Why can't the Controll Spawner find the expected control_manager ROS interface in a docker container?

Question

I'm using ros-melodic in a docker container based on the osrf/ros:melodic-desktop-full image.

What my docker file does:

My Dockerfile installs the jackal's robot ros-stack as in this tutorial from clearpath themselves.

After that, I install the ros-bridge-server, since I have to connect to Unity. (this part is not a problem though).

Finally I install my custom package which simply contains a custom roslaunch file. This launch file is finally executed at the bottom of the Dockerfile.

What I'd expect:

When running the container (with appropriate port mapping etc.) I'd expect the container to start, launch roscore, gazebo with the defined worlds & robots, and move_base as a planner.

What happens:

A few nodes start:

controller_spawner (controller_manager/spawner)
ekf_localization (robot_localization/ekf_localization_node)
file_server (file_server/file_server)
gazebo (gazebo_ros/gzserver)
move_base (move_base/move_base)
robot_state_publisher (robot_state_publisher/robot_state_publisher)
rosapi (rosapi/rosapi_node)
rosbridge_websocket (rosbridge_server/rosbridge_websocket)
twist_marker_server (interactive_marker_twist_server/marker_server)
twist_mux (twist_mux/twist_mux)
urdf_spawner (gazebo_ros/spawn_model)

But then some errors in the ASLA lib are thrown. (missing sound cards; I am assuming that this does not break gazebo in total). Then the controller-spawner (and a few other processes) starts but quickly prints a warning "Controller Spawner couldn't find the expected controller_manager ROS interface." A little bit later a error "Spawn service failed. Exiting." comes up.

Sending goals to move_base does not result in anything. The output of roswtf shows that the controller_spawner node died.

Sometimes, if I run the exact same roslaunch command again in an attached shell after the startup of the container, the gazebo world works fine and the robots moves.

I did work through this answer (and 4 hours of additional research, tests etc.), tried / checked all of their ideas, but that did not change anything. This answer does not help. All proposed packages are installed.

Question:

1. If everything this this answer is implemented as written there, what could be the reason for the error messages?
2. Could somebody point me to a docker-file that works with gazebo more or less out of the box so that I can go from there?

I can also post a link to my dockerfile if it helps. Any help and ideas appreciated.

• OS: Ubuntu 18.04 (in a container)
• ROS: Melodic
• all in docker on WSL2

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