Automating C++ documentation generation using Docker

01 Oct 2023

If you’re working with C++ code, having up-to-date documentation is crucial for collaboration and maintenance. Generating documentation manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. One way to automate this process is by using Docker. Docker allows you to encapsulate your documentation generation setup and easily share it with other team members. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the steps to automate C++ documentation generation using Docker.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the process, you’ll need the following:

Docker installed on your machine
C++ codebase that you want to generate documentation for

Steps to Automate C++ Documentation Generation

Create a Dockerfile - Start by creating a Dockerfile in your project’s root directory. The Dockerfile is a text file that contains all the commands to build an image for your documentation generation environment. Here’s an example of what a basic Dockerfile for C++ documentation generation might look like:

```Dockerfile
# Use an official Python runtime as the base image
FROM python:3.9

# Install required dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y doxygen graphviz

# Copy your C++ codebase to the image
COPY . /app

# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Generate the documentation using Doxygen
CMD [ "doxygen", "Doxyfile" ]

Build the Docker image - Open a terminal and navigate to your project’s directory. Use the following command to build the Docker image, providing a name and tag for the image:

$ docker build -t mycppdocs .

Configure Doxygen - Doxygen is a popular tool for generating documentation from source code. Create a Doxyfile in your project’s directory and configure it according to your requirements. Make sure to specify the correct input and output directories for the documentation generation.
Run the Docker container - Once the Docker image is built, you can use it to generate the documentation. Run the container using the following command:

$ docker run --rm -v <path_to_your_code>:/app mycppdocs

Replace <path_to_your_code> with the absolute path to your C++ codebase on your local machine. This command mounts the codebase directory inside the Docker container, allowing Doxygen to access the code and generate the documentation.

Access the generated documentation - After the documentation generation process is complete, you can access the generated documentation located in the output directory specified in your Doxyfile. Simply navigate to the output directory and open the generated HTML files in your web browser.

Conclusion

Automating C++ documentation generation using Docker can save you time and make it easier to collaborate with team members. By encapsulating your documentation generation setup in a Docker image, you can easily reproduce it across different environments. This ensures that your documentation is always up-to-date and consistent. Give it a try and see how Docker can streamline your C++ documentation workflow.

#hashtags: #C++ #documentation #Docker