doil - Create ILIAS Development Environments with Docker and ILIAS

doil provides you with a simple way to create and manage development and testing environments for ILIAS. It will create and provision a docker container according to your requirements, pull the ILIAS version you want to use and even install it if possible. Also, doil provides you with a mail server wich collects all mails from your instances, so you can test the ILIAS emailing.

Installation

1. download and unpack the latest release
2. cd into the unpacked directory
3. if you run doil on a remote host ensure to change the host name in setup/conf/doil.conf to your host name
4. adjust your mail password in setup/conf/doil.conf
5. if you run global instances make sure to adjust 'global_instances_path' in setup/conf/doil.conf to specify where to place them, default is '/srv/instances'. Attention, paths with 'home' are not allowed here.
6. execute sudo ./setup/install.sh in order to install doil
7. you can remove the downloaded folder afterwards
8. check doil help for available commands and further instructions

Update

If you use a doil version older than 20221110, we recommend completely removing an already installed doil from the system. This includes already installed instances. After that, you can proceed to the Installation section.

Removal Tips:

• docker ps -a shows all containers
• docker rm <container_id> removes container by id (ensure to delete all doil instances)
• docker images shows all images
• docker rmi <image_id> remove image by id (ensure to delete all doil images)
• docker volume ls shows all volumes
• docker volume rm <volume_name> remove volume by name (ensure to delete mail, proxy and salt)
• docker network prune removes all networks without dependencies
• sudo rm -rf /etc/doil /usr/local/lib/doil /usr/local/share/doil /usr/local/bin/doil ~/.doil /var/log/doil
• remove the instances folders or if you placed all instances in one folder remove the whole folder

Otherwise, use the update script.

1. checkout the newest master branch or copy and extract the zip
2. cd into the unpacked directory
3. if you run global instances make sure to adjust 'global_instances_path' in setup/conf/doil.conf to specify where to place them, default is '/srv/instances'. Attention, paths with 'home' are not allowed here. The update will move all global instances to the set path.
4. execute sudo ./setup/update.sh in order to update doil
5. you can remove the downloaded folder afterward

Dependencies

doil tries to use as little 3rd party software on the host system as possible, however doil needs Docker in order to work:

• docker (follow this instructions depending on your os to install docker), if you have installed docker by your package manager ensure that docker-buildx-plugin and docker-compose-plugin are available and installed and also executable by your user.
• git
• .ssh folder in your home directory. doil will mount it into the container. doil needs this to have access to any private git repositories that may be used.

Additional dependencies, but these are installed automatically during setup.

• php version => 7.4
• php*.*-zip
• php*.*-dom
• composer version = depending on installed php version
• symfony/console
• symfony/filesystem
• symfony/process
• pimple
• ext/posix
• ext/zip
• ext-openssl
• psr/log
• monolog/monolog

The easiest way to fulfill the dependencies is Ubuntu 22.01, but it should also be possible with any other Linux installation.

Usage

Quick Start

Before starting make sure that you have set up your docker usergroup correctly

After you installed doil the basic system is ready to go. To get an instance of ILIAS running you simply need to do following steps:

1. Head to a folder where you want to store your project. Usually ~/Projects
2. Enter following command: doil create -e ilias7 -r ilias -b release_7 -p 7.4 -u

Don't worry, this will take a while. It creates and instance of ILIAS named ilias7 in your location from the repository ilias (see doil repo:list) with the known branch release_7 and the PHP version 7.4. Be aware, there is no check wich php version matches on which ILIAS version.

After this job is finished you can start your instance with doil up ilias7 and head to http://doil/ilias7/ to see your fresh ILIAS installation.

You can also get a quick overview on running doil instances by navigating with your browser to 'http://doil'. If you have changed the host variable in the doil.conf file you have to call 'http://<host_value>'.

Help

Each command for doil comes with its own help. If you struggle to use a command, just add -h or --help to display the according help page. For example: doil instances:create --help. Use a simple doil if you have no idea where to start.

Instances

An instance is one environment for an installation of ILIAS. The purpose of doil is to make the management of these instances as simple as possible. The following commands are available:

• doil create (alias for doil instances:create) creates a new instance in the current working directory
• doil up <instance_name> starts an instance that you have created before
• doil path prints the path to the location of the instance
• doil ls lists all available instances
• doil login <instance_name> logs you into the container running the instance
• doil down <instance_name> stops an instance to free the resources it needs
• doil delete <instance_name> deletes an instance you do not need anymore
• doil status lists the current running doil instances
• doil exec <instance_name> <cmd> executes a bash command inside the instance

See doil instances:<command> --help for more information

Repository

doil can use different ILIAS repositories to create instances. Per default, the repository of the ILIAS society will be used to pull the ILIAS code. If you want to use another repository to get the ILIAS code, you can use commands from doil repo to add and manage these other repositories:

• doil repo:add will add a repository to the configuration
• doil repo:update <repo_name> will download the repo to doil's local cache or update it if it is already downloaded
• doil instances:create --repo REPO_NAME will use the repo to create a new instance
• doil repo:delete <repo_name> - removes a repository
• doil repo:list - lists currently registered repositories

See doil repo:<command> --help for more information

Global User Support

If you are running doil on a system with multiple users you can manage your repositories and instances globally for all user. For that we implemented several helper and flags.

