Cannot load image tarball into Docker because Docker wants root user but Bazel wants non-root user

[josalvatorre]

Explanation

I see no way to load the image tarball into Docker successfully because of a catch-22:

• Docker requires the root user to load the tarball using bazel run.
• Bazel's hermetic Python interpreter refuses to run as root.

My code is in a brand-new repository with the following PR: josalvatorre/monorepo-alpha#1. I'm working on an M2 Sonoma 14.5 Mac.

Output

Non-root user

➜  monorepo-alpha git:(jalvarado/poc) bazel run //abacus/genesis:genesis
INFO: Analyzed target //abacus/genesis:genesis (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
Target //abacus/genesis:genesis up-to-date:
  bazel-bin/abacus/genesis/genesis/tarball.spec
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.105s, Critical Path: 0.00s
INFO: 1 process: 1 internal.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 1 total action
INFO: Running command line: bazel-bin/abacus/genesis/genesis.sh
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///Users/josalvatorre/.docker/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
tar: (null)

Root user

➜  monorepo-alpha git:(jalvarado/poc) sudo bazel run //abacus/genesis:genesis
Password:
Extracting Bazel installation...
Starting local Bazel server and connecting to it...
INFO: Repository rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin instantiated at:
  <builtin>: in <toplevel>
Repository rule python_repository defined at:
  /private/var/tmp/_bazel_root/5ad888b49df0a0d5e008e30fa7c56d14/external/rules_python~/python/repositories.bzl:381:36: in <toplevel>
ERROR: An error occurred during the fetch of repository 'rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin':
   Traceback (most recent call last):
	File "/private/var/tmp/_bazel_root/5ad888b49df0a0d5e008e30fa7c56d14/external/rules_python~/python/repositories.bzl", line 197, column 25, in _python_repository_impl
		fail("The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.")
Error in fail: The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.
ERROR: <builtin>: fetching python_repository rule //:rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin: Traceback (most recent call last):
	File "/private/var/tmp/_bazel_root/5ad888b49df0a0d5e008e30fa7c56d14/external/rules_python~/python/repositories.bzl", line 197, column 25, in _python_repository_impl
		fail("The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.")
Error in fail: The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.
ERROR: no such package '@@rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin//': The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.
ERROR: /private/var/tmp/_bazel_root/5ad888b49df0a0d5e008e30fa7c56d14/external/rules_pkg~/pkg/private/tar/BUILD:49:10: @@rules_pkg~//pkg/private/tar:build_tar depends on @@rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin//:python_runtimes in repository @@rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin which failed to fetch. no such package '@@rules_python~~python~python_3_11_aarch64-apple-darwin//': The current user is root, please run as non-root when using the hermetic Python interpreter. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/pull/713.
ERROR: Analysis of target '//abacus/genesis:genesis' failed; build aborted: Analysis failed
INFO: Elapsed time: 15.226s, Critical Path: 0.01s
INFO: 1 process: 1 internal.
ERROR: Build did NOT complete successfully
ERROR: Build failed. Not running target

[josalvatorre]

The problem was that Docker Desktop must be open for the CLI to work. I can run bazel run as the non-root user successfully.