When I set an artifact to /var/lib/docker in a build job's properties, it's changed to a relative path

Unable to publish artifact [Docker Cache]: the source directory /home/bamboo/bamboo-agent-home/xml-data/build-dir/BB-THING-JOB1/var/lib/docker does not exist.

Never in any application should a path that starts with / be changed to a relative path. It specifically breaks making artifacts from global operating system cached files, and it also breaks reasonable expectations for relative files in a POSIX environment.

I was able to get the artifact published with a six ../ in a row, by changing the artifact path to: ../../../../../../var/lib/docker:

Publishing an artifact: Docker Cache
Finished publishing of artifact Shared artifact: [Docker Cache], pattern: [**/*] anchored at: [../../../../../../var/lib/docker] in 5s
Finalising the build...

However the problem surfaces later during deployment:

Preparing to download plan result BE-CORE-35 artifact: Shared artifact: [Docker Cache], pattern: [**/*] anchored at: [../../../../../../var/lib/docker]
Unable to download artifact Shared artifact: [Docker Cache], pattern: [**/*] anchored at: [../../../../../../var/lib/docker]

Because of this bug, I don't see a way to use artifacts that are outside of the build directory unless they're manually moved inside it.

Workaround

• create a symbolic link to an external path inside your build directory.