Unable to persist state during docker build

[sdaschner]

I expected that I can modify the initial state of database in the Dockerfile, e.g. creating some indexes. It seems, however, that the state that I persist during the build steps is lost, maybe due to the entrypoint script?

Steps to reproduce

Following Dockerfile:

FROM neo4j:4.0.4-enterprise
ENV NEO4J_ACCEPT_LICENSE_AGREEMENT yes

COPY neo4j.conf /conf/
COPY schema.cypher /

RUN neo4j-admin set-initial-password test \
 && neo4j start \
 && sleep 10 \
 && /bin/bash -c "cat /schema.cypher | cypher-shell -u neo4j -p test --format verbose" \
 && neo4j stop

Following schema.cypher:

:begin
CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (node:SomeNode) ASSERT (w.uuid) IS NODE KEY;
:commit

CALL db.awaitIndexes(300);

The resulting database image, after a docker build -t <image> . however is empty, without any indexes. If I run the RUN steps manually in a Docker container, it works as expected.

Tested with both neo4j:4.0.4-enterprise and neo4j:3.5.14-enterprise.

[jennyowen]

What's the log output of the docker build? Neo4j needs to be started as the neo4j:neo4j user, but your Dockerfile will be running it as root, which might be causing problems.

Could you also try adding USER neo4j:neo4j before your RUN?

[sdaschner]

Sure:

 ---> Running in 05bf08ff960e
Changed password for user 'neo4j'.
Active database: graph.db
Directories in use:
  home:         /var/lib/neo4j
  config:       /var/lib/neo4j/conf
  logs:         /var/lib/neo4j/logs
  plugins:      /var/lib/neo4j/plugins
  import:       /var/lib/neo4j/import
  data:         /var/lib/neo4j/data
  certificates: /var/lib/neo4j/certificates
  run:          /var/lib/neo4j/run
Starting Neo4j.
Started neo4j (pid 121). It is available at http://localhost:7474/
There may be a short delay until the server is ready.
See /var/lib/neo4j/logs/neo4j.log for current status.
0 rows available after 212 ms, consumed after another 0 ms
Added 1 constraints
0 rows available after 171 ms, consumed after another 0 ms
Stopping Neo4j.. stopped
Removing intermediate container 05bf08ff960e
 ---> e33d33c85441
Successfully built e33d33c85441

Adding the USER directive didn't change anything. The contents of all the directories and logs are empty on start of the image (here e33d33c85441)...

[bfeshti]

Hello @sdaschner, seems like you have the same isssue as here: https://github.com/neo4j/docker-neo4j/issues/166 Please try to follow this workaround and let us know if it works for you. Thanks.