Docker - WORKDIR Creates Directories

01 Apr 2022

Which user do you think owns the src/ directory in this Dockerfile example?:

FROM alpine:3.13.2
RUN adduser -D wendy
USER wendy
WORKDIR src/
COPY --chown=wendy . src/

The answer?: root

This happens because WORKDIR will create directories that don’t exist with the root user.

What if you wanted wendy to be the owner of that src/ directory?

You would need to COPY the src/ directory into place before setting it as the WORKDIR. For example:

FROM alpine:3.13.2
RUN adduser -D wendy
USER wendy
COPY --chown=wendy . src/
WORKDIR src/