env_file not processing strings correctly using "docker compose"

[bunkiedc]

Description

Using this notation with in my .yaml file via docker compose:

service:
  serviceName:
    env_file:
      - config/config.env

Worked with previous version, but not with v2.24.7

I also tested with docker-compose and it works correctly.

I've tried to change it to a few different ways, including using:

  - path: config/config.env
    required: true

and adding quotes etc... nothing is working.

Steps To Reproduce

just use an env_file: via compose.
docker compose --env-file stack.env -f container.yaml config | docker stack deploy container_name --with-registry-auth --compose-file -

Error returned:
services.serviceName.env_file.0 must be a string

Compose Version

Docker Compose version v2.24.7

docker-compose version 1.28.5, build c4eb3a1f
docker-py version: 4.4.4
CPython version: 3.7.10
OpenSSL version: OpenSSL 1.1.0l  10 Sep 2019

Docker Environment

lient: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:    25.0.4
 Context:    default
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.13.0
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.24.7
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.23.0
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-scan

Server:
 Containers: 15
  Running: 14
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 1
 Images: 40
 Server Version: 25.0.4
 Storage Driver: overlay2
  Backing Filesystem: extfs
  Supports d_type: true
  Using metacopy: false
  Native Overlay Diff: true
  userxattr: false
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 1
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 Swarm: active
  NodeID: lqxmo7qozkk3336shyyngs6ls
  Is Manager: true
  ClusterID: w14h0qps0qydl15l7f356m7rc
  Managers: 1
  Nodes: 1
  Default Address Pool: 10.0.0.0/8  
  SubnetSize: 24
  Data Path Port: 4789
  Orchestration:
   Task History Retention Limit: 5
  Raft:
   Snapshot Interval: 10000
   Number of Old Snapshots to Retain: 0
   Heartbeat Tick: 1
   Election Tick: 10
  Dispatcher:
   Heartbeat Period: 5 seconds
  CA Configuration:
   Expiry Duration: 3 months
   Force Rotate: 0
  Autolock Managers: false
  Root Rotation In Progress: false
  Node Address: 192.168.x.x
  Manager Addresses:
   192.168.x.x:2377
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: ae07eda36dd25f8a1b98dfbf587313b99c0190bb
 runc version: v1.1.12-0-g51d5e94
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  apparmor
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
 Kernel Version: 5.4.0-173-generic
 Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 8
 Total Memory: 23.39GiB
 Name: myServer.com
 ID: CB3V:7M77:KMFB:YZSL:4QYL:RF5V:7RSL:VT5A:OCT2:62ZR:ETM5:7U5P
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 Username: myName
 Experimental: true
 Insecure Registries:
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

Anything else?

No response

[ghost]

I'm also seeing this regression in a different use-case (using docker compose config as input to Kompose).

Caused by a schema change in #11536 and compose-spec/compose-go#509.

I know that the output of docker compose config isn't originally meant for external consumption with external tools, but it would be really nice to have stable output.

The workaround I have now is to pin the official Docker image to an older version (25.0.3), and submit an MR to update Kompose's compose-go version.

[luciangabor]

The workaround I have now is to pin the official Docker image to an older version (25.0.3), and submit an MR to update Kompose's compose-go version.

You could just overwrite compose:

services:
  cli:
    pull_policy: build
    build:
      dockerfile_inline: |
        FROM docker:cli
        COPY --link --from=docker/compose-bin:v2.24.6 /docker-compose /usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/

(and the tags can be "plain" envs just like for images)

[ndeloof]

compose spec to evolve obviously makes config output to introduce changes, as new attributes are added to the model. config command never has been designed as a "pre-processor" for third party tools. Why don't you just let those parse your original compose file?

[ndeloof]

Previous behavior to load env files and populate environment was restored in v2.25