How to fetch files from an exited container ?

Solution In Progress - Updated -

Environment

  • RHEL
  • podman

Resolution

  • exec operation can not be performed on an exited container
  • One can use podman cp to access the files from inside of an exited container
    podman cp <container-name>:/path-to-file <destination-path-on-host>

Root Cause

  • Once container is exited, it can not be accessed using exec(unless started again) and the only way the files inside the container can be accessed from an exited container is by copying the file from inside the container to the host using podman cp

Diagnostic Steps

  • When you try to run an exec operation in an exited container,
# podman exec -it 666f4dd0f51f cat /tmp/file
Error: can only create exec sessions on running containers: container state improper

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