When docker-compose.yml is emtpy, fail with a human readable error message

[k0pernikus]

When there is no docker-compose.yml then there is this nice error message:

$ docker-compose up

        Can't find a suitable configuration file in this directory or any parent. Are you in the right directory?

        Supported filenames: docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, fig.yml, fig.yaml

Yet if one exists but is empty it produces this output:

$ docker-compose up
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/docker-compose", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('docker-compose==1.4.2', 'console_scripts', 'docker-compose')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/main.py", line 39, in main
    command.sys_dispatch()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/docopt_command.py", line 21, in sys_dispatch
    self.dispatch(sys.argv[1:], None)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/command.py", line 27, in dispatch
    super(Command, self).dispatch(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/docopt_command.py", line 24, in dispatch
    self.perform_command(*self.parse(argv, global_options))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/command.py", line 57, in perform_command
    verbose=options.get('--verbose'))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/cli/command.py", line 78, in get_project
    config.load(config_details),
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/compose/config.py", line 138, in load
    for service_name, service_dict in list(dictionary.items()):
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'items'

This is very hard to debug and was already mentioned in #129 yet this still persists in docker-compose 1.4.2.

[mnowster]

Top level object needs to be a dictionary. Check your .yml file that you have defined a service at the top level.

is the error message you will get in forthcoming release 1.5.0

[ivancarrancho]

On Ubunto 14 just "sudo", "sudo docker-compose build" fix it XD works for me

[dwaynewei]

try this one if u haven't solve this problem.
CD to your docker directory:
cd docker/
then, run that order above, which is :
docker-compose up
this may not solve ur problem, but keep trying, u can do it.

[Snipeitsachin]

on ubuntu machine you con run thise command " sudo docker-compose up -d "