Adding user to doil

The user who installed doil on the machine is already registered at doil. To add another user simply use doil system:user add <username>. You can manage the users with following commands:

• doil user:add <username> adds a user (needs sudo privileges)
• doil user:delete <username> deletes a user (needs sudo privileges)
• doil user:list lists the available users

See doil user:<command> --help for more information

The --global flag

Most commands in doil come with a --global flag. For instance if you created an ILIAS instance with doil create --global the instance will then be available to all registered users. You can start the instance with doil up <instance> --global.

If you want to create an instance with a global repository you have to use the flag -u|--use-global-repo, e.g, doil create -r ilias -u

Following commands come with the --global flag:

doil instances

• doil instances:create
• doil instances:up
• doil instances:down
• doil instances:delete
• doil instances:apply
• doil instances:path
• doil instances:login
• doil instances:exec

doil repo

• doil repo:add
• doil repo:delete
• doil repo:update

doil pack

• doil pack:import
• doil pack:export

You can also create global instances with private repositories and vice versa.

Pack

doil lets you transfer the data of one installation of ILIAS ot another. Instances build with doil (instances from version >=1.1) are able to be exported.

• doil pack:export exports an instance
• doil pack:import imports an instance

See doil pack:<command> --help for more information

To start doil:pack export via cronjob you need two additional parameters. The first parameter (-T or --no-term) is attached to the doil commando. It ensures that docker can run without a terminal. The second parameter (-c or --cron) is required for the pack:export command. It ensures that the console command does not open an additional terminal. The complete call then looks like this:

doil -T pack:export -c <instance_name> [-g]

Quietmode and Logs

Most of the commands come with a --quiet flag to omit the log messages. However, these logs are not lost, they are stored in /var/log/doil/doil.log and in /var/log/doil/salt.log. You may want to add a rotation to this logfile.

Known Restrictions

• doil was developed and tested on debian and ubuntu systems. It might run on other linux based platforms but there is no guarantee

doil on MacOS (currently not tested)

• due to network restrictions on MacOS doil can only operate run one instance at once. Though it's possible to create as many environments as you want

doil on Windows (no longer supported)

• We only use doil on Linux systems in our company. If you want to run doil under Windows, please send an email to daniel.weise@concepts-and-training.de and we will decide as a team whether to resume support.

Known Problems

Doil on Mac Ubuntu 22.01 Server (VMWare Fusion)

There may be a problem with the ~/.docker directory. It may happen that after a reboot the file permissions and the owner of the folder have to be adjusted again. If this is the case for you, you can also consider creating a startup script that automatically adjusts this folder every time the system starts.

Proxy Server (Minions did not return) during install/update

If the proxy server reports 'Minion did not return' during the install/update process, please abort the process and start it again.

404 after doil up

Sometimes it is possible that the proxy server doesn't accept the configuration. This results in a 404 when heading to your instance after using doil up. To fix this you just need to restart the proxy server with doil proxy:restart. If the 404 still occurs restart your instance with doil down and doil up.

The key not ready loop

While creating an instance or using doil apply it is possible that there will be a "Key not ready" loop. This loop tries to find a certain key in the salt main server. To fix this issue let the loop run and open a new terminal and do following steps:

• doil salt:prune
• doil salt:restart
• doil down <instance_name>
• doil up <instance_name>

Usually the loop will then resolve itself and the creation or apply process will continue. If the loop continues then there might be a problem with the public key of the salt main server. To fix this do following steps:

• doil login <instance_name>
• rm /etc/salt/pki/minion/minion_master.pub
• exit
• doil down <instance_name>
• doil up <instance_name>

Background, Troubleshooting and Development

doil uses SaltStack to provision and maintain the instances. Docker is only used as a light weight and widely available VM-like technology to run sufficiently isolated linux environments. SaltStack uses an architecture where one master acts as a central control server. doil runs this master in a dedicated container. The instances then are deployed into separate containers as minions that are controlled and provisioned by the master. Required folders are mounted in the users filesystem via Dockers volumes and can be accessed from the host system.

System

doil comes with some helpers which are useful if you want to hack on doil:

• doil -V|--version displays the version
• doil displays the main help page

Also, there is a script to uninstall doil in the doil repo. If you have already deleted the folder easily clone it again from doil.

Cd into the cloned folder and execute the script.

sudo ./setup/uninstall.sh

The script will ask you if you want to remove doil completely from your system or if you want to keep your instances, images ...

SaltStack

To be able to dive deeper into the inner workings of doil or customize it to fit your workflow or requirements, doil provides commands to tamper with the saltstack in the background. These commands will not be required by ordinary users, so make sure to understand what you are doing.

