Dev Container features from ghcr.io not installing

[bdorplatt]

We are running into an issue when adding features to our .devcontainer.json file, seemingly intermittent at first, but now it appears we are not able to download any features.

Adding a feature results in a result of "An error occurred building the image" then the build fails and a recovery container is created with error 1302.

The detailed output of the error for a specific feature, in this case, "Golang" is below:

#16 0.862 ERROR: Feature "Go" (ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go) failed to install! Look at the documentation at ********/devcontainers/features/tree/main/src/go for help troubleshooting this error.
#16 ERROR: process "/bin/sh -c cp -ar /tmp/build-features-src/go_0 /tmp/dev-container-features  && chmod -R 0755 /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0  && cd /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0  && chmod +x ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && rm -rf /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0" did not complete successfully: exit code: 100

We are calling the feature as below in .devcontainer.json:

{
	"name": "Ubuntu",
	"build": {
		"dockerfile": "Dockerfile",
		"args": { "VARIANT": "ubuntu-24.04" }
	},
	"features": {
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go:1": {
        "version": "latest"
      }
    }
  }	

If it is relevant, we are using the latest base image tag for Ubuntu in our DockerFile as below but have tried other images:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:1.2.4-ubuntu-24.04

If we comment out all features, the build completes successfully.

[bdorplatt]

We have resolved this and have fully functional Codespace Dev Containers running on the latest Ubuntu base image now. The ultimate resolution was moving a Powershell installation from the DockerFile into the devcontainer.json as a feature itself and then calling the PowerShell commands using a postCreateCommand to run the additional modules.

Originally, we had PowerShell installing as a 2nd FROM command in the DockerFile which had worked for the last 3 years:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/base:0-${VARIANT}
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/azure-functions/powershell:3.0-powershell7-core-tools

We moved it to a "feature" installation in the devcontainer.json instead. At the time we first set these up, Powershell wasn't available as a feature.

We are assuming, at this point, that the PowerShell installation running after the Ubuntu install in the DockerFile was over-writing or conflicting with something in the OS installation. This was causing the Feature installations to fail when it couldn’t access the Release file from the underlying OS and resulted in the following errors:

The repository 'http://deb.debian.org/debian buster Release' does not have a Release file.
#16 0.862 ERROR: Feature "Go" (ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go) failed to install! Look at the documentation at ********/devcontainers/features/tree/main/src/go for help troubleshooting this error.
#16 ERROR: process "/bin/sh -c cp -ar /tmp/build-features-src/go_0 /tmp/dev-container-features  && chmod -R 0755 /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0  && cd /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0  && chmod +x ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && rm -rf /tmp/dev-container-features/go_0" did not complete successfully: exit code: 100

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @bdorplatt,
Thank you for reporting the issue!

I just have one clarification to ask:
Is the use of PowerShell and Go features together in your devcontainer.json the cause of the failure?
If possible, could you please share the devcontainer.json where you're using the PowerShell feature, and also the Dockerfile?
I'm curious, why are you using args when you're directly specifying the same image (variant-24.04) in the Dockerfile?

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

Best regards,
Sireesha

[bdorplatt]

Hello @sireeshajonnalagadda,
It was the multiple FROM commands in the Dockerfile that caused the failure, Powershell installing after the OS.

As for the args, those were leftover from before the troubleshooting process. We had originally used args in the devcontainer.json but directly specified the image to try out different OS versions directly. We have no need for the args so the following is our final configuration:

devcontainer.json:

{
	"name": "Ubuntu",
	"build": {
		"dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
	},

