repo2docker/docs/source/faq.md

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A collection of frequently asked questions with answers. If you have a question and have found an answer, send a PR to add it here!

How should I specify another version of Python?

One can specify a Python version in the environment.yml file of a repository.

What versions of Python (or R or Julia...) are supported?

Python

Repo2docker officially supports the following versions of Python (specified in environment.yml or runtime.txt):

  • 3.7 (added in 0.7)
  • 3.6 (default)
  • 3.5

Additional versions may work, as long as the base environment can be installed for your version of Python. The most likely source of incompatibility is if one of the packages in the base environment is not packaged for your Python, either because the version of the package is too new and your chosen Python is too old, or vice versa.

Additionally, if Python 2.7 is specified, a separate environment for the kernel will be installed with Python 2. The notebook server will run in the default Python 3.6 environment.

Julia

The following versions of Julia are supported (specified in REQUIRE):

  • 1.0 (added in 0.7)
  • 0.7 (added in 0.7)
  • 0.6 (default)

R

Only R 3.4.4 is currently supported, which is installed via apt from the ubuntu bionic repository.

Can I add executable files to the user's PATH?

Yes! With a :ref:postBuild file, you can place any files that should be called from the command line in the folder ~/.local/. This folder will be available in a user's PATH, and can be run from the command line (or as a subsequent build step.)

How do I set environment variables?

Use the -e or --env flag for each variable that you want to define.

For example jupyter-repo2docker -e VAR1=val1 -e VAR2=val2 ...

Can I use repo2docker to bootstrap my own Dockerfile?

No, you can't.

If you pass the --debug flag to repo2docker, it outputs the intermediate Dockerfile that is used to build the docker image. While it is tempting to copy this as a base for your own Dockerfile, that is not supported & in most cases will not work. The --debug output is just our intermediate generated Dockerfile, and is meant to be built in a very specific way. Hence the output of --debug can not be built with a normal docker build -t . or similar traditional docker command.

Check out the binder-examples GitHub organization for example repositories you can copy & modify for your own use!