Fixing problem with Docker container not starting with docker build with --build-arg and Dockerfile having ARG

I was using GitHub Copilot Chat to generate a way to generate a Dockerfile that helps me to get started with PostgreSQL database on a container and I got this as a first run.

First run with Dockerfile through Copilot Chat

After making some adjustment to the SQL connection credential and creating create-data.sql file, I was able to run by creating image with the following command.

docker build -t custom-database-layer:1.0 .

Followed with the following command to launch as a Docker container:

docker run -p 5432:5432 — rm — detach — interactive — name custom-database-layer -d custom-database-layer:1.0

Then, I could check the database by connecting using PostgreSQL client in Visual Studio Code.

This works fine for a local database, but hard coding SQL connection in a file is no-no for any thing that needs to be shared in a remote environment.

Thus, I asked GitHub Copilot Chat:

What can I do if I want to replace database connection strings in Dockerfile with environment variables that can read from somewhere else?