Setting up a development environment with Docker and C++

01 Oct 2023

In today’s rapidly evolving software development landscape, Docker has emerged as a powerful tool for creating lightweight and portable development environments. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of setting up a development environment for C++ using Docker.

What is Docker?

Docker is an open-source containerization platform that allows you to package an application and all its dependencies into a standardized unit called a container. These containers can then be run on any machine that has Docker installed, without worrying about differences in the underlying operating system or hardware.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

Docker: Install Docker by following the instructions for your specific operating system from the official Docker website.

Step 1: Creating a Dockerfile

To set up our development environment, we need to create a Dockerfile. This file will contain instructions to build a Docker image with all the necessary dependencies for C++ development.

Create a new file named Dockerfile in your project directory and open it using a text editor. Add the following content to it:

# Use an official C++ runtime as the base image
FROM gcc:latest

# Set the working directory inside the container
WORKDIR /app

# Copy the source code to the container
COPY . .

# Install any additional dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y <package-name>

# Set the default command to execute when the container starts
CMD ["./<executable-name>"]

Replace <package-name> with the name of any additional dependencies your C++ project requires. Replace <executable-name> with the name of your C++ executable file.

Step 2: Building the Docker Image

Next, we need to build the Docker image using the Dockerfile we created. Open a terminal/command prompt and navigate to the directory containing the Dockerfile.

Run the following command to build the Docker image:

docker build -t my-cpp-dev .

This command will build a Docker image with the tag my-cpp-dev based on the instructions in the Dockerfile. The dot at the end represents the current directory.

Step 3: Running the Docker Container

Once the image is built, we can create and run a Docker container using the image. Run the following command in the terminal/command prompt:

docker run -it my-cpp-dev

This command starts a new Docker container based on the my-cpp-dev image and attaches your terminal to it (-it flag).

Step 4: Developing with C++

Now that your Docker container is up and running, you can start developing your C++ code inside the container. Any changes made to the code will be reflected immediately.

You can use the command-line tools available in the container to compile and execute your C++ programs, just like you would on a traditional development environment.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to set up a C++ development environment using Docker. Docker’s ability to provide consistent and reproducible environments makes it an ideal choice for developing C++ applications. With Docker, you can easily share your development environment with teammates and deploy your application to any Docker-enabled environment without worrying about compatibility issues.

#programming #docker #cpp