cp command in yaml file - kubernetes

Question

i'm launching a glassfish pod on my Kubernetes cluster, and i'm trying to copy some .war files from a folder that's on my host, but the command cp always seems to fail.
my yaml file:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: glassfish
spec:
# replicas: 2
selector:
matchLabels:
app: glassfish
strategy:
type: Recreate
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: glassfish
spec:
containers:
- image: glassfish:latest
name: glassfish
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
name: glassfishhttp
- containerPort: 4848
name: glassfishadmin
command: ["/bin/cp"]
args: #["/mnt/apps/*","/usr/local/glassfish4/glassfish/domains/domain1/autodeploy/"]
- /mnt/apps/
- /usr/local/glassfish4/glassfish/domains/domain1/autodeploy/
volumeMounts:
- name: glassfish-persistent-storage
mountPath: /mount
- name: app
mountPath: /mnt/apps
volumes:
- name: glassfish-persistent-storage
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: fish-mysql-pvc
- name: app
hostPath:
path: /mnt/nfs
type: Directory
I'm trying to use the following command in my container:
cp /mnt/apps/* /usr/local/glassfish4/glassfish/domains/domain1/autodeploy
What am I doing wrong?
So far i've tried to do it with the /, without it, using /*
When i use apps/ i see "item or directory not found", when i use apps/ i get "directory ommitted", i need only whats in the map, not the map itself so -r doesn't really help either.

Answer 1

Two things to note here:
If you want to copy a direcyory using cp, you have to provide the -a or -R flag to cp:
-R If source_file designates a directory, cp copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at
that point. If the source_file ends in a /, the contents of the directory are copied rather than
the directory itself. This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than indirected
through, and for cp to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created
directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory, unmodified by the process'
umask.
In -R mode, cp will continue copying even if errors are detected.
If you use /bin/cp as your entrypoint in the pod, then this command is not executed in a shell. The * in /path/to/* however is a shell feature.
initContainers do not have args, only `command.
To make this work, use /bin/sh as the command instead:
command:
- /bin/sh
- -c
- cp /mnt/apps/* /usr/local/glassfish4/glassfish/domains/domain1/autodeploy/

Answer 2

What am I doing wrong?
here is correct command to execute:
command: ["sh", "-c", "cp -r /mnt/apps/* /usr/local/glassfish4/glassfish/domains/domain1/autodeploy/ && asadmin start-domain --verbose"]
With your cp command you effectively overwrite legitimate required command to start everything. You can see original one (running ok without your cp command) if you inspect that container. Initially, container is started with:
...
"Cmd": [
"/bin/sh",
"-c",
"asadmin start-domain --verbose"
],
...
simply adding it after the copy command solves your issue.