# Docker: Permission error **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [April 2, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818 "2021-04-02T22:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rushcode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ea924/32.png) [@rushcode](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/rushcode)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/1 "2021-04-02T22:29:29Z")
I’m having some trouble with “Setting the User” in the “Building Images” section in the Docker course. My local machine is running Ubuntu and when I run this command: sudo docker build -t react-app . I get this error from npm: Sending build context to Docker daemon 2.248MB Step 1/9 : FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 —\> 50bfd284aa0d Step 2/9 : RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app —\> Using cache —\> d6571e5eb8c6 Step 3/9 : USER app —\> Using cache —\> 21377574fca0 Step 4/9 : WORKDIR /app —\> Using cache —\> eb3d0e74d36e Step 5/9 : COPY . . —\> Using cache —\> 88dbdd352458 Step 6/9 : RUN npm install —\> Running in 09d360a010c3 npm WARN read-shrinkwrap This version of npm is compatible with lockfileVersion@1, but package-lock.json was generated for lockfileVersion@2. I’ll try to do my best with it! npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /app npm ERR! code EACCES npm ERR! syscall access npm ERR! path /app npm ERR! errno -13 npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access ‘/app’ npm ERR! [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access ‘/app’] { npm ERR! errno: -13, npm ERR! code: ‘EACCES’, npm ERR! syscall: ‘access’, npm ERR! path: ‘/app’ npm ERR! } npm ERR! npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system. npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user npm ERR! npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator. npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: npm ERR! /home/app/.npm/\_logs/2021-04-02T22\_17\_49\_152Z-debug.log It must be because of the way my Dockerfile is setup which is like this FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app USER app WORKDIR /app COPY . . RUN npm install ENV API\_URL=http://api.myapp.com/ EXPOSE 3000 CMD [“npm”, “start”] I believe these are my permissions in that container because when I run: /app $ ls -l This is the output: total 1160 -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 184 Apr 2 21:43 Dockerfile -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 3362 Mar 5 19:00 README.md drwxr-xr-x 1051 root root 36864 Apr 2 21:44 node\_modules -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 649995 Apr 2 21:45 package-lock.json -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 813 Apr 2 00:16 package.json drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 9 16:27 public drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 9 16:27 src -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 475840 Apr 2 00:16 yarn.lock So this is a little different from Mosh’s permissions, namely I’m interested in the Dockerfile’s line of permissions because in it he has: -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 184 Apr 2 21:43 Dockerfile Because in the second group he has “-r-” and I have “-rw” ---
**Author:** ![cpothirajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@cpothirajan](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/cpothirajan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/2 "2021-04-03T17:22:01Z")
I have this error too. would be great if someone solves it. ---
**Author:** ![damk73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@damk73](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/damk73)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/3 "2021-04-04T01:58:09Z")
anyone? please, I had this error too in section6-vidly ---
**Author:** ![damk73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@damk73](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/damk73)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/4 "2021-04-04T07:24:22Z")
turns out we have to make /app and change its own to app with RUN command RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app found this solution in section7 ---
**Author:** ![cpothirajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@cpothirajan](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/cpothirajan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/5 "2021-04-04T14:56:14Z")
Hi @damk73 Can you share the Docerfile content, please ---
**Author:** ![damk73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@damk73](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/damk73)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/6 "2021-04-04T17:31:30Z")
@cpothirajan this is my Dockerfile looks like: FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app USER app WORKDIR /app COPY package\*.json ./ RUN npm install COPY . . EXPOSE 3000 CMD [“npm”, “start”] ---
**Author:** ![cpothirajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@cpothirajan](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/cpothirajan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/7 "2021-04-05T14:27:12Z")
Thanks @damk73 This worked. ---
**Author:** ![rpmacaspac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@rpmacaspac](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/rpmacaspac)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/10 "2021-04-10T05:47:30Z")
@rushcode I have the same error and try workarounds with different Dockerfile until it went through. This one should work: FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app WORKDIR /app RUN chmod 777 /app USER app COPY . . RUN npm install ENV API\_URL=http://api.myapp.com/ EXPOSE 3000 USER app After trying different things I realized that I cannot run npm install when user is app. Also, since the app folder is owned by user app and group app, root user cannot access the directory and return an error as a result. Solution could then be allow others to rwx on folder app. ---
**Author:** ![krystonen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.codewithmosh.com/krystonen/32/1345_2.png) [@krystonen](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/krystonen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/11 "2021-04-11T19:52:54Z")
I am also having this issue when I run docker-compose up (with front-end) in vidly app: **My Dockerfile looks like this:** FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app WORKDIR /app USER app COPY package\*.json ./ RUN npm install COPY . . EXPOSE 3001 CMD [“npm”, “start”] **Error:** Building frontend Step 1/9 : FROM node:14.16.0-alpine3.13 —\> 50bfd284aa0d Step 2/9 : RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app —\> Using cache —\> 6ca742a1d296 Step 3/9 : USER app —\> Using cache —\> 4cda9967d9fb Step 4/9 : WORKDIR /app —\> Using cache —\> 4c1c23db6dbb Step 5/9 : COPY package\*.json ./ —\> Using cache —\> 37e4ef5cef96 Step 6/9 : RUN npm install —\> Running in b198c5c0af66 npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /app npm ERR! code EACCES npm ERR! syscall access npm ERR! path /app npm ERR! errno -13 npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access ‘/app’ npm ERR! [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access ‘/app’] { npm ERR! errno: -13, npm ERR! code: ‘EACCES’, npm ERR! syscall: ‘access’, npm ERR! path: ‘/app’ npm ERR! } npm ERR! npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system. npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user npm ERR! npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator. npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: npm ERR! /home/app/.npm/\_logs/2021-04-11T19\_46\_52\_198Z-debug.log ERROR: Service ‘frontend’ failed to build : The command ‘/bin/sh -c npm install’ returned a non-zero code: 243 ---
