Chaincode install fails with "docker build failed: write unix @->/run/docker.sock: broken pipe" in test-network (Fabric v2.5.x)

[harshithn31]

Hyperledger Fabric Chaincode Deployment Issue

Description

I am encountering a persistent issue while deploying chaincode using the fabric-samples/test-network on Hyperledger Fabric v2.5.x, where chaincode installation fails due to a Docker socket error, even though the Docker socket is correctly mounted and accessible inside the peer container.

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Environment

Component	Version / Details
Fabric binaries	v2.5.14
Docker images	hyperledger/fabric-peer:latest hyperledger/fabric-orderer:latest
Docker version	29.2.0
OS	Ubuntu 22.04
Deployment method	fabric-samples/test-network
Chaincode	asset-transfer-basic (Go)

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Verify and export Docker socket:

ls -l /var/run/docker.sock

srw-rw---- 1 root docker 0 Feb 5 10:46 /var/run/docker.sock

export DOCKER_SOCK=/var/run/docker.sock

2. Bring down the test network to clear older setup:

./network.sh down

3. Bring up the test network:

./network.sh up createChannel

4. Deploy chaincode:

./network.sh deployCC -ccn basic \
  -ccp ../asset-transfer-basic/chaincode-go \
  -ccl go

Observed Behavior

Chaincode packaging succeeds, but installation fails on peer0.org1.example.com:

Error: chaincode install failed with status: 500 - failed to invoke backing implementation of 'InstallChaincode': could not build chaincode: docker build failed: docker image build failed: write unix @->/run/docker.sock: write: broken pipe Chaincode installation on peer0.org1 has failed Deploying chaincode failed

Verification / Debugging Performed

1. verified test-network/compose/docker/docker-compose-test-net.yaml file

volumes: - ./docker/peercfg:/etc/hyperledger/peercfg - ${DOCKER_SOCK}:/host/var/run/docker.sock
2. Docker socket is mounted correctly inside the peer container:

 echo $DOCKER_SOCK

/var/run/docker.sock

ls -l $DOCKER_SOCK

srw-rw---- 1 root docker 0 Feb 5 10:46 /var/run/docker.sock
3. Verified mount points in the container:

docker exec -it peer0.org1.example.com ls -ld /etc/hyperledger/peercfg

drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Feb 2 11:31 /etc/hyperledger/peercfg

docker exec -it peer0.org1.example.com ls -l /host/var/run/docker.sock

srw-rw---- 1 root 999 0 Feb 5 09:46 /host/var/run/docker.sock
5. Docker works correctly on the host (docker build succeeds)
6. User is part of the docker group

getent group docker

docker:x:999:harshith
7. Issue persists even after:

network.sh down

docker volume prune -f

8. Re-creating the channel from scratch did not resolve the issue.

Additional Issue Observed

1. During network.sh down, the following error consistently appears:
   ERROR: Top level object in './addOrg3/compose/docker/docker-compose-couch-org3.yaml' needs to be an object not '<class 'NoneType'>'
   This seems to interrupt proper cleanup, leading to:

Stale ledger data was observed, and during the recreation of the channel after shutting down and restarting the network, the following error occurred:
Error: proposal failed (err: bad proposal response 500: cannot create ledger from genesis block: ledger [mychannel] already exists with state [ACTIVE]) After 5 attempts, peer0.org1 has failed to join channel 'mychannel'.

However, even after manually cleaning ledger artifacts, the Docker socket “broken pipe” error during chaincode build persists.

Expected Behavior

Chaincode container should be built successfully via Docker when installing chaincode using the default Fabric chaincode lifecycle in test-network.

[pfi79]

The problem has been fixed. But the version has not been released. You can:

• temporarily downgrade the docker version
• build the version yourself

Wait for the new version to be released.

[bestbeforetoday]

It would be great if somebody coule publish a new Fabric release that includes the fix. Any timeline on that?

[pfi79]

In the file MAINTAINERS.md there are Release Managers.
We need to ask them.

[bestbeforetoday]

@C0rWin @denyeart since the MAINTAINERS.md still lists you both as release managers, can you comment on the release timeline of this fix discussed here?

[harshithn31]

Also, could you let me know if I can safely ignore the issues I mentioned in the 'Additional Issue Observed' section above?

[bestbeforetoday]

That seems to be similar to issue hyperledger/fabric-samples#1363. A more recent version of Docker Compose should solve it. Probably the empty compose files should be removed and the scripts updated not to reference them.