Dockerfile and VSCode launch scripts to run logcabin build in docker container.

.vscode/launch.json

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{
+    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
+    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
+    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
+    "version": "0.2.0",
+    "configurations": [       
+        {
+            "name": "(gdb) Docker",
+            "type": "cppdbg",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "build/test/test",
+            "args": [],
+            "stopAtEntry": false,
+            "cwd": "/logcabin",
+            "environment": [],
+            "externalConsole": true,
+            "preLaunchTask": "scons-build",
+            "MIMode": "gdb",
+            "targetArchitecture": "x64",
+            "sourceFileMap": { "/logcabin": "${workspaceFolder}" },
+            "pipeTransport": {
+                "debuggerPath": "/usr/bin/gdb",
+                "pipeProgram": "docker",
+                "pipeArgs": ["run", "--rm", "--interactive","--volume","${workspaceFolder}:/logcabin","--workdir","/logcabin","--privileged","logcabin-dev:latest","/bin/bash","-c"],
+                "pipeCwd": ""
+            },
+            "setupCommands": [
+                {
+                    "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
+                    "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
+                    "ignoreFailures": true
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    ]
+}

.vscode/settings.json

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+{
+    "files.associations": {
+        "array": "cpp",
+        "atomic": "cpp",
+        "hash_map": "cpp",
+        "hash_set": "cpp",
+        "bit": "cpp",
+        "*.tcc": "cpp",
+        "cctype": "cpp",
+        "chrono": "cpp",
+        "cinttypes": "cpp",
+        "clocale": "cpp",
+        "cmath": "cpp",
+        "condition_variable": "cpp",
+        "cstdarg": "cpp",
+        "cstddef": "cpp",
+        "cstdint": "cpp",
+        "cstdio": "cpp",
+        "cstdlib": "cpp",
+        "cstring": "cpp",
+        "ctime": "cpp",
+        "cwchar": "cpp",
+        "cwctype": "cpp",
+        "deque": "cpp",
+        "list": "cpp",
+        "map": "cpp",
+        "set": "cpp",
+        "unordered_map": "cpp",
+        "unordered_set": "cpp",
+        "vector": "cpp",
+        "exception": "cpp",
+        "algorithm": "cpp",
+        "functional": "cpp",
+        "iterator": "cpp",
+        "memory": "cpp",
+        "memory_resource": "cpp",
+        "numeric": "cpp",
+        "optional": "cpp",
+        "random": "cpp",
+        "ratio": "cpp",
+        "string": "cpp",
+        "string_view": "cpp",
+        "system_error": "cpp",
+        "tuple": "cpp",
+        "type_traits": "cpp",
+        "utility": "cpp",
+        "fstream": "cpp",
+        "initializer_list": "cpp",
+        "iomanip": "cpp",
+        "iosfwd": "cpp",
+        "iostream": "cpp",
+        "istream": "cpp",
+        "limits": "cpp",
+        "mutex": "cpp",
+        "new": "cpp",
+        "ostream": "cpp",
+        "sstream": "cpp",
+        "stdexcept": "cpp",
+        "streambuf": "cpp",
+        "thread": "cpp",
+        "typeinfo": "cpp"
+    }
+}

.vscode/tasks.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
+    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
+    "version": "2.0.0",
+    "tasks": [
+        {
+            "label": "scons-build",
+            "type": "shell",
+            "command": "docker run --rm -i -v $(pwd):/logcabin logcabin-dev:latest scons"
+        }
+    ]
+}

Dockerfile

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+FROM ubuntu:18.04
+
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y \
+    gcc=4:7.4.0-1ubuntu2.3 g++=4:7.4.0-1ubuntu2.3 gdb=8.1-0ubuntu3.2 \
+    scons=3.0.1-1 \
+    libcrypto++-dev=5.6.4-8 \
+    libprotobuf-dev=3.0.0-9.1ubuntu1 protobuf-compiler=3.0.0-9.1ubuntu1 \
+    doxygen=1.8.13-10 \
+    net-tools 
+
+VOLUME /logcabin
+
+WORKDIR /logcabin

README.md

@@ -277,9 +277,9 @@ To install a bunch of things on your filesystem, run:
 
 Along with the binaries, this installs a RHEL 6-compatible init script.
 
-If you don't want these files to pollute your filesystem, you can install the files
-to any given directory as follows (replace `pathtoinstallprefix` in both places
-with wherever you'd like the files to go):
+If you don't want these files to pollute your filesystem, 
+you can install the files to any given directory as follows 
+(replace `pathtoinstallprefix` in both places with wherever you'd like the files to go):
 
     scons --install-sandbox=pathtoinstallprefix pathtoinstallprefix
 
@@ -300,3 +300,42 @@ All commits should pass the pre-commit hooks. Enable them to run before each
 commit:
 
     ln -s ../../hooks/pre-commit .git/hooks/pre-commit
+
+Running with Docker
+======================
+
+Getting all the dependencies right to build and run logcabin can be an issue. 
+Its easier to run it with a docker container where dependency versions
+ are managed properly. There is a dockerfile which can be used as following
+ 1. Install docker (https://www.docker.com/)
+ 2. Make sure to add your user to docker group 
+    so that you do not need to use sudo to run docker
+
+    sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
+
+ 3. Enable IP6 support on docker 
+    as explained here https://docs.docker.com/config/daemon/ipv6/.
+
+ 4. Build docker image by running command:
+
+    docker build . -t logcabin-dev
+
+ 5. Run the container and map current working directory to /logcabin volume
+
+    docker run -it -v $(pwd):/logcabin logcabin-dev:latest /bin/bash
+
+ 6. In the container, you can run steps documented in the above sections.
+    e.g. To build the code within container. run scons after running step 2.
+
+Debugging with VSCode
+======================
+
+It is possible to run and debug C++ code in the docker container with VSCode. 
+The .vscode folder contains task to build the logcabin code in docker container 
+and launch configurations to be able to run and debug logcabin code from within VSCode.
+
+1. Install VSCode https://code.visualstudio.com/
+2. Install remote development extension for VSCode from 
+https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack
+3. Open logcabin folder.
+4. Run/Debug by executing Run menu.