common-utils failing on RHEL based images

[IMetZach]

The feature "common-utils" fails to install on RHEL based images (except Fedora). I've tested this on Oracle Linux 9 and CentOS Stream 9. The error is is due to the package chsh not being available. I won't put the whole log, but the end of it where it errors out. The more common way to change the shell for a user would be usermod -s /bin/zsh ${user} but in this case it's probably easier to just add the package to the install list:

61.70 Importing GPG key 0x3228467C:
61.70  Userid     : "Fedora (epel9) <epel@fedoraproject.org>"
61.70  Fingerprint: FF8A D134 4597 106E CE81 3B91 8A38 72BF 3228 467C
61.70  From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-9
61.70 Key imported successfully
61.71 Running transaction check
61.71 Transaction check succeeded.
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.276Z] 61.71 Running transaction test
61.71 Transaction test succeeded.
61.71 Running transaction
61.72   Preparing        :                                                        1/1 
61.72   Upgrading        : epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch                           1/4 
61.72   Running scriptlet: epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch                           1/4 
61.72   Upgrading        : epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch                      2/4 
61.72   Cleanup          : epel-next-release-9-7.el9.noarch                       3/4 
61.73   Cleanup          : epel-release-9-7.el9.noarch                            4/4 
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.276Z] 61.73   Running scriptlet: epel-release-9-7.el9.noarch                            4/4 
61.75   Verifying        : epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch                      1/4 
61.75   Verifying        : epel-next-release-9-7.el9.noarch                       2/4 
61.75   Verifying        : epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch                           3/4 
61.75   Verifying        : epel-release-9-7.el9.noarch                            4/4 
61.77 
61.77 Upgraded:
61.77   epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch         epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch        
61.77 
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.276Z] 
61.77 Complete!
61.86 Dependencies resolved.
61.86 ================================================================================
61.86  Package                 Architecture Version               Repository     Size
61.86 ================================================================================
61.86 Removing:
61.86  epel-release            noarch       9-10.el9              @epel          26 k
61.86 Removing unused dependencies:
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.276Z] 61.86  dnf-plugins-core        noarch       4.3.0-24.el9          @baseos        22 k
61.86  epel-next-release       noarch       9-10.el9              @epel         2.8 k
61.86 
61.86 Transaction Summary
61.86 ================================================================================
61.86 Remove  3 Packages
61.86 
61.86 Freed space: 51 k
61.86 Running transaction check
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.276Z] 
61.86 Transaction check succeeded.
61.86 Running transaction test
61.87 Transaction test succeeded.
61.87 Running transaction
61.87   Preparing        :                                                        1/1 
61.87   Erasing          : epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch                      1/3 
61.88   Erasing          : epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch                           2/3 
61.88   Erasing          : dnf-plugins-core-4.3.0-24.el9.noarch                   3/3 
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.277Z] 61.88   Running scriptlet: dnf-plugins-core-4.3.0-24.el9.noarch                   3/3 
61.90   Verifying        : dnf-plugins-core-4.3.0-24.el9.noarch                   1/3 
61.90   Verifying        : epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch                      2/3 
61.90   Verifying        : epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch                           3/3 
61.91 
61.91 Removed:
61.91   dnf-plugins-core-4.3.0-24.el9.noarch     epel-next-release-9-10.el9.noarch    
61.91   epel-release-9-10.el9.noarch            
61.91 
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.277Z] 
61.91 Complete!
61.95 ./main.sh: line 535: chsh: command not found
61.95 ERROR: Feature "Common Utilities" (ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/common-utils) failed to install! Look at the documentation at https://github.com/devcontainers/features/tree/main/src/common-utils for help troubleshooting this error.
------
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.281Z] ERROR: failed to build: failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c cp -ar /tmp/build-features-src/common-utils_0 /tmp/dev-container-features  && chmod -R 0755 /tmp/dev-container-features/common-utils_0  && cd /tmp/dev-container-features/common-utils_0  && chmod +x ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && ./devcontainer-features-install.sh  && rm -rf /tmp/dev-container-features/common-utils_0" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.281Z] 
View build details: �]8;;docker-desktop://dashboard/build/desktop-linux/desktop-linux/pdgh42kva6cnhogfvnp2135ys�\docker-desktop://dashboard/build/desktop-linux/desktop-linux/pdgh42kva6cnhogfvnp2135ys�]8;;�\
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.285Z] Stop (63372 ms): Run: docker buildx build --load --build-context dev_containers_feature_content_source=/var/folders/xs/0my53g6x44s_1yvp4vlcnhrr0000gp/T/devcontainercli/container-features/0.80.2-1765381717204 --no-cache --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_BASE_IMAGE=quay.io/centos/centos:stream9 --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_IMAGE_USER=root --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_FEATURE_CONTENT_SOURCE=dev_container_feature_content_temp --target dev_containers_target_stage -f /var/folders/xs/0my53g6x44s_1yvp4vlcnhrr0000gp/T/devcontainercli/container-features/0.80.2-1765381717204/Dockerfile.extended -t vsc-go-websocket-ded877e6b4e76e7e1eeb699b76503c1e1e5e1334692409a63ef25fb733b84553-features /Users/zacharydetton/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers/data/empty-folder
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z] Error: Command failed: docker buildx build --load --build-context dev_containers_feature_content_source=/var/folders/xs/0my53g6x44s_1yvp4vlcnhrr0000gp/T/devcontainercli/container-features/0.80.2-1765381717204 --no-cache --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_BASE_IMAGE=quay.io/centos/centos:stream9 --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_IMAGE_USER=root --build-arg _DEV_CONTAINERS_FEATURE_CONTENT_SOURCE=dev_container_feature_content_temp --target dev_containers_target_stage -f /var/folders/xs/0my53g6x44s_1yvp4vlcnhrr0000gp/T/devcontainercli/container-features/0.80.2-1765381717204/Dockerfile.extended -t vsc-go-websocket-ded877e6b4e76e7e1eeb699b76503c1e1e5e1334692409a63ef25fb733b84553-features /Users/zacharydetton/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers/data/empty-folder
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at w6 (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:467:1253)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at ax (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:467:997)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at async Y6 (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:484:3842)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at async BC (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:484:4957)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at async p7 (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:665:202)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at async d7 (/Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:664:14804)
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.287Z]     at async /Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:484:1188
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.292Z] Stop (66455 ms): Run: /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper (Plugin).app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper (Plugin) /Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js up --user-data-folder /Users/zacharydetton/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers/data --container-session-data-folder /tmp/devcontainers-3f5dd6f6-2388-4bc3-86f3-ef37d20daf191765381716270 --workspace-folder /Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket --workspace-mount-consistency cached --gpu-availability detect --id-label devcontainer.local_folder=/Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket --id-label devcontainer.config_file=/Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json --log-level debug --log-format json --config /Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json --default-user-env-probe loginInteractiveShell --build-no-cache --remove-existing-container --mount type=volume,source=vscode,target=/vscode,external=true --skip-post-create --update-remote-user-uid-default on --mount-workspace-git-root --include-configuration --include-merged-configuration
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.292Z] Exit code 1
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.299Z] Command failed: /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper (Plugin).app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper (Plugin) /Users/zacharydetton/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers-0.431.1/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js up --user-data-folder /Users/zacharydetton/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers/data --container-session-data-folder /tmp/devcontainers-3f5dd6f6-2388-4bc3-86f3-ef37d20daf191765381716270 --workspace-folder /Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket --workspace-mount-consistency cached --gpu-availability detect --id-label devcontainer.local_folder=/Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket --id-label devcontainer.config_file=/Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json --log-level debug --log-format json --config /Users/zacharydetton/Projects/go-websocket/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json --default-user-env-probe loginInteractiveShell --build-no-cache --remove-existing-container --mount type=volume,source=vscode,target=/vscode,external=true --skip-post-create --update-remote-user-uid-default on --mount-workspace-git-root --include-configuration --include-merged-configuration
[2025-12-10T15:49:43.299Z] Exit code 1

