DevPod: Rootless, FOSS .DevContainer Tooling

A support framework for using .devcontainer on Linux desktops. Let's start with Buildah + Podman + Builder, but the project is open to contributions for other IDE integrations.

Example Project

This example assumes a working Podman installation, which exists out of the box on Fedora Silverblue but is also available on many distributions and platforms.

1. Install this utility:

   pip install devpod
   

2. Clone Microsoft's PHP sample repository and make it the working directory:

   git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-php.git
   cd vscode-remote-try-php/
   

3. In .devcontainer/devcontainer.json, uncomment the postCreateCommand directive and ensure there's a comma at the end of the line if not yet fixed.

   

4. Build the container and launch:

   devpod run --launch
   

   

5. Edit index.php in your IDE and reload the page in your Browser to see changes.

   

Basic Setup and Usage

Setup

These instructions should work out of the box on Fedora Silverblue 33+.

1. Install this utility (choosing an alternative to pip like pipx if you like):

   pip install devpod
   

Usage

1. In the CLI, change to the parent directory of .devcontainer for your project.

2. Run the utility (which will delete any container with the same name as your project directory):

   devpod run --launch  # Will open a browser to forwarded ports.
   

Troubleshooting

• The launch command should list any open ports at the end of the process, but you can also list them using Podman directly:

   podman port --latest
  

Developing DevPod Itself

Installing the CLI Tool from Local Builds

These instructions have been tested on Fedora Silverblue 33 but are probably adaptable to other setups.

1. Install Python package tooling (using a Toolbox if desired):

   sudo dnf install poetry pipx
   

2. Clone the DevPod code and make it your working directory.

3. Build and (re)install the utility for global use:

   rm -rf dist/ && poetry build && pipx install --force dist/devpod-*.tar.gz
   

4. The devpod command should now be globally available to your user, even outside of any Toolbox.

Resources

• .devcontainer Reference Documentation
• Podman Commands Documentation
• Rootless Podman
  • Shortcomings of Rootless Podman
  • Volumes and Rootless Podman
  • User Namespaces, SELinux, and Rootless Containers