fix: dev target needs special permission, now VLLM version works for run.sh and Dev Container (#2822)

Signed-off-by: Keiven Chang <keivenchang@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Keiven Chang <keivenchang@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: keivenchang

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     "name": "NVIDIA Dynamo Dev Container Development",
     "remoteUser": "ubuntu", // Matches our container user
     "updateRemoteUserUID": true, // Updates the UID of the remote user to match the host user, avoids permission errors
-    "image": "dynamo:latest-vllm", // Use the latest VLLM local dev image
+    "image": "dynamo:latest-vllm-dev", // Use the latest VLLM dev image
     "runArgs": [
         "--gpus=all",
         "--network=host",

container/Dockerfile.vllm

@@ -296,7 +296,13 @@ CMD []
 
 FROM runtime AS dev
 
-# Install utilities
+# Don't want ubuntu to be editable, just change uid and gid.
+ENV USERNAME=ubuntu
+ARG USER_UID
+ARG USER_GID
+ARG WORKSPACE_DIR=/workspace
+
+# Install utilities as root
 RUN apt-get update -y && \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends  \
     # Install utilities
@@ -325,46 +331,59 @@ RUN apt-get update -y && \
     protobuf-compiler && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# Rust environment setup
-ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup \
-    CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo \
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR=/opt/dynamo/target \
-    PATH=/usr/local/cargo/bin:$PATH
-
-COPY --from=dynamo_base $RUSTUP_HOME $RUSTUP_HOME
-COPY --from=dynamo_base $CARGO_HOME $CARGO_HOME
+COPY --from=runtime /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
 
 # https://code.visualstudio.com/remote/advancedcontainers/add-nonroot-user
 # Will use the default ubuntu user, but give sudo access
 # Needed so files permissions aren't set to root ownership when writing from inside container
-
-# Don't want ubuntu to be editable, just change uid and gid. User ubuntu is hardcoded in .devcontainer
-ENV USERNAME=ubuntu
-ARG USER_UID=1000
-ARG USER_GID=1000
-
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y sudo gnupg2 gnupg1 \
     && echo "$USERNAME ALL=(root) NOPASSWD:ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/$USERNAME \
     && chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/$USERNAME \
     && mkdir -p /home/$USERNAME \
+    && groupmod -g $USER_GID $USERNAME \
+    && usermod -u $USER_UID -g $USER_GID $USERNAME \
     && chown -R $USERNAME:$USERNAME /home/$USERNAME \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
     && chsh -s /bin/bash $USERNAME
 
+# At this point, we are executing as the ubuntu user
+USER $USERNAME
+ENV HOME=/home/$USERNAME
+WORKDIR $HOME
+
+# Set workspace directory variable
+ENV WORKSPACE_DIR=${WORKSPACE_DIR}
+
+# Development environment variables for the dev target
+# Path configuration notes:
+# - DYNAMO_HOME: Main project directory (workspace mount point)
+# - CARGO_TARGET_DIR: Build artifacts in workspace/target for persistence
+# - CARGO_HOME: Must be in $HOME/.cargo (not workspace) because:
+#               * Workspace gets mounted to different paths where cargo binaries may not exist
+#               * Contains critical cargo binaries and registry that need consistent paths
+# - RUSTUP_HOME: Must be in $HOME/.rustup (not workspace) because:
+#                * Contains rust toolchain binaries that must be at expected system paths
+#                * Workspace mount point would break rustup's toolchain resolution
+# - PATH: Includes cargo binaries for rust tool access
+ENV DYNAMO_HOME=${WORKSPACE_DIR}
+ENV CARGO_TARGET_DIR=${WORKSPACE_DIR}/target
+ENV CARGO_HOME=${HOME}/.cargo
+ENV RUSTUP_HOME=${HOME}/.rustup
+ENV PATH=${CARGO_HOME}/bin:$PATH
+
+COPY --from=dynamo_base --chown=$USER_UID:$USER_GID /usr/local/rustup $RUSTUP_HOME
+COPY --from=dynamo_base --chown=$USER_UID:$USER_GID /usr/local/cargo $CARGO_HOME
+
 # This is a slow operation (~40s on my cpu)
 # Much better than chown -R $USERNAME:$USERNAME /opt/dynamo/venv (~10min on my cpu)
 COPY --from=runtime --chown=$USER_UID:$USER_GID ${VIRTUAL_ENV} ${VIRTUAL_ENV}
-RUN chown $USERNAME:$USERNAME ${VIRTUAL_ENV}
-COPY --from=runtime --chown=$USERNAME:$USERNAME /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
 
 # so we can use maturin develop
 RUN uv pip install maturin[patchelf]
 
-USER $USERNAME
-ENV HOME=/home/$USERNAME
-ENV PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/dynamo/components/planner/src
-ENV CARGO_TARGET_DIR=$HOME/dynamo/.build/target
-WORKDIR $HOME
+# Make sure to sync this with the one specified on README.md.
+# This is a generic PYTHONPATH which works for all the frameworks, so some paths may not be relevant for this particular framework.
+ENV PYTHONPATH=${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/metrics/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/frontend/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/planner/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/backends/mocker/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/backends/trtllm/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/backends/vllm/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/backends/sglang/src:${WORKSPACE_DIR}/components/backends/llama_cpp/src
 