[sireeshajonnalagadda]

Hi @IMetZach,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
At present, common-utils does not support Oracle Linux 9 or CentOS Stream 9. This feature is expected to function correctly on recent versions of Debian/Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, Rocky Linux, and Alpine Linux.

Thanks,
Sireesha

[LuckyD14]

[IMetZach]

Hi @IMetZach, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. At present, common-utils does not support Oracle Linux 9 or CentOS Stream 9. This feature is expected to function correctly on recent versions of Debian/Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, Rocky Linux, and Alpine Linux.

Thanks, Sireesha

I know they're not on "The List", but CentOS Stream is midway between Fedora and RHEL. Packages are developed on Fedora, some get tested out on Stream, and then ported to RHEL. Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL for short) is basically a RHEL clone like Alma or Rocky linux. It's just repackaged and rebranded but the rest is the same. The point is, if it works on RHEL, it should work on OEL no differently.

[Kaniska244]

Hi @IMetZach ,

The problem is that although the new distribution would be a variant of RHEL, it would most likely come with different default package manager along with a different default repository for library packages which sometimes would make it necessary to introduce changes in the feature source code to extend support for the new distribution.
This is why in each individual dev container feature documentation, the OS support explicitly states the the names of all linux distributions which are supported by the respective feature. So with that context only, we do request contributors to contribute PRs to cater specific custom requests.