Creating reproducible C++ environments for research and experimentation with Docker

01 Oct 2023

In the world of research and experimentation, it’s crucial to have reproducible environments to ensure the validity and reliability of results. Docker, an open-source platform, can be a powerful tool in creating reproducible environments for C++ development. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to use Docker to build reproducible C++ environments for your research and experimentation projects.

Why Use Docker in C++ Development?

Docker provides a way to package all the dependencies and libraries needed for a C++ project into a single container. This eliminates the hassle of setting up and configuring the environment on different machines, ensuring that the code behaves consistently across different systems.

Step 1: Install Docker

Before we dive into creating a reproducible C++ environment with Docker, make sure you have Docker installed on your machine. You can find installation instructions for your operating system on the Docker website.

Step 2: Build a Docker Image

To create a reproducible C++ environment, we need to build a Docker image that contains all the necessary dependencies.

Let’s create a Dockerfile in the root directory of your C++ project:

# Use a base image with the desired operating system
FROM ubuntu:latest

# Install necessary libraries and dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    cmake \
    git

# Copy your C++ project to the container
COPY . /app

# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Build the C++ project
RUN cmake . && make

# Set the entry point of the container
CMD ["./your_cpp_executable"]

Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening in the Dockerfile:

We start with a base image (ubuntu:latest) that provides the desired operating system.
We install the necessary libraries and dependencies using apt-get.
We copy the contents of your C++ project to the /app directory in the container.
We set the working directory to /app.
We build the C++ project using cmake and make.
We set the entry point of the container to run your C++ executable.

Step 3: Build the Docker Image

Now that we have our Dockerfile defined, we can build the Docker image. Open your terminal, navigate to the directory with the Dockerfile, and run the following command:

docker build -t my_cpp_environment .

This command tells Docker to build an image based on the Dockerfile in the current directory and tag it as my_cpp_environment.

Step 4: Run the Docker Container

With the Docker image built, we can now run a container based on that image. Run the following command in your terminal:

docker run -it my_cpp_environment

This command tells Docker to run a container based on the my_cpp_environment image in interactive mode. You should now have a fully configured reproducible C++ environment to work with.

Conclusion

Using Docker to create reproducible environments for C++ research and experimentation can greatly simplify the setup process and ensure consistent results across different systems. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can easily create Docker images and containers that encapsulate your C++ projects’ dependencies and configurations.

#reproducible #cpp #docker