DockerComposeContainer Bug: No way to enable local compose mode (fails on Docker Desktop for macOS)

[ShimonSte]

DockerComposeContainer always uses containerized mode, no way to enable local compose

Problem

DockerComposeContainer in testcontainers-scala 0.44.x always uses containerized Docker Compose mode, which fails on Docker Desktop for macOS.

The Scala wrapper always passes the image parameter to the Java constructor:

new JavaDockerComposeContainer(image, identifier, composeFiles...)

In testcontainers-java 2.x, this constructor does not set localCompose = true. Only the constructors without DockerImageName enable local compose mode:

// testcontainers-java ComposeContainer.java
public ComposeContainer(File... composeFiles) {
    this(DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME, Arrays.asList(composeFiles));
    this.localCompose = true;  // only set here
}

Since there's no way to enable local compose mode via testcontainers-scala, Docker Compose tests fail on Docker Desktop for macOS with:

ContainerLaunchException: Container startup failed for image docker:latest

Environment

• testcontainers-scala: 0.44.1
• testcontainers-java: 2.0.3
• Docker Desktop for macOS

[piotrp]

You can temporarily patch this with some variation of:

  private def useLocalCompose(): Unit = {
    val localComposeField = container.getClass.getDeclaredField("localCompose")
    localComposeField.setAccessible(true)
    localComposeField.setBoolean(container, true)
  }

Ugly, but works.

[gaeljw]

IIRC the change was made in testcontainers Java library, this is not a deliberate choice of the Scala variant.

container.withLocalCompose(localCompose) is not available anymore.

---

EDIT:

Related:

• testcontainers/testcontainers-java@9cbe138 (done as part of Add support for specifying Docker image in DockerComposeContainer and ComposeContainer testcontainers-java#9871)
• [Bug]: Regression - Unable to use ComposeContainer without a local docker compose testcontainers-java#11415

---

EDIT: oh I see this is about which constructor to use or not.