wwctl container exec command does not pass arguments

[mslacken]

It is not possible to pass any commandline argument which is prefixed with a -, so for the command

wwctl container exec $CONTAINER /bin/FOO --BAAR

the commandline argument --BAAR won't be passed to FOO. This is a known issue with cobra, see spf13/cobra#739

As workaround, one may want to chroot to /var/lib/warewulf/chroots/$CONTAINER/rootfs

[jcsiadal]

If a command like "wwctl container path $CONTAINER" could print the canonical path to chroot directory it would be helpful for scripting. Or maybe a more generic "wwctl container info" command, with output options.

[mslacken]

Another workaround is to use double hyphen two times, so e.g. the following comand works

wwctl container exex $CONTAINER /usr/bin/ls -- -- -l -h

[anderbubble]

@mslacken I'd like to look further into this; but, since you made the workaround suggestion, can you explain why

$ sudo wwctl container exec openhpc-slurm-opa-compute-2 -- -- /bin/ls --help

works, but

$ sudo wwctl container exec openhpc-slurm-opa-compute-2 -- /bin/ls --help

does not? I'd think that, if the second example worked, then that'd be basically what other such tools do, and this could be closed.

[mslacken]

@anderbubble The reason for the -- -- is that wwctl exec itself calls wwctl exec __child . So you have to use the dashes two times, as the cobra is also called two times
See https://github.com/hpcng/warewulf/blob/7b15fd4dabb87d31470b01dce87a5542236e484e/internal/app/wwctl/container/exec/main.go#L22

[mslacken]

Still this isn't bug, but a known issue