 # https://code.visualstudio.com/remote/advancedcontainers/persist-bash-history
 RUN SNIPPET="export PROMPT_COMMAND='history -a' && export HISTFILE=$HOME/.commandhistory/.bash_history" \

container/build.sh

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ set -e
 TAG=
 RUN_PREFIX=
 PLATFORM=linux/amd64
+USER_UID=
+USER_GID=
 
 # Get short commit hash
 commit_id=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
@@ -243,6 +245,22 @@ get_options() {
                 missing_requirement "$1"
             fi
             ;;
+        --uid)
+            if [ "$2" ]; then
+                USER_UID="$2"
+                shift
+            else
+                missing_requirement "$1"
+            fi
+            ;;
+        --gid)
+            if [ "$2" ]; then
+                USER_GID="$2"
+                shift
+            else
+                missing_requirement "$1"
+            fi
+            ;;
         --dry-run)
             RUN_PREFIX="echo"
             echo ""
@@ -419,6 +437,8 @@ show_help() {
     echo "  [--cache-from cache location to start from]"
     echo "  [--cache-to location where to cache the build output]"
     echo "  [--tag tag for image]"
+    echo "  [--uid user ID for dev target (default: current user)]"
+    echo "  [--gid group ID for dev target (default: current group)]"
     echo "  [--no-cache disable docker build cache]"
     echo "  [--dry-run print docker commands without running]"
     echo "  [--build-context name=path to add build context]"
@@ -443,6 +463,13 @@ error() {
 
 get_options "$@"
 
+# Validate UID/GID flags are only used with dev target
+if [ -n "$USER_UID" ] || [ -n "$USER_GID" ]; then
+    if [[ "$TARGET" != "dev" ]]; then
+        echo "⚠️  Warning: --uid and --gid flags are only effective with --target dev"
+        echo "   Current target: ${TARGET:-}"
+    fi
+fi
 
 # Automatically set ARCH and ARCH_ALT if PLATFORM is linux/arm64
 ARCH="amd64"
@@ -466,7 +493,14 @@ fi
 BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg NIXL_REF=${NIXL_REF} "
 
 if [[ $TARGET == "dev" ]]; then
-    BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg USER_UID=$(id -u) --build-arg USER_GID=$(id -g) "
+    # Use provided UID/GID or default to current user
+    if [ -z "$USER_UID" ]; then
+        USER_UID=$(id -u)
+    fi
+    if [ -z "$USER_GID" ]; then
+        USER_GID=$(id -g)
+    fi
+    BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg USER_UID=$USER_UID --build-arg USER_GID=$USER_GID "
 fi
 
 # BUILD DEV IMAGE
@@ -599,8 +633,6 @@ if [ "$USE_SCCACHE" = true ]; then
     BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg USE_SCCACHE=true"
     BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg SCCACHE_BUCKET=${SCCACHE_BUCKET}"
     BUILD_ARGS+=" --build-arg SCCACHE_REGION=${SCCACHE_REGION}"
-
-
 fi
 
 LATEST_TAG="--tag dynamo:latest-${FRAMEWORK,,}"

container/run.sh

@@ -31,12 +31,14 @@ DEFAULT_FRAMEWORK=VLLM
 SOURCE_DIR=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
 
 IMAGE=
+TARGET="dev"
 HF_CACHE=
 DEFAULT_HF_CACHE=${SOURCE_DIR}/.cache/huggingface
 GPUS="all"
 PRIVILEGED=
 VOLUME_MOUNTS=
 MOUNT_WORKSPACE=
+DEV_MODE=
 ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES=
 REMAINING_ARGS=
 INTERACTIVE=
@@ -162,6 +164,7 @@ get_options() {
         --mount-workspace)
             MOUNT_WORKSPACE=TRUE
             ;;
+
         --use-nixl-gds)
             USE_NIXL_GDS=TRUE
             ;;
@@ -227,32 +230,11 @@ get_options() {
         ENTRYPOINT_STRING="--entrypoint ${ENTRYPOINT}"
     fi
 
-    if [ -n "$MOUNT_WORKSPACE" ]; then
-        VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v ${SOURCE_DIR}/..:/workspace "
-        VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v /tmp:/tmp "
-        VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v /mnt/:/mnt "
-
-        if [ -z "$HF_CACHE" ]; then
-            HF_CACHE=$DEFAULT_HF_CACHE
-        fi
-
-        if [ -z "${PRIVILEGED}" ]; then
-            PRIVILEGED="TRUE"
-        fi
-
-        ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES+=" -e HF_TOKEN"
-
-        INTERACTIVE=" -it "
-    fi
-
     if [[ ${HF_CACHE^^} == "NONE" ]]; then
         HF_CACHE=
     fi
 
