docker build does not sustain processes - service

Question

So this might be my Dockerfile:
FROM ubuntu:latest
RUN apt-get -y update && apt-get install -y mysql-server-5.6
RUN service mysql start
RUN service mysql status
It throws an error during the build that MySQL is not running, even though the previous command finished with a success. The deamons seem not to be able to be running between different commands in the Dockerfile.
This is an artificial example, but in my real Dockerfile I have lines which configure the database and they need to have a deamon running in the backgroud. The only solution to go around this that I found is to run:
RUN service mysql start && ./database_configure1.sh
RUN service mysql start && ./do_something_else_with_db.sh
and so on
But this is probably not the way to do it. Is there any better way to go about this?

Answer 1

Each RUN command within your Dockerfile runs within a different container, so here's the actual sequence of events:
service mysql start starts MySQL.
Then the container is stopped (MySQL is stopped).
Then a snapshot is taken.
Then a new container is launched using that snapshot.
service mysql status is run in the new container.
Of course, mysql isn't actually running in the latter container, so that fails.
So, instead, you need to do everything in a single build step. Usually, you'll want to do this by running a shell script within your container.
Here goes.
Your directory tree should look like this:
Dockerfile
do_stuff_with_mysql.sh
Then, in your Dockerfile, do:
ADD do_stuff_with_mysql.sh /
RUN chmod 755 /do_stuff_with_mysql.sh
RUN do_stuff_with_mysql.sh
And, in do_stuff_with_mysql.sh, you should have something that looks like this:
#!/bin/bash
set -o errexit
set -o nounset
service mysql start
./database_configure1.sh
./do_something_else_with_db.sh
service mysql stop
# you should loop on `service mysql status` to confirm MySQL is done shutting down