Failed to build docker images

Expected Behavior

Deploying a production instance of backstage should be simple

Current Behavior

Not enough docs, after digging around I find that I probably should do something like:

yarn
yarn workspace backend run build-image 

From the root folder of the project.

This works fine on my local machine, but fail with a very unclear error in the CI:

yarn workspace v1.22.10
yarn run v1.22.10
$ backstage-cli backend:build-image --build --tag gcr.io/snyk-main/backstage
$ /home/circleci/project/node_modules/.bin/lerna run --scope backend --scope app build
lerna notice cli v3.22.1
lerna info ci enabled
lerna notice filter including ["backend","app"]
lerna info filter [ 'backend', 'app' ]
lerna info Executing command in 2 packages: "yarn run build"
lerna ERR! yarn run build exited 1 in 'app'
lerna ERR! yarn run build stdout:
$ backstage-cli app:build
Loaded config from app-config.yaml, app-config.local.yaml
info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/run for documentation about this command.

lerna ERR! yarn run build stderr:
Env config file 'app-config.production.yaml' is not loaded as APP_ENV and NODE_ENV-based config loading has been removed
To load the config file, use --config <path>, listing every config file that you want to load
internal/child_process.js:403
    throw errnoException(err, 'spawn');
    ^

Error: spawn ENOMEM
    at ChildProcess.spawn (internal/child_process.js:403:11)
    at spawn (child_process.js:553:9)
    at Object.fork (child_process.js:121:10)
    at fork (/home/circleci/project/node_modules/worker-farm/lib/fork.js:17:36)
    at Farm.startChild (/home/circleci/project/node_modules/worker-farm/lib/farm.js:107:16)
    at Farm.processQueue (/home/circleci/project/node_modules/worker-farm/lib/farm.js:288:10)
    at Farm.<anonymous> (/home/circleci/project/node_modules/worker-farm/lib/farm.js:98:21)
    at listOnTimeout (internal/timers.js:554:17)
    at processTimers (internal/timers.js:497:7) {
  errno: -12,
  code: 'ENOMEM',
  syscall: 'spawn'
}
error Command failed with exit code 1.

Probably related to backstage/backstage#2994

Possible Solution

• Document the flow for deploying backstage images (ideally, with common CI tools like GitHub actions)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create new backstage project
2. Try to build docker image in CircleCI

Your Environment

• NodeJS Version (v12): v14
• Operating System and Version (e.g. Ubuntu 14.04): Circle docker image for node
• Browser Information:

[regicsolutions]

@andrewthauer Thanks for sharing! With the app-backend plugin this script should technically live in the backend package.json no? definitely see it coming in handy when building multiple environments, each having there own command 😃

[andrewthauer]

Yep, seems like it. CircleCI boxes incorrectly report the number of CPU’s so tasks like terser may fail on default medium machines.

Try setting the following environment variables. This has been working for us consistently for the past 2-3 months now.

NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096"
BACKSTAGE_CLI_BUILD_PARALLEL="2"

It’s defined in packages/cli/src/lib/parallel.ts