Few questions about trying to use Docker-Compose + npm link + grunt + ./nodebb dev

MostHated

Hello all,
I am running my board through docker and I have been fighting with Docker a bit trying to get things to work.

Firstly, I added a line to the Dockerfile of:

npm i grunt grunt-contrib-watch grunt-cli

Then I also have this persistence setup within compose.

volumes:
            - nodebb_dev_plugins:/usr/src/

nodebb_dev_plugins:
   driver: local
   driver_opts:
     o: bind
     device: /home/myuser/devtools/nodebb/nodebb-dev/plugins/src

This then puts my plugin just outside of the /usr/src/app folder, so then I can docker exec -it into the container and npm link my plugin into the /usr/src/app folder (which I think is the way I am supposed to do this?)

I am wondering if anyone happens to know though, how I can execute grunt watch while also having the verbosity of ./nodebb dev as I am quite new to node and working with this board, so the more output I can get as to what I mess up the better, lol.

As of now, all I was doing was starting up the container like this:

nodebb-dev:
        build: nodebb-dev/NodeBB
        container_name: nodebb_dev
        command: bash -c "grunt"

I also don't seem to see my plugin in the forum's available plugins after I linked it. I went into my plugin folder, did 'sudo npm link', then I went into /usr/src/app and did 'sudo npm link nodebb-plugin-my-plugin', which did give me some output that didn't look erroneous, so I figured it must have been correct, but it still didn't show up, I tried to run a rebuild just to make sure to no avail. Looking back now, I do see the actual plugin within /usr/src/app/node_modules after linking.

If anyone has any suggestions, or spots anything I might have done incorrectly, I would definitely appreciate the input.
Thanks,
-MH

PitaJ

Docker ... + grunt + ./nodebb dev

So you're trying to develop within a docker container?

Firstly, I added a line to the Dockerfile of:

npm i grunt grunt-contrib-watch grunt-cli

You want npm i -g grunt-cli if you want to use the grunt cli. Also you only need to install grunt-cli.

Then I also have this persistence setup within compose.

I don't know much about docker, what kind of directory structure do you expect this to generate?

This then puts my plugin just outside of the /usr/src/app folder, so then I can docker exec -it into the container and npm link my plugin into the /usr/src/app folder (which I think is the way I am supposed to do this?)

This is how you'd do it on a normal system:

cd nodebb-plugin-yours # where the plugin's package.json lives
npm link
cd nodebb-source-directory # where NodeBB's config.json lives
npm link nodebb-plugin-yours

But you can instead use ln -s to link nodebb-plugin-yours into nodebb/node_modules/nodebb-plugin-yours.

I am wondering if anyone happens to know though, how I can execute grunt watch while also having the verbosity of ./nodebb dev as I am quite new to node and working with this board, so the more output I can get as to what I mess up the better, lol.

grunt --verbose

I also don't seem to see my plugin in the forum's available plugins after I linked it. I went into my plugin folder, did sudo npm link, then I went into /usr/src/app and did sudo npm link nodebb-plugin-my-plugin, which did give me some output that didn't look erroneous, so I figured it must have been correct, but it still didn't show up, I tried to run a rebuild just to make sure to no avail. Looking back now, I do see the actual plugin within /usr/src/app/node_modules after linking.

Have you tried it not in the docker container? It's a lot of variables all at once.

Also you shouldn't need or use sudo to run any npm commands.

MostHated

I appreciate the reply. It looks like after a bunch of tinkering, it seems to be working. I put the plugin into one of the persistent folders, then made a script that I execute via Docker-Compose just before I call grunt which handles the actual linking and then it showed up.