several development container environment with git

Question

I am using vs-code devcontainer feature to create a containerized development environment of the following setup:

root_folder (main git repository)
|- .git
|- docker-compose.yml
|- @myapi-submodule (django python API)
  |- .devcontainer.json
|- @myclient-submodule (react js client)
  |- .devcontainer.json

In the docker-compose.yml I create 2 services respectively api and client and mount their corresponding submodule folder.

I can then "Open Folder in Container..." in 2 separate windows and everything works great except for git. I need to be able to make changes, commit them change branches... from the container but since only the submodule folder is mounted I can't use git at all.

What are my options in this scenario ? How can I modify the submodule from the container without the parent folder ?

Trombley

DId you find a solution for this? You could just use git from outside of vs code, I guess, using eg 'Git bash' in the root project folder on windows... – Lignify

Answer 1

The easiest solution would be to create a single .devcontainer directory in your root project dir and in there create a new docker-compose.yml (or extend the existing one if possible.

├── .git
├── .devcontainer
│   ├── devcontainer.json
│   ├── docker-compose-extend.yml # either extend current docker-compose file
│   ├── docker-compose.yml # or create a new one
│   └── Dockerfile # your new docker-compose.yml can also use different Dockerfile(s)
├── @myapi-submodule (django python API)
└── @myclient-submodule (react js client)

The devcontainer.json file should now use the new docker-compose file. You should also consider adding the .devcontainer directory to gitignore

Wohlen

You should not add .devcontainer to .gitignore. What's the point in automating the creation of your development environment if you then do not treat your code as code? – Nomarchy

Answer 2

I found a workaround to solve this problem, you need to add the .git folder from the main repo as a mount like this:

devcontainer.json:

{
    "name": "Node.js",
    ...
    "mounts": [
        "source=${localWorkspaceFolder}/../.git,target=/workspaces/.git,type=bind,consistency=cached"
    ]
}

Yama

Just a head's up for anyone that follows... this will also cause any tracked files outside of the ${localWorkspaceFolder} to be marked as Deleted in git. – Psychotechnics