GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · BadContainerConfigurationFormatException

Invalid environment variable definition: + environmentVariab

Error message

Invalid environment variable definition: + environmentVariable

What it means

Each entry in the container configuration's 'Env' array must match ENVIRONMENT_PATTERN (NAME=value). Jib throws BadContainerConfigurationFormatException for entries that don't match, since it cannot split the variable name from its value.

Source

Thrown at jib-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/image/json/JsonToImageTranslator.java:210

        builder.setRetries(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerHealthRetries());
      }
      imageBuilder.setHealthCheck(builder.build());
    }

    if (containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerExposedPorts() != null) {
      imageBuilder.addExposedPorts(
          portMapToSet(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerExposedPorts()));
    }

    if (containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerVolumes() != null) {
      imageBuilder.addVolumes(volumeMapToSet(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerVolumes()));
    }

    if (containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerEnvironment() != null) {
      for (String environmentVariable : containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerEnvironment()) {
        Matcher matcher = ENVIRONMENT_PATTERN.matcher(environmentVariable);
        if (!matcher.matches()) {
          throw new BadContainerConfigurationFormatException(
              "Invalid environment variable definition: " + environmentVariable);
        }
        imageBuilder.addEnvironmentVariable(matcher.group("name"), matcher.group("value"));
      }
    }

    imageBuilder.addLabels(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerLabels());
    imageBuilder.setWorkingDirectory(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerWorkingDir());
    imageBuilder.setUser(containerConfigurationTemplate.getContainerUser());
  }

  /**
   * Converts a map of exposed ports as strings to a set of {@link Port}s (e.g. {@code
   * {"1000/tcp":{}}} -> {@code Port(1000, Protocol.TCP)}).
   *
   * @param portMap the map to convert
   * @return a set of {@link Port}s
   */

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

Correct the offending Env entry to 'NAME=value' format in the container configuration JSON
Pre-validate each entry against a NAME=value regex before calling toImage
Catch BadContainerConfigurationFormatException, log the offending entry, and repair or drop it before retrying

Example fix

// before
"Env": ["PATH"]
// after
"Env": ["PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin"]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(?<name>[^=]+)=(?<value>.*)");
for (String env : config.getContainerEnvironment()) {
  if (!p.matcher(env).matches()) throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad env entry: " + env);
}

Try / catch

try { JsonToImageTranslator.toImage(manifest, config); } catch (BadContainerConfigurationFormatException e) { /* fix offending Env entry to NAME=value and retry */ }

Prevention

Ensure container config Env uses the Docker 'NAME=value' string array format
Validate each entry contains '=' and a non-empty name
Sanitize env arrays produced by non-Docker build tooling before translation

When it happens

Trigger: Calling JsonToImageTranslator.toImage with a container configuration whose environment entries lack '=', are empty strings, have an empty name, or contain malformed separators (e.g. 'NAME:' or 'NAME').

Common situations: Configs written by tooling that stores env as JSON objects instead of the Docker 'NAME=value' string array; hand-edited container config JSON; entries with only a name and no value; accidental whitespace or missing '=' after copy-paste.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c3a674044d7a4738. Report an issue: GitHub.