CODEWITHSUNDEEP
docker
mb14
mb14

Reputation: 22596

Is it possible/sane to develop within a container Docker

I'm new to Docker and was wondering if it was possible (and a good idea) to develop within a docker container. I mean create a container, execute bash, install and configure everything I need and start developping inside the container.

The container becomes then my main machine (for CLI related works). When I'm on the go (or when I buy a new machine), I can just push the container, and pull it on my laptop.

This sort the problem of having to keep and synchronize your dotfile.

I haven't started using docker yet, so is it something realistic or to avoid (spacke disk problem and/or pull/push timing issue).

Upvotes: 5

Views: 2071

Answers (3)

Mykola Gurov
Mykola Gurov

Reputation: 8685

Docker container for development can be very handy. Depending on your stack and preferred IDE you might want to keep the editing part outside, at host, and mount the directory with the sources from host to the container instead, as per Alex's suggestion. If you do so, beware potential performance issue on macos x with boot2docker.

I would not expect much from the workflow with pushing the images to sync between dev environments. IMHO keeping Dockerfiles together with the code and synching by SCM means is more straightforward direction to start with. I also carry supporting Makefiles to build image(s) / run container(s) same place.

Upvotes: 1

ryan1234
ryan1234

Reputation: 7275

I'll play the contrarian and say it's a bad idea. I've done work where I've tried to keep a container "long running" and have modified it, but then accidentally lost it or deleted it.

In my opinion containers aren't meant to be long running VMs. They are just meant to be instances of an image. Start it, stop it, kill it, start it again.

As Alex mentioned, it's certainly possible, but in my opinion goes against the "Docker" way.

I'd rather use VirtualBox and Vagrant to create VMs to develop in.

Upvotes: 1

Alex
Alex

Reputation: 1008

Yes. It is a good idea, with the correct set-up. You'll be running code as if it was a virtual machine.

The Dockerfile configurations to create a build system is not polished and will not expand shell variables, so pre-installing applications may be a bit tedious. On the other hand after building your own image to create new users and working environment, it won't be necessary to build it again, plus you can mount your own file system with the -v parameter of the run command, so you can have the files you are going to need both in your host and container machine. It's versatile.

> sudo docker run -t -i -v
/home/user_name/Workspace/project:/home/user_name/Workspace/myproject <container-ID>

Upvotes: 3

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