Monorepo setup in a dev container using docker compose

[SOULPWRD]

Hi!

I've gone through the docs several times but couldn't find a proper example. I'm missing some examples of how to mount the bind type volume (or any type of volume) using the docker-compose.yml file instead Dockerfile. I've gone through these 2 pages already 1, 2, watched the videos and technically I've been able to mount the volume relatively easy. The issue I have is git stops to track my files in the dev container once only the relevant directory is mounted. I've tried to mount the .git folder from the parent folder but unfortunately it doesn't work as expected. Either it doesn't work at all or it marks all of the rest monorepo directories as deleted.

The reason why I'm asking is I'm encountering the issue of slow terminal. Unfortunately, the issue was automatically closed without any reasonable answer. I've found out the problem is caused truly by a large number of (mainly unnecessary) files from other repositories mounted into the workspace folder in the dev container. If I only load the relevant repository - the repository containing .devconatiner.json - the issue disappears and the terminal works smoothly. But git stops to track the files.

// file structure example
/monorepo
  .git
  .gitignore
  /foo
  /bar

This example loads all subdirectories of the mono repository into the workspace folder causing the terminal to be slow and sluggish

foo:
 # some configuration
  volumes:
    - ..:/workspace:cached

So I changed it to which doesn't work at all

foo:
  volumes:
    - type: bind
      source: ./
      target: /workspace

The only solution I have come up so far is this one. At this point git stops tracking the files

foo:
  volumes:
    - type: bind
      source: ./
      target: /workspace/foo

which should be some kind of equivalent to I assume:

"workspaceMount": "source=${localWorkspaceFolder},target=/workspace/foo, type=bind",
"workspaceFolder": "/workspace"

Thanks for your help in advance!

[lszomoru]

@chrmarti, do you have any samples/insights here? Thank you!

[chrmarti]

If you need git to work, you need to mount the folder containing the .git folder. Likely:

foo:
 # some configuration
  volumes:
    - ..:/workspace:cached

You can then use a subfolder for the workspace in the devcontainer.json:

"workspaceFolder": "/workspace/foo"

Though what most likely makes the terminal slow is the shell's check for git status. That can be slow when you mount a Windows or Mac filesystem into the container for large repositories. If you are on Windows, I recommend cloning the repository inside WSL (Dev Containers supports opening a WSL folder in a dev container). If you are on Mac, I recommend using a Docker volume to store the repository (F1 > Dev Containers: Clone Repository in Container Volume...).

Does that help?

[github-actions]

This issue has been closed automatically because it needs more information and has not had recent activity. See also our issue reporting guidelines.

Happy Coding!