Support devcontainer.json in sub-folder (`.devcontainer/**/devcontainer.json`)

[eitsupi]

Does this CI work with .devcontainer/**/devcontainer.json (where ** is a sub-folder) from the specs?
https://containers.dev/implementors/spec/#devcontainerjson

The subFolder inputs does not seem to be match this case.

[stuartleeks]

Hi eitsupi - do you have an example of where you tried this? (I had a quick scan down the linked issue but didn't spot it)

I'm curious as to whether the action attempted to call the devcontainer CLI. From a quick look back over the code, I didn't see anything that would stop it calling the CLI. If that is the case then it probably makes sense to open an issue on https://github.com/devcontainers/cli as that is the underpinning of the functionality in the action

[eitsupi]

Thanks for your response.

Hi eitsupi - do you have an example of where you tried this? (I had a quick scan down the linked issue but didn't spot it)

This commit and
PRQL/prql@f4e25ab

This workflow log.
https://github.com/PRQL/prql/actions/runs/4253869385/jobs/7399324410

🏗️ build container
 About to run devcontainer build --workspace-folder /home/runner/work/prql/prql/.devcontainer/base --image-name ghcr.io/prql/prql-devcontainer:latest --platform linux/amd64) --output type=oci,dest=/tmp/output.tar --cache-from ghcr.io/prql/prql-devcontainer:latest --cache-from ghcr.io/prql/prql-devcontainer
 [2023-02-23T14:57:25.754Z] @devcontainers/cli 0.30.0. Node.js v18.14.1. linux 5.15.0-1033-azure x64.
 
 Error: Dev container config (/home/runner/work/prql/prql/.devcontainer/base/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json) not found.
 at doe (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@devcontainers/cli/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:2069:26598)
 at async hoe (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@devcontainers/cli/dist/spec-node/devContainersSpecCLI.js:2069:25017)

I'm curious as to whether the action attempted to call the devcontainer CLI. From a quick look back over the code, I didn't see anything that would stop it calling the CLI. If that is the case then it probably makes sense to open an issue on devcontainers/cli as that is the underpinning of the functionality in the action

Maybe...

[stuartleeks]

Thanks eitsupi. Looking at the output you pasted, the error is indeed coming from the CLI so the related issue you created seems like the best way to continue the discussion 👍

[marcusmotill]

eitsupi i was able to work around this by ditching the CI all together and using just the CLI. here is my example:

 - name: Set up Node.js
 uses: actions/setup-node@v3
 with:
 node-version: 18

 - name: Install devcontainer CLI
 run: npm install -g @devcontainers/cli

 - name: Start dev container
 run: devcontainer up --config .devcontainer/standalone/devcontainer.json --workspace-folder .

 - name: Run tests in dev container
 run: devcontainer exec --config .devcontainer/standalone/devcontainer.json --workspace-folder . make test

where make test is the command i am running in the container

[m-roberts]

The workaround does the job for now, but it seems strange that the CI action does not support the --config behaviour of the CLI.

[Clockwork-Muse]

As an additional reason why this behavior is desired:
Currently in VS Code if the devcontainer.json is in a direct subdirectory of .devcontainer, it will notice the file, and can prompt you if there are multiple. If it's in the required sub-sub directory (ie, .devcontainer/somesubdir/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json) VSCode won't find it.

This is handy to account for things like split build/run images (to account for cases where caching doesn't work as well as would be preferred).

[edward-encoord]

Another workaround is to copy .devcontainer/*/devcontainer.json to a sub-folder before using the devcontainer CI.

Need to pay attention to the values that depend on the location of devcontainer.json, like the value of context of build in devcontainer.json.

[jrhemstad]

I'd like to see this happen as well. In my project we've got numerous devcontainers for various build environment configurations (different compilers, etc.).

[jeffmur]

This is working as expected on v3.0 🎉

Structure

.devcontainer
├── ci
│ └── devcontainer.json
└── prod
 └── devcontainer.json

Github Action

 - name: Run make ci-build in dev container
 uses: devcontainers/ci@v0.3
 with:
 imageName: ghcr.io/NAMESPACE/REPO
 configFile: ./.devcontainer/ci/devcontainer.json
 push: never
 runCmd: make build