How to copy folders to docker image from Dockerfile?

I tried the following command in my Dockerfile: COPY * / and got mighty surprised at the result. Seems the naive docker code traverses the directories from the glob and then dumps the each file in the target directory while respectfully ignoring my directory structure.

At least that is how I understand this ticket and it certainly corresponds to the result I got.

I guess the only reason this behavior can still exist must be that there is some other way this should be done. But it is not so easy for a bear of very little brain to understand how, does anyone know?

Use ADD (docs)

The ADD command can accept as a <src> parameter:

1. A folder within the build folder (the same folder as your Dockerfile). You would then add a line in your Dockerfile like this:

ADD folder /path/inside/your/container

or

2. A single-file archive anywhere in your host filesystem. To create an archive use the command:

tar -cvzf newArchive.tar.gz /path/to/your/folder

You would then add a line to your Dockerfile like this:

ADD /path/to/archive/newArchive.tar.gz  /path/inside/your/container

Notes:

• ADD will automatically extract your archive.
• presence/absence of trailing slashes is important, see the linked docs

Like @Vonc said, there is no possibility to add a command like as of now. The only workaround is to mention the folder, to create it and add contents to it.

# add contents to folder
ADD src $HOME/src

Would create a folder called src in your directory and add contents of your folder src into this.