Base Dev Container

Base Alpine development container for Visual Studio Code, used as base image by other images

Features

• qmcgaw/basedevcontainer:alpine (or :latest) based on Alpine 3.16 in 209MB
• qmcgaw/basedevcontainer:debian based on Debian Buster Slim in 376MB
• All images are compatible with amd64, 386, arm64, armv7, armv6 and ppc64le CPU architectures
• Contains the packages:
  • libstdc++: needed by the VS code server
  • zsh: main shell instead of /bin/sh
  • git: interact with Git repositories
  • openssh-client: use SSH keys
  • nano: edit files from the terminal
• Contains the binaries:
  • gh: interact with Github with the terminal
  • docker
  • docker-compose and docker compose docker plugin
  • docker buildx docker plugin
  • bit
  • devtainr
• Custom integrated terminal
  • Based on zsh and oh-my-zsh
  • Uses the Powerlevel10k theme
  • With Logo LS as a replacement for ls
    • Shows information on login; easily extensible
• Cross platform
  • Easily bind mount your SSH keys to use with git
  • Manage your host Docker from within the dev container on Linux, MacOS and Windows
• Docker uses buildkit by default, with the latest Docker client binary.
• Extensible with docker-compose.yml
• Supports SSH keys with Windows (Hyperv) bind mounts at /tmp/.ssh

Requirements

• Docker installed and running
  • If you don't use Linux, share the directories ~/.ssh and the directory of your project with Docker Desktop
• Docker Compose installed
• VS code installed
• VS code remote containers extension installed

Setup for a project

1. Download this repository and put the .devcontainer directory in your project. Alternatively, use this shell script from your project path

   # we assume you are in /yourpath/myproject
   mkdir .devcontainer
   cd .devcontainer
   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qdm12/basedevcontainer/master/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qdm12/basedevcontainer/master/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
   

2. If you have a .vscode/settings.json, eventually move the settings to .devcontainer/devcontainer.json in the "settings" section as .vscode/settings.json take precedence over the settings defined in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json.

3. Open the command palette in Visual Studio Code (CTRL+SHIFT+P) and select Remote-Containers: Open Folder in Container... and choose your project directory

More

devcontainer.json

• You can change the "postCreateCommand" to be relevant to your situation. In example it could be echo "downloading" && npm i to combine two commands
• You can change the extensions installed in the Docker image within the "extensions" array
• VScode settings can be changed or added in the "settings" object.

docker-compose.yml

• You can publish a port to access it from your host
• Add containers to be launched with your development container. In example, let's add a postgres database.

  1. Add this block to .devcontainer/docker-compose.yml

       database:
         image: postgres
         restart: always
         environment:
           POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
     

  2. In .devcontainer/devcontainer.json change the line "runServices": ["vscode"], to "runServices": ["vscode", "database"],

  3. In the VS code command palette, rebuild the container

Development image

You can build and extend the Docker development image to suit your needs.

• You can build the development image yourself:

  docker build -t qmcgaw/basedevcontainer -f alpine.Dockerfile  https://github.com/qdm12/basedevcontainer.git
  

• You can extend the Docker image qmcgaw/basedevcontainer with your own instructions.

  1. Create a file .devcontainer/Dockerfile with FROM qmcgaw/basedevcontainer

  2. Append instructions to the Dockerfile created. For example:

     • Add more Go packages and add an alias

       FROM qmcgaw/basedevcontainer
       COPY . .
       RUN echo "alias ls='ls -al'" >> ~/.zshrc
       

     • Add some Alpine packages, you will need to switch to root:

       FROM qmcgaw/basedevcontainer
       USER root
       RUN apk add bind-tools
       USER vscode
       

  3. Modify .devcontainer/docker-compose.yml and add build: . in the vscode service.

  4. Open the VS code command palette and choose Remote-Containers: Rebuild container

• You can bind mount a file at /home/vscode/.welcome.sh to modify the welcome message (use /root/.welcome.sh for root)

TODO

• [ ] bit complete yes flag
• [ ] Firewall, see this
• [ ] Extend another docker-compose.yml
• [ ] Fonts for host OS for the VS code shell
• [ ] Gifs and images
• [ ] Install VS code server and extensions in image, waiting for this issue