**Author:** ![kuldeepsingh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecccb3/32.png) [@kuldeepsingh](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/kuldeepsingh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/13 "2021-04-13T12:02:26Z")
I think you should move ``USER app `before` WORKDIR /app ---
**Author:** ![WendyMcF](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.codewithmosh.com/wendymcf/32/1386_2.png) [@WendyMcF](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/WendyMcF)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/14 "2021-04-14T15:35:19Z")
Referring to your Dockerfile just solved a 2nd issue for me. From ~5:20 in “13- Speeding Up Builds” I got this build error: Step 6/11 : COPY package\*.json . When using COPY with more than one source file, the destination must be a directory and end with a / Changing the COPY fixed that. before: COPY package\*.json . after: COPY package\*.json ./ ---
**Author:** ![Salad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Salad](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/Salad)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/15 "2021-04-17T10:43:25Z")
## A quick solution. Just use default user and group. Before reaching **docker-compose tutorial section** , below command worked: … RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app USER app … salad@2021:~/Desktop/vidly$ docker exec -it e2 sh I realized the docker containers discarded everything “app” user for “node” user: ### Comment out the switch user line and let docker use the user of it’s choice ``` # USER app ``` **Still the question is how not to have custom user overridden by docker-compose up?** ---
**Author:** ![Madk81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@Madk81](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/Madk81)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/16 "2021-05-05T09:13:06Z")
Just made an account to reply on this thread. After googling for some time I found this workaround: FROM node:15.14-alpine3.11 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app USER app WORKDIR /app COPY --chown=app:app . . RUN npm install EXPOSE 3000 DO NOT CHANGE PERMISSIONS TO 777. DO NOT RUN chmod 777 /app. Doing so will give your app 0 security. Getting hacked can happen, but setting permissions to 777 in linux is like emailing the hacker your passwords and account details. ---
**Author:** ![yashrathi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yashrathi](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/yashrathi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/17 "2021-05-07T08:47:31Z")
I have the same error, but my Dockerfile contents is almost same as instructor. Only I use different version of node with alpine. I wonder why it worked for him. ---
**Author:** ![yashrathi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yashrathi](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/yashrathi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 9:43am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/18 "2021-05-07T09:43:48Z")
``` /app $ ls -l | grep node_modules drwxr-xr-x 1 app app 26866 May 7 09:32 node_modules ``` @damk73 Hello, is it not a security risk that our, node\_modules folder is owned by user app. So user app have the permission to overwrite the contents. So hacker can put malicious code there? Dockerfile: FROM node:16.0.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app WORKDIR /app COPY . . RUN npm install EXPOSE 3000 USER app CMD npm start ---
**Author:** ![Severn2j](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.codewithmosh.com/severn2j/32/268_2.png) [@Severn2j](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/Severn2j)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 10:31am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/19 "2021-05-07T10:31:16Z")
I did some investigation into why this happens as I had the same issue and it turns out that the USER variable only applies to RUN, CMD and ENTRYPOINTS. So if WORKDIR has to create the directory, it creates it as root, regardless of what the USER is set as. So, the way to do it is to create the directory and change the ownership to ‘app’ before the USER statement:- RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app USER app WORKDIR /app Not sure why it worked for Mosh though, everything I read suggested it shouldnt have. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![yashrathi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yashrathi](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/yashrathi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:05am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/20 "2021-05-07T11:05:39Z")
My Dockerfile is: FROM node:16.0.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app USER app WORKDIR /app COPY . . RUN npm install When I build the container I get this error: npm ERR! code EACCES npm ERR! syscall open npm ERR! path /app/package-lock.json npm ERR! errno -13 npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, open ‘/app/package-lock.json’ npm ERR! [Error: EACCES: permission denied, open ‘/app/package-lock.json’] { npm ERR! errno: -13, npm ERR! code: ‘EACCES’, npm ERR! syscall: ‘open’, npm ERR! path: ‘/app/package-lock.json’ npm ERR! } npm ERR! npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system. npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user npm ERR! npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator. npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: npm ERR! /home/app/.npm/\_logs/2021-05-07T11\_03\_16\_104Z-debug.log Even though, package.lock and package.json files could be read by others users also. Please help, why this happens? @Mosh please could you clarify ---
**Author:** ![acjr1910](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.codewithmosh.com/acjr1910/32/1597_2.png) [@acjr1910](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/acjr1910)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/21 "2021-05-13T00:11:12Z")
Thanks! This worked for me. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![comituairma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@comituairma](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/comituairma)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/22 "2021-06-08T20:09:41Z")
when Mosh built that I thought that it would NOT work but it turned out that IT WORKED!! Mosh courses quality are becoming really awful recently… things are not gettting properly explained. He explains things that are extremely straight fowards but then you get to such errors that you spent hours if not days troubleshooting. Shame on you Mosh ---
**Author:** ![comituairma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@comituairma](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/comituairma)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818/23 "2021-06-08T21:35:24Z")
That’s for those who tried to most often posted solution over here and it doesn’t work; I refer to the solution of manually creating the directory and setting the permissions: `` ```auto RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app RUN mkdir /app && chown app:app /app ``` This does not work for me and the only solution I could find until now was the below: Below is my Dockerfile: ```auto FROM node:16.3.0-alpine3.13 RUN addgroup app && adduser -S -G app app USER app WORKDIR /app COPY --chown=app package.json . USER root RUN npm install RUN chown app:app /app/node_modules USER app COPY --chown=app . . ENV API_URL=https://my-great-api.ch EXPOSE 3000 CMD ["npm", "start"] ``` [Next page](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/docker-permission-error/3818.md?page=2)