Set max lifetime for Docker Container?

Question

Is there any possibility to start a Docker container (with certain commands in CMD) and make sure it doesn't stay up for more than a specified period time?

E.g. I have an Ubuntu container, which I want to start, execute some commands and exit (kill the container) at the end. But those commands may include infinite loops or may just last a very long time, so I want to be sure the Docker container is automatically killed after a specified amount of time.

Answer 1

Quick workaround:

docker run -d --name busybox busybox:1.26.2-glibc  sleep 25; sleep 10; docker rm -f busybox

Explanation:

I'm running a busybox container and name it busybox. In the container I'm running sleep 25 command, so the container will be alive for 25 seconds. But I want to timeout and remove the container in 10 seconds.

Another form of workaround:

timeout --signal=SIGKILL 5 docker run --rm -it busybox:1.26.2-glibc /bin/sh

Unfortunately docker isn't providing such functionality as of 17.09.0-ce. Here is the feature proposal.