Error: /docker-import-012345678/bin/json: no such file or directory

Today I face an error when I was trying to import an image by using following steps,

• Switch to image directory path,

  cd docker/directory/image-path

• Then run load command to import docker image in my system,

  cat docker_custom_image.tar | docker load

• After running load command I was getting an error,
  “open /var/lib/docker/tmp/docker-import-622414428/bin/json: no such file or directory”
  

Then a bit searching and research I found few solutions to import the image,

1. You can fix this issue by creating the tmp folder inside /var/lib/docker/.
   (In my case this solution doesn’t work so I made a bit more research and find the solution.)
2. I use below command in order to import the image.

   cat docker_custom_image.tar | docker import - custom_docker/image

   This ends up with the image showing up in

   docker images

   

So this is how I found the solution to fix this issue but there is a question in everyone’s mind that why I was getting this issue?

It is because I was using docker load command to import image export by docker export command.

cat image-file |docker load

Would only work if the image is created as a layered docker image, not as a tar ball.

Basically correct way to import the image,

Use docker import for image exported by docker export.

Use docker load for image exported by docker save.

 

We would love the hear your thoughts, suggestions, and questions in the comments below !!