DSpace and Docker

Resources

Docker Image Source and Tutorial

https://dspace-labs.github.io/DSpace-Docker-Images/

This repository contains an issue list of enhancement ideas.

Published Docker Images

https://hub.docker.com/u/dspace/

Technical Support and Project Communication 

#dspace-docker Slack Channel

Open Issues

Issue 1 - Move Dockerfile into DSpace/DSpace and DSpace/DSpace-Angular & Assume the Dockerfile Context has a full instance of source code

This will reduce the need to retrieve source code from git, if the Dockerfile is already housed at the project root directory.

Pull requests

• https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/2134 - 6x 

• https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/2137 - 4x

• https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/2136 - 5x 

• https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/2135 - 7x 

• https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/278 - Angular
  

FROM alpine/git as clone
ARG DSPACE_BRANCH=dspace-6_x
ENV DSPACE_GIT https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace.git

WORKDIR /app

RUN git clone ${DSPACE_GIT} \
    && cd /app/DSpace \
    && git checkout ${DSPACE_BRANCH}


COPY local.cfg /app/DSpace
COPY build.properties /app/DSpace

FROM maven as build
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=clone /app/DSpace /app
RUN mvn package

The Docker build command takes a git url as a parameter.  See https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/build/

Some experimentation is still needed to verify this.

FROM maven as build
WORKDIR /app
# Add the full source dir into the image
ADD * /app/

COPY docker.local.cfg /app/local.cfg
# In the DSpace 4/5 build
COPY docker.build.properties /app/build.properties

This will likely require the creation of a .dockerignore file for times when the build is run from a user's desktop

.git/
.idea/
.settings/
*/target/
dspace/modules/*/target/

Issue 2 - Grant Docker Hub permissions within the DSpace GitHub organization

Terry has attempted to find another library tech open source project that has granted similar permissions.

Tim Donohue , do you know if one of the other DuraSpace projects has done this?

In the meantime, I am testing the automated build process here: https://hub.docker.com/r/terrywbrady/dspace/builds/ using a GitHub account with limited credentials.

Issue 3 - Docker Image Build Automation

Automate the creation of DSpace images as the DSpace/DSpace and DSpace/DSpace-Anuglar source code changes.

Option 1 - Create an Automated Build Trigger on Docker Hub

DockerHub allows you to configure builds based on source branches for a repository.

This is a supported solution.

Description

• Each time one of the supported branches of DSpace is updated, update an image to Docker Hub.
• Each time a release tag is created on GitHub, create a new image on Docker Hub.
• It is unclear if images could be generated for each PR

Requirements

• Move the Dockerfile from DSpace-Labs/DSpace-Docker-Images to DSpace/DSpace.
  • Customize 4x branch to look for custom target/install dir.
• Grant DockerHub access to the DSpace GitHub org.
  • See https://docs.docker.com/docker-hub/builds/ for an explanation.
• Consider a paid DockerHub account to expedite builds.  Otherwise, builds might queue up.
  • You can only trigger one build at a time and no more than one every five minutes. If you already have a build pending, or if you recently submitted a build request, Docker ignores new requests.

The following terminal output illustrates how easy it is to switch between DSpace versions

• Sample Output Accessing Built Images

Option 1a - Use DockerCloud for the Automated Build

There may be a PR build option available through this service, but I am finding it difficult to understand when to use Docker Cloud vs Docker Hub.

https://docs.docker.com/docker-cloud/builds/automated-build/#customize-your-build-process

Option 2 - Add Docker Build Automation to Travis Build

This would likely be a home-grown solution and may not be fully supported.

https://ops.tips/blog/travis-ci-push-docker-image/

Description

• Each time Travis rebuilds a branch, update an image to Docker Hub.
• Each time Travis rebuilds a PR, update an image to Docker Hub
  • This may generate a lot of images, but it could simplify testing
• Each time a release tag is created on GitHub, manually build a new image on Docker Hub.
  • Unless there is a way to trigger this in travis as well

Requirements

• Relocate the Dockerfile to source repo?
  • This may be needed
• Create Docker Hub account for DSpace (user not org).  Embed Docker Hub user credentials within Travis.
• Evaluate the performance impact on the Travis build
• Determine any limitations on the number of images that can be pushed to Docker Hub

Issue 4 - Setting guidelines for team permissions on Docker Hub.

Currently, 4 users have admin rights to the DSpace Docker registry.

Consider granting image-specific permissions to particular teams.

Issue 5 - Exploring new opportunities built on DSpace images

The existence of published DSpace images might make it easier to host branch-specific DSpace images to facilitate PR testing and pre-release testing.

Currently, server level command line access is required to build and deploy a PR for testing.  This often limits the potential pool of testers to the developer community. 

If the deployment of a test environment for a PR could be automated, some user testing of PR's could be performed by repository managers and other users who do not have command line access t server resources.

Issue 6 - How should we be using Docker Labels within our Images

If we create more robust labels, how would we make use of them?

Additional Resources

• Dev Show and Tell - Using Docker in Development - May 15, 2018 - 1500UTC
• Dev Show and Tell - Aug 28, 2018 - 1500UTC - DSpace On DockerHub