Is it possible to share variables (of LET, for instance)?

[denizenging]

Question

I'd like to share alpine versions between two Earthfiles. Can't I use a central, third Earthfile to do that? If so, how do I do it?

[alexcb]

Have you looked into the IMPORT command?

You can have a base target like:

VERSION 0.8

common-alpine-target:
  FROM alpine:3.18
  RUN echo "this should be available everywhere" > /common-data

Then import a parent Earthfile in some child directory like:

VERSION 0.8

IMPORT .. AS root

child:
   FROM root+common-alpine-target
   RUN cat /common-data

then you can treat common-alpine-target as a golden base image which everything should depend on.

[alexcb]

unfortunately IMPORT doesn't allow you to import any ARG or LET definitions; but I could see this being a nice addition (especially if we add a CONST one day #1863)

[denizenging]

unfortunately IMPORT doesn't allow you to import any ARG or LET definitions; but I could see this being a nice addition (especially if we add a CONST one day #1863)

I actually figured out that I could use FROM with targets, but having a way to share variables could be useful for someone else. I'm currently satisfied with my solution, but maybe I should keep this issue open for the ones who might benefit from this?

[alexcb]

it's also possible to inherit a ENV value from a different target (where as ARG values are not inherited)