Docker compose fails with "failed to read dockerfile: open /var/lib/docker/tmp/buildkit-mount[...]/Dockerfile: no such file or directory"

Question

On Windows 11, with this rather simple docker-compose.yaml file

version: '3.0'
services:
  php-apache-environment:
    container_name: php-apache
    build: ./php
    volumes:
      - ./php/src:/var/www/html/
    ports:
      - 8000:80

  db:
    image: mysql:5.6.27
    restart: always
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: PassWord
      MYSQL_DATABASE: test
      MYSQL_USER: test
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: 9yI2G0s-sZf37SS5Ml1Kj
    ports:
      - "9906:3306"
  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin
    restart: always
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: db
      PMA_PORT: 9906
      PMA_USER: test
      PMZ_PASSWORD: 9yI2G0s-sZf37SS5Ml1Kj
    ports:
      - '8080:80'
    depends_on:
      - db

And the command docker compose up --detach the images are cloned but I get the following error:

failed to solve: rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed to solve with frontend dockerfile.v0: failed to read dockerfile: open /var/lib/docker/tmp/buildkit-mount1583816350/Dockerfile: no such file or directory

In Docker desktop I see the images but as unused.

I googled this error and came up with this but the line dockerfile: Dockerfile is rejected with:

services.phpmyadmin Additional property dockerfile is not allowed

Answer 1

I can definitely reproduce this having a an empty php folder, so missing the Dockerfile, with the following minimal example.

File hierarchy:

.
├── docker-compose.yml
└── php
##  ^-- mind this is an empty folder, not a file

And the minimal docker-compose.yml:

version: "3.9"
services:
  php-apache-environment:
    container_name: php-apache
    build: ./php

Running docker compose up yields the same error as yours:

failed to solve: rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed to solve with frontend dockerfile.v0: failed to read dockerfile: open /var/lib/docker/tmp/buildkit-mount2757070869/Dockerfile: no such file or directory

So, if you create a Dockerfile in the php folder, e.g.:

.
├── docker-compose.yml
└── php
    └── Dockerfile

With a content like

FROM php:fpm

Then the service starts working:

$ docker compose up    
[+] Running 1/0
 ⠿ Container php-apache  Created                               0.1s
Attaching to php-apache
php-apache  | [14-Apr-2023 08:42:10] NOTICE: fpm is running, pid 1
php-apache  | [14-Apr-2023 08:42:10] NOTICE: ready to handle connections

---

And if your file describing the image inside the folder php has a different name than the standard one, which is Dockerfile, then you have to adapt your docker-compose.yml, using the object form of the build parameter:

version: "3.9"
services:
  php-apache-environment:
    container_name: php-apache
    build: 
      context: ./php
      dockerfile: Dockefile.dev # for example

^{Related documentation: https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/build/#build-definition}