-    if [ -n "$HF_CACHE" ]; then
-        mkdir -p "$HF_CACHE"
-        VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v $HF_CACHE:/root/.cache/huggingface"
-    fi
+    # HF_CACHE mounting will be handled in workspace section
 
     if [ -z "${PRIVILEGED}" ]; then
         PRIVILEGED="FALSE"
@@ -262,9 +244,9 @@ get_options() {
         RM="TRUE"
     fi
 
-    if [[ ${PRIVILEGED^^} == "FALSE" ]]; then
-        PRIVILEGED_STRING=""
-    else
+    # Initialize PRIVILEGED_STRING
+    PRIVILEGED_STRING=""
+    if [[ ${PRIVILEGED^^} != "FALSE" ]]; then
         PRIVILEGED_STRING="--privileged"
     fi
 
@@ -277,7 +259,6 @@ get_options() {
     if [ -n "$USE_NIXL_GDS" ]; then
         VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v /run/udev:/run/udev:ro "
         NIXL_GDS_CAPS="--cap-add=IPC_LOCK"
-
         # NOTE(jthomson04): In the KVBM disk pools, we currently allocate our files in /tmp.
         # For some arcane reason, GDS requires that /tmp be mounted.
         # This is already handled for us if we set --mount-workspace
@@ -291,14 +272,25 @@ get_options() {
     if [[ "$GPUS" == "none" || "$GPUS" == "NONE" ]]; then
             RUNTIME=""
     fi
+
+    # Auto-enable DEV_MODE for vllm dev images
+    # TODO(keivenc): Currently only Dockerfile.vllm has proper permissions to run as ubuntu user.
+    # Other Dockerfiles (trtllm, sglang, etc.) still require root access.
+    if [[ "$IMAGE" == *"-vllm-dev" ]]; then
+        DEV_MODE=TRUE
+        MOUNT_WORKSPACE=TRUE
+        # Interactive mode is implied when MOUNT_WORKSPACE is TRUE
+    fi
+
     REMAINING_ARGS=("$@")
 }
 
 show_help() {
     echo "usage: run.sh"
     echo "  [--image image]"
     echo "  [--framework framework one of ${!FRAMEWORKS[*]}]"
-    echo "  [--name name for launched container, default NONE] "
+    echo "  [--target target stage to use, default is 'dev']"
+    echo "  [--name name for launched container, default NONE]"
     echo "  [--privileged whether to launch in privileged mode, default FALSE unless mounting workspace]"
     echo "  [--dry-run print docker commands without running]"
     echo "  [--hf-cache directory to volume mount as the hf cache, default is NONE unless mounting workspace]"
@@ -310,6 +302,8 @@ show_help() {
     echo "  [-- stop processing and pass remaining args as command to docker run]"
     echo "  [--workdir set the working directory inside the container]"
     echo "  [--runtime add runtime variables]"
+    echo "  [--entrypoint override container entrypoint]"
+    echo "  [-h, --help show this help]"
     exit 0
 }
 
@@ -324,8 +318,49 @@ error() {
 
 get_options "$@"
 
-# RUN the image
+# Process workspace mounting after auto-detection
+if [ -n "$MOUNT_WORKSPACE" ]; then
+    HOME_PATH="/home/ubuntu"
+
+    # Common workspace setup
+    VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v $(dirname "${SOURCE_DIR}"):/workspace "
+    VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v /tmp:/tmp "
+    VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v /mnt/:/mnt "
+    WORKDIR=/workspace
+    INTERACTIVE=" -it "
+
+    # Set default HF_CACHE if not specified
+    if [ -z "$HF_CACHE" ]; then
+        HF_CACHE=$DEFAULT_HF_CACHE
+    fi
 
+    # Environment variables for all workspace modes
+    ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES+=" -e HF_TOKEN"
+    ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES+=" -e GITHUB_TOKEN"
+    ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES+=" -e HOME=$HOME_PATH"
+
+    # Mount HF_CACHE to user's home cache directory
+    if [ -n "$HF_CACHE" ]; then
+        mkdir -p "$HF_CACHE"
+        VOLUME_MOUNTS+=" -v $HF_CACHE:$HOME_PATH/.cache/huggingface"
+    fi
+
+    if [ -n "$DEV_MODE" ]; then
+        # Dev Container-specific setup - the Dockerfile handles UID/GID mapping via build args
+        # This currently only works with Dockerfile.vllm which has proper ubuntu user setup.
+        echo "Dev Container mode enabled - using ubuntu user with host UID/GID"
+        # Use ubuntu user (with correct UID/GID baked into image)
+        PRIVILEGED_STRING+=" --user ubuntu"
+    else
+        # Standard workspace mode - enable privileged mode
+        # TODO(keivenc): Security risk, remove soon. Dockerfiles (trtllm, sglang) still need to run as root.
+        if [ -z "${PRIVILEGED}" ]; then
+            PRIVILEGED_STRING="--privileged"
+        fi
+    fi
+fi
+
+# RUN the image
 if [ -z "$RUN_PREFIX" ]; then
     set -x
 fi