Confusing error message when run in Dockerfile

When experimenting in a Dockerfile, I hit an odd error message:

Creating a virtualenv for this project…
usage: pew [-h] [-p PYTHON] [-i PACKAGES] [-r REQUIREMENTS] [-d] [-a PROJECT]
           envname
pew: error: the following arguments are required: envname

Virtualenv location: 
Creating a Pipfile for this project…
Creating a virtualenv for this project…
usage: pew [-h] [-p PYTHON] [-i PACKAGES] [-r REQUIREMENTS] [-d] [-a PROJECT]
           envname
pew: error: the following arguments are required: envname

Virtualenv location: 
Pipfile.lock not found, creating…
Locking [dev-packages] dependencies…
Locking [packages] dependencies…
An unexpected error occurred while accessing your virtualenv's python installation!
Please run $ pipenv --rm to re-create your environment.

Obviously a Dockerfile is a pathological environment to be running in (and I’ve moved on to resolve the issue), but it feels like pipenv should abort much earlier than it did

Describe your environment

1. OS Type: ubuntu:16.04
2. Python version: 3.5
3. Pipenv version: latest from PyPI

Expected result

Error message explaining the actual issue.

Actual result

Above error message.

Steps to replicate

Attempt to build this Dockerfile:

FROM ubuntu:16.04

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y python3-pip
RUN pip3 install pipenv

ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
ENV LANG=C.UTF-8

RUN pipenv install --deploy --verbose

[tsiq-oliver]

Can we reopen this?

I disagree that Docker is “a pathological environment”! In particular, if Pipenv doesn’t work out of the box with an official Python Docker image, something is wrong (though I’m not sure whether it’s the image or Pipenv that should be fixed.)

FWIW, here’s my repro:

FROM python:3.6.4

RUN pip install pipenv
RUN pipenv --three

Output:

Sending build context to Docker daemon  14.19MB
Step 1/3 : FROM python:3.6.4
 ---> 336d482502ab
Step 2/3 : RUN pip install pipenv
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 91428d6b95e1
Step 3/3 : RUN pipenv --three
 ---> Running in 492b2b8a1779
Creating a virtualenv for this project…
Using /usr/local/bin/python3 (3.6.4) to create virtualenv…
usage: __main__.py [-h] [-p PYTHON] [-i PACKAGES] [-r REQUIREMENTS] [-d]
                   [-a PROJECT]
                   envname
__main__.py: error: the following arguments are required: envname

Virtualenv location:
Creating a Pipfile for this project…
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pipenv", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(cli())
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 722, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 697, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 1043, in invoke
    return Command.invoke(self, ctx)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 895, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 535, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/decorators.py", line 17, in new_func
    return f(get_current_context(), *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/cli.py", line 152, in cli
    core.ensure_project(three=three, python=python, warn=True, site_packages=site_packages)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 672, in ensure_project
    ensure_pipfile(validate=validate, skip_requirements=skip_requirements)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 321, in ensure_pipfile
    project.create_pipfile(python=python)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/project.py", line 416, in create_pipfile
    config_parser = ConfigOptionParser(name=self.name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/pip9/baseparser.py", line 149, in __init__
    assert self.name
AssertionError
The command '/bin/sh -c pipenv --three' returned a non-zero code: 1

[sgrowe]

In case it helps others I was able to solve this issue by setting WORKDIR to /opt/app:

FROM python:3.6.4-stretch

WORKDIR /opt/app

# build your stuff....