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 3.19 in 230MB
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 Linux, OSX and Windows

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

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

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

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

qdm12 / basedevcontainer