Error when starting custom Airflow Docker Image GROUP_OR_COMMAND

Question

I created a custom image with the following Dockerfile:

FROM apache/airflow:2.1.1-python3.8
USER root

RUN apt-get update \
  && apt-get -y install gcc gnupg2 \
  && curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | apt-key add - \
  && curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/10/prod.list > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-release.list

RUN apt-get update \
  && ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get -y install msodbcsql17 \
  && ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get -y install mssql-tools

RUN echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc \
  && echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc \
  && source ~/.bashrc

RUN apt-get -y install unixodbc-dev \
  && apt-get -y install python-pip \
  && pip install pyodbc

RUN echo -e “AIRFLOW_UID=$(id -u) \nAIRFLOW_GID=0” > .env

USER airflow

The image creates successfully, but when I try to run it, I get this error: "airflow command error: the following arguments are required: GROUP_OR_COMMAND, see help above."

I have tried supplying a group ID with the --user, but I can't figure it out.

How can I start this custom Airflow Docker image?

Thanks!

Answer 1

First of all this line is wrong:

RUN echo -e “AIRFLOW_UID=$(id -u) \nAIRFLOW_GID=0” > .env

If you are running it with Docker Compose (I presume you took it from https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/start/docker.html), this is something you should run on "Host" machine, not in the image. Remove that line, it has no effect.

Secondly - it really depends what "command" you run. The "GROUP_OR_COMMAND" message you got is the output of "airflow" command. You have not copied the whole output of your command but this is a message you get when you try to run airflow without telling it what to do. When you run the image you will run by default the airflow command which has a number of subcommands that can be executed. So the "see help above" message tells you the very thing you should do - look at the help and see what subcommand you wanted to run (and possibly run it).

docker run -it apache/airflow:2.1.2 
usage: airflow [-h] GROUP_OR_COMMAND ...

positional arguments:
  GROUP_OR_COMMAND

    Groups:
      celery         Celery components
      config         View configuration
      connections    Manage connections
      dags           Manage DAGs
      db             Database operations
      jobs           Manage jobs
      kubernetes     Tools to help run the KubernetesExecutor
      pools          Manage pools
      providers      Display providers
      roles          Manage roles
      tasks          Manage tasks
      users          Manage users
      variables      Manage variables

    Commands:
      cheat-sheet    Display cheat sheet
      info           Show information about current Airflow and environment
      kerberos       Start a kerberos ticket renewer
      plugins        Dump information about loaded plugins
      rotate-fernet-key
                     Rotate encrypted connection credentials and variables
      scheduler      Start a scheduler instance
      sync-perm      Update permissions for existing roles and optionally DAGs
      version        Show the version
      webserver      Start a Airflow webserver instance

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit

airflow command error: the following arguments are required: GROUP_OR_COMMAND, see help above.

Answer 2

when you extend the official image, it will pass the parametor to "airflow" command which causing this problem. Check this out: https://airflow.apache.org/docs/docker-stack/entrypoint.html#entrypoint-commands