pytest KeyError: 'USER' within docker container

Question

I am in the process of building a docker container that will run my automation tests. When I attempt to run the command below [this works locally and in jenkins] I get the following error:

root@645ed3930434:/test_dir# pytest test_* -m smoke
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pytest", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 49, in main
    config = _prepareconfig(args, plugins)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 168, in _prepareconfig
    pluginmanager=pluginmanager, args=args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 745, in __call__
    return self._hookexec(self, self._nonwrappers + self._wrappers, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 339, in _hookexec
    return self._inner_hookexec(hook, methods, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 334, in <lambda>
    _MultiCall(methods, kwargs, hook.spec_opts).execute()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 613, in execute
    return _wrapped_call(hook_impl.function(*args), self.execute)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 250, in _wrapped_call
    wrap_controller.send(call_outcome)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/helpconfig.py", line 68, in pytest_cmdline_parse
    config = outcome.get_result()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 279, in get_result
    raise ex[1].with_traceback(ex[2])
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 265, in __init__
    self.result = func()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 614, in execute
    res = hook_impl.function(*args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 957, in pytest_cmdline_parse
    self.parse(args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 1121, in parse
    self._preparse(args, addopts=addopts)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 1084, in _preparse
    self.pluginmanager.load_setuptools_entrypoints('pytest11')
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 516, in load_setuptools_entrypoints
    self.register(plugin, name=ep.name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/config.py", line 264, in register
    ret = super(PytestPluginManager, self).register(plugin, name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 371, in register
    hook._maybe_apply_history(hookimpl)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 768, in _maybe_apply_history
    res = self._hookexec(self, [method], kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 339, in _hookexec
    return self._inner_hookexec(hook, methods, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 334, in <lambda>
    _MultiCall(methods, kwargs, hook.spec_opts).execute()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/_pytest/vendored_packages/pluggy.py", line 614, in execute
    res = hook_impl.function(*args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pytest_cloud/plugin.py", line 76, in pytest_addoption
    os.environ['USER'],
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/os.py", line 725, in __getitem__
    raise KeyError(key) from None
KeyError: 'USER'

I am new to docker, so I do not understand what is causing this error. I am starting with a ubuntu as my base [this also happens when using a https://hub.docker.com/_/python/ as my base]

for reference requirements.txt includes the following:

apipkg==1.4
certifi==2017.11.5
chardet==3.0.4
execnet==1.5.0
idna==2.6
parameterized==0.6.1
psutil==5.4.1
py==1.5.2
pytest==3.2.5
pytest-cloud==2.0.0
pytest-forked==0.2
pytest-xdist==1.20.1
requests==2.18.4
six==1.11.0
timeout-decorator==0.4.0
urllib3==1.22

I have installed Python 3.5.2 in the container

Answer 1

The 'USER' environment variable seems not to defined within your image. Define it externally, or make your code resilient to its absence:

• In your code, use os.getenv('USER', backup_user_name) instead of os.environ['USER']
• In your code, use getpass instead of relying on your environment to get the current user.

import getpass
print getpass.getuser()

• In docker run, you could add -e USER=$(whoami) or something of that sort
• In docker-compose, you could add USER: some_user_name under the environ setting for that service.