Using docker-compose to create tables in postgresql database

Question

I am using docker-compose to deploy a multicontainer python Flask web application. I\'m having difficulty understanding how to create tables in the postgresql database durin

Answer 1

I would create the tables as part of the build process. Create a new Dockerfile in a new directory ./database/

FROM postgres:latest
COPY . /fixtures
WORKDIR /fixtures
RUN /fixtures/setup.sh

./database/setup.sh would look something like this:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

/etc/init.d/postgresql start
psql -f create_fixtures.sql    
/etc/init.d/postgresql stop

Put your create user, create database, create table sql (and any other fixture data) into a create_fixtures.sql file in the ./database/ directory.

and finally your postgres service will change to use build:

postgres:
    build: ./database/
    ...

Note: Sometimes you'll need a sleep 5 (or even better a script to poll and wait for postgresql to start) after the /etc/init.d/postgresql start line. In my experience either the init script or the psql client handles this for you, but I know that's not the case with mysql, so I thought I'd call it out.