features VS just

Dev Containers not only allow you to define which extensions should be installed and which configuration settings shall be set, but they also have something they call "Dev Container Features".

json { "name": "Ubuntu", // Or use a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file. More info: https://containers.dev/guide/dockerfile "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/terraform": "latest", "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/powershell": "latest", "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli": "latest" }, // Features to add to the dev container. More info: https://containers.dev/features. // "features": {}, // Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally. // "forwardPorts": [], // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created. // "postStartCommand": "uname -a", // "postCreateCommand": "sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade -y;", "postAttachCommand": { "git-safe-directory": "git config --global --add safe.directory ${containerWorkspaceFolder}", "ansible_cfg_permissions": "sudo chmod o-w ${containerWorkspaceFolder}" }, "postCreateCommand": { "python": "sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade -y; sudo apt install -y python3-pip postgresql-client; sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip; pip3 install ansible python-hcl2 psycopg2-binary; ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection", "populate-history": "echo 'ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/netbox.yml' >> ~/.bash_history; echo 'terraform apply' >> ~/.bash_history; echo 'az login' >> ~/.bash_history" }, // Configure tool-specific properties. // "customizations": {}, // Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root. // "remoteUser": "root" "customizations": { "vscode": { "extensions": [ "GitHub.copilot", "GitHub.copilot-labs", "GitHub.vscode-pull-request-github", "redhat.ansible", "hashicorp.terraform", "ms-toolsai.jupyter", "ms-vscode.powershell", "HashiCorp.terraform", "eamodio.gitlens", "GitHub.copilot-chat" ] } } }

there are already built docker images for common development environment. You can either use one of them, or build one from Docker file. Using a pre-built dev container doesn't mean you are only limited to that image, because you can still add other tools, which they are called features to that image. For a list of the pre-built templates check here, and for the other features that you can add check this. You don't need a Docker file, unless you want to build your dev environment step by step.

// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the // README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/python { "name": "Python 3", "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:0-3.11", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {} } // Features to add to the dev container. More info: https://containers.dev/features. // "features": {}, // Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally. // "forwardPorts": [], // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created. // "postCreateCommand": "pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt", // Configure tool-specific properties. // "customizations": {}, // Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root. // "remoteUser": "root" }

This is actually very easy. I've implemented a number of tools like this publicly but the standard doesn't limit you to public stuff. I can't emphasize enough the amount of speed we gained when we implemented this standard. https://containers.dev/features

features: While you can add everything in Dockerfile for the build, there are already pre-configured features you can optionally add. You can find the complete list of the features at here. Some examples of those features are common utilities and tools like Azure CLI, GitHub CLI and Terraform, and languages like node.js, Java, .NET, Python, etc.

I don't like makefiles, but I've been enjoying justfiles: https://github.com/casey/just

I started using just [0] on my projects and have been very happy so far. It is very similar to make but focused on commands rather than build outputs.

Define your recipes and then you can compose them as needed.

[0] https://github.com/casey/just

just - https://github.com/casey/just

Welp there is absolute chaos in that thread -- guess it's not an April Fools joke.

I wonder if relying on CI for anything other than provisioning machines is a mistake -- maybe we should have never moved from doing things from local scripts written in $LANGUAGE.

That said, I'm probably biased since I'm a massive fan of things like `make` and more appropriately for the current age, `just`[0]

[0]: https://github.com/casey/just

> When a command has some cognitive requirements I create a script with some ${1:-default} values and I store them all in $PATH enabled local/bin

I would consider using just for this:

https://github.com/casey/just

Your coworker's experience is more principled: Make is a mediocre tool for executing commands. It wasn't ever designed for that. Although it is pretty common to see what you are mentioning in projects because it doesn't require installing a dependency.

For a repo where an easy to install (single binary) dependency is a non-issue, consider using just. [1] You get `just -l` where you can see all the command available, the ability to use different languages, and overall simpler command writing.

[1] https://github.com/casey/just

This is fantastic, but I'd say that this solution is somewhat in response to this open issue from 2019:

https://github.com/casey/just/issues/429

I really wish just was included as a package in distributions.

So far, I didn't work on new features at all but on stabilizing the ground for further development: 1. CMake lists and modules were rewritten a lot, now managing builds and their configurations is much lesser pain. 2. Brought in Justfile for regular tasks, and it's great, no less. 3. Linters, formatters, analyzers for almost all the code (except for Janet for now, as because of it being a niche and young technology, it didn't get enough attention yet). 4. ECS stub. Now runtime class doesn't look like a god object. 5. Started writing unit tests which didn't happen with my personal projects before and maybe indicates how serious am I about this one :D 6. Some of previously hardcoded data has been moved to INI files. Now, if I release the game in 10 years, and in 10 more years some eccentric person decides to make a variant of it, it will be slightly simpler.

i've grown to like this for my personal projects. https://github.com/casey/just