Get docker-compose.yml file location from running container?

Question

I have a few running docker containers created by executing docker-compose up.

Is there any way to get the exact file path of the corresponding docker-compose.yml file used to start these containers, just by inspecting the running containers?

As far as I can see, docker inspect CONTAINER_NAME does not provide this information, nor does docker-compose provide a method to get compose-related information from a running container.

What I'd like to do in a script:

• list certain running containers on a docker host
• get the corresponding docker-compose.yml file locations
• use docker-compose to restart all containers of the corresponding docker-compose projects at once

Answer 1

The answer to this question seems to have changed with new versions of docker-compose. There is a label "com.docker.compose.project.working_dir": "/var/opt/docker", that points to the directory where I started docker-compose. I have not checked if that is pwd or the actual location of the docker-compose.yml file.

This got me interesting information about docker-compose:

 samuel@vmhost1:~$ docker inspect fc440a1afbaa | grep com.docker.compose                 "com.docker.compose.config-hash": "89069285a4783b79b421ea84f2b652becbdee148fbad095a6d9d85aab67ececc",                 "com.docker.compose.container-number": "1",                 "com.docker.compose.oneoff": "False",                 "com.docker.compose.project": "docker",                 "com.docker.compose.project.config_files": "docker-compose.yml",                 "com.docker.compose.project.working_dir": "/var/opt/docker",                 "com.docker.compose.service": "jenkins",                 "com.docker.compose.version": "1.25.0" samuel@vmhost1:~$  

I'm running docker-compose.yml configuration version 3.6

Answer 2

It is not currently possible.

As an alternative might find the following helpful:

• Use docker ps -a | grep <certain_container>
• Use locate docker-compose.yml and find the one that you want
• Use docker-compose restart (do docker-compose to see option)