How to use custom Eclipse Che stacks on workstation host?

Question

I wonder what is a convenient way to use custom Eclipse Che stacks when running Che on a workstation.

I really like the concept of Eclipse Che: to have separate Che workspaces (Docker containers) for different development environments with corresponding tools installed. Workspaces are initialized from Che stacks. Stacks can be defined as Docker images or dynamically created using Dockerfiles or Docker composer files.

What do I want to achieve:

• [done] have Eclipse Che installed on my workstation
• [done] ability to create my own custom stacks using Dockerfile syntax or local Docker images (images on my workstation not in Docker repository)
• [done] ability to painlessly reboot/shutdown my workstation
• [done] have a reasonable workspace startup time

I have already tried:

1. Define stack by recipe (Dockerfile)

1. I wrote my custom Dockerfile for test purposes:

   FROM eclipse/stack-base:ubuntu
   
   RUN sudo apt-get update
   RUN sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
   
   RUN sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 2930ADAE8CAF5059EE73BB4B58712A2291FA4AD5
   RUN echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.6 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.6.list
   
   RUN curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
   
   RUN sudo apt-get install -y nodejs build-essential mongodb-org
   
   RUN sudo apt-get clean
   RUN sudo apt-get -y autoremove
   RUN sudo apt-get -y clean
   RUN sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
   

   It's based on eclipse/stack-base:ubuntu image as it is suggested in the docs

2. Then I created Che stack using Build Stack From Recipe.

3. After that I created a workspace based on this stack, it functions correctly.

This method has a significant drawback: after a reboot of my workstation Che rebuilds workspace from Dockerfile! As long as Dockerfile contains installation commands, the process takes considerable amount of time and obviously requires internet connection.

2. Stack based on local Docker image

1. I used my custom Dockerfile to build docker image locally:

   sudo docker build -f custom.dockerfile -t my-custom-image .

2. Then I created two Che stacks with the following configurations:

   {
     "scope": "general",
     "description": "Custom1",
     "tags": [],
     "workspaceConfig": {
       "environments": {
         "default": {
           "recipe": {
             "contentType": "text/x-dockerfile",
             "type": "dockerfile",
             "content": "FROM my-custom-image\n"
           },
           "machines": {
             "dev-machine": {
               "servers": {},
               "agents": [
                 "org.eclipse.che.ws-agent",
                 "org.eclipse.che.ssh",
                 "org.eclipse.che.terminal",
                 "org.eclipse.che.exec"
               ],
               "attributes": {
                 "memoryLimitBytes": "2147483648"
               }
             }
           }
         }
       },
       "defaultEnv": "default",
       "commands": [],
       "projects": [],
       "name": "default",
       "links": []
     },
     "components": [],
     "creator": "che",
     "name": "my-custom-1",
     "id": "stackx6hs410a9awhu299"
   }
   
   {
     "scope": "general",
     "description": "Custom2",
     "tags": [],
     "workspaceConfig": {
       "environments": {
         "default": {
           "recipe": {
             "contentType": "application/x-yaml",
             "type": "compose",
             "content": "services:\n dev-machine:\n  image: my-custom-image\n"
           },
           "machines": {
             "dev-machine": {
               "servers": {},
               "agents": [
                 "org.eclipse.che.exec",
                 "org.eclipse.che.terminal",
                 "org.eclipse.che.ws-agent",
                 "org.eclipse.che.ssh"
               ],
               "attributes": {
                 "memoryLimitBytes": "2147483648"
               }
             }
           }
         }
       },
       "defaultEnv": "default",
       "commands": [],
       "projects": [],
       "name": "custom",
       "links": []
     },
     "components": [],
     "creator": "che",
     "name": "my-custom-2",
     "id": "stack55s3tso56cljsf30"
   }
   

3. Workspaces based on these stacks fail to create with errors:

   Could not start workspace my-custom-1. Reason: Start of environment 'default' failed. Error: Docker image build failed. Image id not found in build output.

   Could not start workspace my-custom-2. Reason: Start of environment 'default' failed. Error: Can't create machine from image. Cause: Error response from docker API, status: 404, message: repository my-node-mongo not found: does not exist or no pull access

It looks like Che does not see Docker images on my workstation.

So the question is: Is there any way to achieve my goals with Che? Or Che is not the right tool for me?

Update 1

3. Setup local docker registry (https://docs.docker.com/registry/)

1. Setup local docker registry: https://docs.docker.com/registry/deploying/

2. Use Dockerfile to build a custom image

   sudo docker build -f custom.dockerfile -t my-custom-image .

3. Tag it and push it to local registry

   sudo docker tag my-custom-image localhost:5000/my-custom-image
   sudo docker push localhost:5000/my-custom-image
   

4. Create custom stack using image localhost:5000/my-custom-image

This approach works but has a definite drawback: necessity to maintain docker registry.

Anyway it works and I can tick two check-boxes in my whish-list.

Answer 1

If you want to use a local image, set CHE_DOCKER_ALWAYS__PULL__IMAGE=false in your che.env and restart Che.