How to set custom context for docker.build in jenkinsfile

It turns out that I was pulling a previous version (1.6) of the docker-pipeline-plugin. The function in question has been since updated (1.7) to allow the second parameter to designate a Dockerfile location outside the context.

The updated statement in my Jenkinsfile is:

return docker.build("db", "-f docker/db/Dockerfile .")

And this allows my container to build without modifying the expected context of the developer's docker-compose or Dockerfiles.

The build() method builds the Dockerfile in the current directory by default. This can be overridden by providing a directory path containing a Dockerfile as the second argument of the build() method, for example:

node {
    checkout scm
    def testImage = docker.build("test-image", "./dockerfiles/test") 

    testImage.inside {
        sh 'make test'
    }
}