Building RHEL Containers with Additional Repositories

When building RHEL containers on some scenarios may require to install a specific package inside the container from a generic RHEL repository. In such cases, the command yum install can be used inside the docker file to install the package. The RHEL subscription of the host (on which the docker build is executed), will be used inside the containers.

By default, the repository rhel-7-server-rpms will be enabled inside the container. Here is a sample file to install make inside the the RHEL container.

# Dockerfile
FROM rhel7

RUN yum install git

With the same approach, installing golang will fail because, by default, only the repository rhel-7-server-rpms is enabled inside the container. As golang is provided from rhel-7-server-optional-rpms repository, following changes required in the yum install command in the Docker file.

# Dockerfile
FROM rhel7

RUN yum install git golang --enablerepo="rhel-7-server-optional-rpms"