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I'm executing a python file inside a docker container, and need to import all the functions that I put into a separate python file called base_functions. However, writing from base_functions import * throws the error, that ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'base_functions', even though base_functions.py is in the same directory as the main python file. How can I do this? Do I need to specify which python scripts I want to import beforehand, in the settings.ini or something?

This is the content of the Dockerfile:

FROM amancevice/pandas:0.24.1-alpine

RUN apk update
RUN apk add build-base
RUN apk add gcc musl-dev libc-dev util-linux-dev linux-headers python3-dev postgresql-libs postgresql-dev git libffi-dev libmemcached-dev zlib-dev \
            ca-certificates zlib-dev jpeg-dev freetype-dev libpng

RUN pip3 install --upgrade pip
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt

COPY src /vdp

WORKDIR /

ENTRYPOINT ["python3", "-m", "vdp"]

These are all the files in the directory of the project:

/home/cr/docker/71119/.

├── docker-compose.yaml
├── Dockerfile
├── Makefile
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt
├── settings.ini
└── src
    ├── base_functions.py
    ├── influx.py
    ├── __init__.py
    └── __main__.py
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4
  • Have you tried using from .base_functions import *? Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 16:06
  • yes, it returns the same error :( Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 16:13
  • Then maybe the files are not in the same directory, if will be helpful if can you share your Dockerfile and your folders structure to know a bit more about your issue Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 16:15
  • ive edited the post Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 16:55

3 Answers 3

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You're practically renaming your package (it smells like a package, having __init__.py and __main__.py) from "src" to "vdp" when you're creating the dockerfile.

I'd recommend:

  • Rename src/... to src/vdp/... (or vdp/...) – at this point you should be able to run python -m vdp within the src directory on your host machine and things should work.
  • Change the Dockerfile stanzas to
    COPY src /src
    WORKDIR /src
    ENTRYPOINT ["python3", "-m", "vdp"]
    – this'd be equivalent to how you're running it on the host machine.

Another option would be to drop the /src in the repository and change things to COPY vdp /src/vdp.

The third option, of course, would be to set up proper Python packaging, have your setup.py build a proper wheel, then simply install that in the Docker container.

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4 Comments

after renaming the folders I am able to run python -m vdp within the src directory. However, If I exchange the copy, workdir and entrypoint lines for the ones you posted, I still get the same error.
Might be a silly typo on my part. You can enter the container interactively using docker run -it image-id-here bash and examine the situation in /src.
You need to change ENTRYPOINT to CMD for that to work. (You should, there’s not really a downside.)
@AKX Wouldn't the COPY command copy the entire directory? Why aren't the import locations preserved?
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Python is not able to find the file base_functions because it was run from other folder.

You may want to change the working directory of in the Dockerfile:

WORKDIR /path/to/workdir
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this leads to the error "| /usr/bin/python3: No module named vdp"
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You need to mention the PYTHONPATH. In your Dockerfile, I'm gonna assume your root dir is /home/cr/docker/71119/src/

env PYTHONPATH /home/cr/docker/71119/src/

Either that, or if you wanna see it working (my preference for debugging)

docker run -it <img-name> /bin/bash

export PYTHONPATH=/home/cr/docker/71119/src/ && python3 <your-script>.py And it should work.

Another tip is that if you want to show the file structure, install tree by: apt-get install tree -y && cd <your-dir> && tree And then post that to SO. It's just cleaner!

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1 Comment

Modifying PYTHONPATH is generally not a good idea and can lead to confusion such as the same file being accessible with two different imports.

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