Set stable WORKDIR so dotfiles install survives docroot swap (#45)#51
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The php base image leaves WORKDIR at /var/www/html, which
devcontainer_on_create.sh deletes and replaces with a symlink to the
mounted docroot. The devcontainer CLI starts its persistent setup shell
("shellServer") in WORKDIR with no -w flag, so that rm -rf orphans the
shell's cwd. The later dotfiles `git clone` runs in the same shellServer
and fails its getcwd() with "Unable to read current working directory".
The lifecycle commands run as separate execs (-w workspaceFolder), so
the cd "$WORKSPACE_FOLDER" added in #48 can't repair the shellServer.
Anchoring WORKDIR to /home/vscode keeps the shellServer's cwd valid
through the docroot swap.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The cd "$WORKSPACE_FOLDER" appended to devcontainer_on_create and devcontainer_post_create in #48 was meant to leave the devcontainer CLI's persistent shellServer in a valid cwd before the dotfiles clone. It can't: each lifecycle command runs in its own `/bin/sh -c` exec that exits as soon as the function returns, so the cd never touches the shellServer. The real fix is anchoring the image WORKDIR (prior commit). Kept _cwd_workspace at the top of each script — on_create's docroot symlink (ln -s "$(pwd)/web" ...) depends on a deterministic cwd, so that call is load-bearing, not part of the broken cwd-restore theory. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Problem
Dotfiles install still fails on the first
devcontainer upwith:Reopened #45 with the full analysis. The
_cwd_workspace/cd "$WORKSPACE_FOLDER"fix in #48 doesn't work, because lifecycle commands and the dotfiles clone run in different processes.Root cause
-w— so the shell inherits the image'sWORKDIR,/var/www/html(from thephpbase image; we never override it).devcontainer_on_create.sh:20doessudo rm -rf /var/www/html && sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/web" /var/www/html. Thatrm -rfunlinks the directory the shellServer is sitting in, orphaning its cwd.git cloneruns in that same shellServer;git-remote-httpscallsgetcwd(), getsENOENT, and aborts.docker exec -w /workspaces/<repo>processes, so thecd "$WORKSPACE_FOLDER"at the end of those scripts (from Fix dotfiles install (#45) and upgrade to PHP 8.4 #48) changes a process that immediately exits and never touches the shellServer.Fix
Set a stable
WORKDIRin the Dockerfile so the shellServer starts — and stays — in a directory the lifecycle scripts never delete:WORKDIR /home/vscodeThe docroot symlink swap on
on-create:20is unchanged. The_cwd_workspaceadditions from #48 are left in place as harmless lifecycle-script hygiene.Verification
Minimal reproduction of the mechanism (reproduces the exact error), and confirmation that anchoring the shell's cwd away from the deleted directory resolves it, is in #45. Building the image with this change and running
dcewith--dotfiles-repositoryset completes the clone successfully.Closes #45
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