSION='1.25'

in our pipeline

[kcq]

@jimcottrell this might work as-is https://github.com/mintoolkit/mint/releases/tag/1.41.1 let me know if you still have problems there

[jimcottrell]

I've tried with v1.41.1 and no explicit DOCKER_API_VERSION and I get that same error: client version 1.12 is too old

[kcq]

@jimcottrell which version of Docker do you have installed? Are you on Mac or Linux? If you are on Linux are you using Docker Desktop or only Docker Engine? If you are on a Mac is it an AMD or an M1/M2? Trying to repro... more info on your environment will help

[sammcj]

Getting this on Fedora 39 with the latest stable docker-ce and slim installed.

slim build --target nvapi --tag slim --http-probe=false --dockerfile Dockerfile --dockerfile-context .
...
cmd=build info=build.error status='standard.image.build.error' value='API /build requires version 1.25, requested version 1.24 is insufficient'
cmd=build state=exited code=33554435 version=linux/amd64|Transformer|1.40.11|1b271555882eacdfb4e6598d6d0552e9b9b1449b|2024-02-02_01:36:22PM location=/usr/local/bin

dnf info docker-ce-26.1.1-1.fc39.x86_64
Last metadata expiration check: 4:53:24 ago on Sun 05 May 2024 09:04:18.
Installed Packages
Name         : docker-ce
Epoch        : 3
Version      : 26.1.1
Release      : 1.fc39
Architecture : x86_64
Size         : 104 M
Source       : docker-ce-26.1.1-1.fc39.src.rpm
Repository   : @System
From repo    : docker-ce-stable
Summary      : The open-source application container engine
URL          : https://www.docker.com

Setting DOCKER_API_VERSION='1.25' makes no difference.

Seems to be a common problem looking at #637 and caused by #641

[kcq]

@sammcj do you get the same result with this version?

[kcq]

@sammcj Here's the Vagrant-based repro with Fedora 39 and Docker 26.1.1. You should be good with the release version in the repro config. The release version you shared in this issue is out of date.