	"customizations": {
		"vscode": {
			"extensions": [
				"1nVitr0.blocksort",                            // Block Sort: Sort Blocks instead of lines
				"4ops.terraform",                               // Terraform: configuration language support (includes Terragrunt)
				"github.copilot",                               // GitHub Copilot: AI-powered code completion
				"github.copilot-chat",                          // GitHub Copilot Chat: AI-powered chat for GitHub Copilot
				"hashicorp.terraform",                          // Hashicorp Terraform: Syntax highlighting and autocompletion 
				"ms-azuretools.vscode-azureresourcegroups",     // An extension for viewing and managing Azure resources.
				"ms-azuretools.vscode-docker",                  // Docker: Makes it easy to create, manage, and debug containerized applications.
				"ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools",  // Kubernetes: Develop, deploy and debug Kubernetes applications
				"ms-vscode.azure-account",                      // Azure Account Extension
				"ms-vscode.powershell",                         // PowerShell: Develop PowerShell modules, commands and scripts in Visual Studio Code
				"msazurermtools.azurerm-vscode-tools",          // Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Tools: Language server, editing tools and snippets for Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template f
				"redhat.vscode-yaml",                           // YAML: YAML Language Support by Red Hat, with built-in Kubernetes syntax support
				"tyriar.sort-lines"                             // Sort Lines: Sorts lines of text
			],
			"settings": {}
		}
	},

	// Comment out to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/vscode-remote/containers/non-root.
	"remoteUser": "vscode",
	"features": {
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli:1": {},                // Azure CLI for managing Azure resources
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},               // GitHub CLI for interacting with GitHub from the command line
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go:1": {},                       // Go language and tools for Go development
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {},    // Kubernetes CLI, Helm, and Minikube for Kubernetes development
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/powershell:1": {},               // PowerShell for scripting and automation
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {},                   // Python 3 and pip for Python development
		"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/terraform:1": {}                 // Terraform CLI for infrastructure as code
	}
}

Dockerfile:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:1.2.4-ubuntu-24.04

CMD ["pwsh"]

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @bdorplatt,

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation! I truly appreciate it.

I followed the configuration steps you provided; I can confirm that the features are downloading as expected. The build process was successful, and I received the anticipated results without any issues during that stage.

Could you kindly share any additional insights or suggestions that could assist in further debugging, if needed?

Best regards,
Sireesha

[bdorplatt]

@sireeshajonnalagadda Not a problem!
One thing that I can suggest, that I have now seen after the fact is, if licensed, install the GitHub Copilot extension and run a "Fix" on the Dockerfile code. This told us right away that the multiple FROM instructions could be an issue.

[bdorplatt]

@sireeshajonnalagadda would you mind testing another quick thing if you still have your test up and running? We have added a postCreateCommand to install AZ and AzureAD Powershell modules. While it works and installs the modules, an error pops up at the start of running the commands. Would you mind letting me know if you see the same behavior? The command is as follows:

"postCreateCommand": "sudo pwsh -c \"Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Trusted; Install-Module -Name Az -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery; Install-Module -Name AzureAD -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery; Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Graph -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery; Install-Module -Name Pester -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery; Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Untrusted\"",

And the error we see:

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @bdorplatt,

I have successfully rebuilt the Codespace with the addition of the postCreateCommand. The build process completed successfully, and I confirmed that the dependencies were installed as indicated in the console log. However, the installation of all dependencies is taking some time, and I can now see the "Create Azure Resource" page.

Please feel free to reach out, in case of any further concerns on this!

Thanks,
Sireesha

[bdorplatt]

No matter how we tried formatting the postCreateCommand syntax, including calling a separate script, the "terminal process" error persisted any time the postCreateCommand called one of the Install-Module commands. It ran fine with just the Set-PSRepository commands only, just didn't like the Install-Module even with just a single command.
We ended up working around this by installing Powershell and the modules within the Dockerfile but as a RUN command instead of a FROM command. Workaround below:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:1.2.4-ubuntu-24.04

# Install prerequisites
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y wget apt-transport-https software-properties-common

# Download and register the Microsoft repository
RUN wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/24.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb && \
    dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb && \
    rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# Install PowerShell
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y powershell

RUN pwsh -Command "Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Trusted; \
    Install-Module -Name Az -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery -Force; \
    Install-Module -Name AzureAD -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery -Force; \
    Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Graph -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery -Force; \
    Install-Module -Name Pester -Scope AllUsers -Repository PSGallery -Force; \
    Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Untrusted"
    
CMD ["pwsh"]

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @bdorplatt,

Given that the workaround is effective and safe, I recommend continuing to use it for now. However, please note that there could be occasional issues, particularly when installing large modules through PowerShell.

I will continue my investigation into this matter. In the meantime, could you provide me with some additional details? Specifically, the trace logs to identify the actual issue.