kubectl exec works on single commands, but I cannot enter a bash shell

user_8463089 0
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I'm on macOS Catalina 10.15.4, and I'm using minikube v1.11.0 and kubernetes v1.18.3, both installed from brew. Minikube is initialized with the docker engine.

The initialization command is set up like so:

      containers:
        - name: database
          image: "mysql:5.6"
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          env:
            - name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
              value: 12345
            - name: MYSQL_USER
              value: user
            - name: MYSQL_PASSWORD
              value: password
            - name: MYSQL_DATABASE
              value: db

I'm trying to get a bash script open for one of my running kubectl containers. From research online, it appears that this should be the command that will open a bash window in my terminal:

minikube kubectl exec -it --namespace=tools test-pod -- bash

However, when I run it, I get the following traceback:

Error: unknown shorthand flag: 'i' in -it See 'minikube kubectl --help' for usage.

It doesn't seem to want me using any arguments in my command. Is there something I'm missing, or am I attempting to use a command that is deprecated?

Note: I am able to run exec, but not for opening a bash script. For example, I am able to run the following command:

minikube kubectl exec test-pod -- ls /

And it outputs this following:

kubectl exec [POD] [COMMAND] is DEPRECATED and will be removed in a future version. Use kubectl kubectl exec [POD] -- [COMMAND] instead.
bin
boot
dev
docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
entrypoint.sh
etc
home
lib
lib64
media
mnt
opt
proc
root
run
sbin
srv
sys
tmp
usr
var

Edit: I have attempted the following command:

minikube kubectl exec --stdin --tty --namespace=tools test-pod -- sh

And I got the following traceback:

Error: unknown flag: --stdin
See 'minikube kubectl --help' for usage.

It seems like any flags at all, short or long, are failing, and I cannot figure out why they wouldn't be.

kubectl minikube kubernetes docker bash
3 Answers

minikube kubectl needs the -- after the command when you want to use it with arguments:

$ minikube kubectl -- exec --stdin --tty --namespace=tools test-pod -- sh

You can also use plain kubectl

If would just make sure that your ~/.kube/config is pointing to the right minikube context/cluster. Typically, any minikube command you run from the shell will cause it to change the context to your minikube cluster. i.e minikube ssh

Then just use kubectl

$ kubectl exec --stdin --tty --namespace=tools test-pod -- sh
user_29892610

I'm unfamiliar with minikube but you should be able to query the command's syntax with:

minikube kubectl exec --help

It's possible that the short flags have been replaced with the long flags:

minikube kubectl exec --stdin --tty ...

It's also possible that the container doesn't include bash but another shell:

minikube kubectl exec --stdin --tty --namespace=tools test-pod -- sh
minikube kubectl exec --stdin --tty --namespace=tools test-pod -- ash
user_6092900

So, I figured out the solution:

With my configuration, initializing minikube with minikube start --driver=docker does not successfully initialize everything. I changed my driver to virtualbox, and minikube was able to ssh and continue without any issues.

Setup with a docker driver appears to be commonly issue-prone, as this GitHub thread shows: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/7332

user_84630890
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