• doil salt:login logs the user into the main salt server
• doil salt:prune prunes the main salt server
• doil salt:start starts the salt main server
• doil salt:stop stops the salt main server
• doil salt:restart restarts the salt main server
• doil salt:states to list the available states

See doil salt:<command> --help for more information

Proxy Server

To be able to dive deeper into the inner workings of doil or customize it to fit your workflow or requirements, doil provides commands to tamper with the proxy in the background. These commands will not be required by ordinary users, so make sure to understand what you are doing.

• doil proxy:login logs the user into the proxy server
• doil proxy:prune removes the configuration of the proxy server
• doil proxy:start starts the proxy server
• doil proxy:stop stops the proxy server
• doil proxy:restart restarts the proxy server
• doil proxy:reload reloads the configuration

See doil proxy:<command> --help for more information

Https

There is the state 'proxy-enable-https' to make the proxy accessible via https. This is done by certbot. In order for this state to run successfully, it is important that the proxy is already accessible from the Internet and the DNS entries are set.
To execute the state you have to log in to the salt master using doil salt:login. The following command is then executed there:

 salt 'doil.proxy' state.highstate saltenv=proxy-enable-https pillar='{"email": "<your_email>", "domain": "<your_domain>"}'

If the state has run successfully, the current status of the proxy still needs to be committed. To do this, leave the salt master again with ctrl-d and execute the following command:

docker commit doil_proxy doil_proxy:stable

The state also sets up a cron job that regularly renews the certificates.

After that please ensure to run doil apply <instance_name> enable-https on each doil ILIAS instance, so https take effect in ILIAS.

Mail Server

The mailserver is available at http://doil/mails with following login data:

• User: www-data
• Password: ilias

You can change the password in the doil config file setup/conf/doil.conf. Before installing doil change the default password to your password. If doil is already installed you can change the password by doil mail:change-password <password>. Please ensure you also update the password in your actual installed doil config /etc/doil/doil.conf, so you don't have to set the passwort again after a doil update.

Every minion sends all E-Mails to this mailserver.

To be able to dive deeper into the inner workings of doil or customize it to fit your workflow or requirements, doil provides commands to tamper with the mailserver in the background. These commands will not be required by ordinary users, so make sure to understand what you are doing.

• doil mail:change-password changes the default password for roundcube
• doil mail:login logs the user into the mail server
• doil mail:start starts the mail server
• doil mail:stop stops the mail server
• doil mail:restart restarts the mail server

xdedug

doil provides two options to enable xdebug for the given instance.

Option 1: An instance can be created with the '-x' flag, or alternatively in interactive mode you will be asked to install xdebug.
On the command line it could look like this:

• doil create -e ilias7 -r ilias -b release_7 -p 7.4 -u -x

Option 2: You can apply a state to an already existing instance.
To activate xdebug use the following command:

• doil apply <instance_name> enable-xdebug

Alternatively, you can type doil apply <instance_name> and select 'enable-xdebug' from the list.

You can turn off xdebug again in the same way:

• doil apply <instance_name> disable-xdebug

xdebug listens to port 9000 when activated. Now the client has to be set up. Unfortunately, I can only present the configuration of PHP-Storm here as an example. But it should work similarly for other editors.

Necessary PHP-Storm plugins:

• PHP Docker
• PHP Remote

PHP-Storm settings

• it is best to open the doil instance root directory in PHP-Storm.
• under Settings->PHP->CLI Interpreter: add a new interpreter (on the 3 dots and then in the pop-up on +)
• select "From Docker, Vagrant..." and then select "Docker Compose".
• if you already have the doil instance root open in PHP-Storm, it automatically selects the docker-compose.yml
• select the doil instance name under Service (e.g. ilias7) and click "OK".
• click on the reload icon under General PHP executable and the warnings should disappear. Then click 'OK' to close the pop-ups.
• click "Apply" and "OK"
• set a breakpoint somewhere that should be reached
• click on the "Listen for PHP Debug Connections" in the upper right corner

Browser settings

• install 'Xdebug helper' as a browser extension
• activate the little bug in the address bar

Now, reload the ILIAS page to debug. PHP-Storm should inform you about an incomming debug connection.

Contributions and Support

Contributions to doil are very welcome!

• Have a look into the Contributor's Guide before you start.
• If you face any issues or want to suggest a feature or improvement, open an issue.
• Make sure to understand that this is a voluntary offer which requires time, passion and effort and does not guarantee anything to anyone. Be gentle.

If doil saved your precious time and brain power, please consider supporting doil:

• Buy Laura (initial creator) a coffee and tell her about your doil experiences if you meet her somewhere.
• Star the project and share it. If you blog, please share your experience of using this software.
• Look into CaT's products and services and consider to place an order or hire us.
• Reach out to Daniel and Richard if you have requirements, ideas or questions that you don't want to discuss publicly.
• Reach out to Richard if you need more support than we can offer for free or want to get involved with doil in other ways.