apptainer inspect
Show metadata for an image
Synopsis
Inspect will show you labels, environment variables, apps and scripts associated with the image determined by the flags you pass. By default, they will be shown in plain text. If you would like to list them in json format, you should use the –json flag.
apptainer inspect [inspect options...] <image path>
Examples
$ apptainer inspect ubuntu.sif
If you want to list the applications (apps) installed in a container (located at
/scif/apps) you should run inspect command with --list-apps <container-image> flag.
( See https://sci-f.github.io for more information on SCIF apps)
The following environment variables are available to you when called
from the shell inside the container. The top variables are relevant
to the active app (--app <app>) and the bottom available for all
apps regardless of the active app. Both sets of variables are also available during development (at build time).
ACTIVE APP ENVIRONMENT:
SCIF_APPNAME the name for the active application
SCIF_APPROOT the installation folder for the application created at /scif/apps/<app>
SCIF_APPMETA the application metadata folder
SCIF_APPDATA the data folder created for the application at /scif/data/<app>
SCIF_APPINPUT expected input folder within data base folder
SCIF_APPOUTPUT the output data folder within data base folder
SCIF_APPENV points to the application's custom environment.sh file in its metadata folder
SCIF_APPLABELS is the application's labels.json in the metadata folder
SCIF_APPBIN is the bin folder for the app, which is automatically added to the $PATH when the app is active
SCIF_APPLIB is the application's library folder that is added to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH
SCIF_APPRUN is the runscript
SCIF_APPHELP is the help file for the runscript
SCIF_APPTEST is the testing script (test.sh) associated with the application
SCIF_APPNAME the name for the active application
SCIF_APPFILES the files section associated with the application that are added to
GLOBAL APP ENVIRONMENT:
SCIF_DATA scif defined data base for all apps (/scif/data)
SCIF_APPS scif defined install bases for all apps (/scif/apps)
SCIF_APPROOT_<app> root for application <app>
SCIF_APPDATA_<app> data root for application <app>
To list all your apps:
$ apptainer inspect --list-apps ubuntu.sif
To list only labels in the json format from an image:
$ apptainer inspect --json --labels ubuntu.sif
To verify you own a single application on your container image, use the --app <appname> flag:
$ apptainer inspect --app <appname> ubuntu.sif
Options
--all show all available data (imply --json option)
--app string inspect a specific app
-d, --deffile show the Apptainer definition file that was used to generate the image
-e, --environment show the environment settings for the image
-h, --help help for inspect
-H, --helpfile inspect the runscript helpfile, if it exists
-j, --json print structured json instead of sections
-l, --labels show the labels for the image (default)
--list-apps list all apps in a container
-r, --runscript show the runscript for the image
-s, --startscript show the startscript for the image
-t, --test show the test script for the image