Basic usage questions

[jpvelez]

Hello! This project looks super cool, and I'm trying to work out how to use it.

My ultimate goal is to use glcr.b-data.ch/jupyterlab/r/geospatial as a development environment in vscode (the desktop version, not the browser version).

A few questions!

• Should I just use glcr.b-data.ch/jupyterlab/r/geospatial?
• What does this devcontainers repo add, and how do you use it? I'm not sure what is meant by "The default dev container is meant to work on this repository."? I guess I'm not totally sure how devcontainers are supposed to work... I've never used Dev Container: Reopen on Container, only Dev Container: Attach to Running Container after starting our current development docker image with Docker compose.
• Your code-server extensions look great; is there a way to get the desktop app to use these extensions once I'm connected to the repo?
• The README says: "Data in the following locations is persisted: The user's home directory, /home/vscode; The dev container's workspace (/workspaces)." Is it possible to override the directory where files are mounted to something other than home/vscode? (Will that screw something up?) Also, why would workspaces be persisted, and where?

[jpvelez]

Okay, I did a lot of reading about devcontainers and I think: 1. devcontainers are awesome and 2. I answered the first 3/4 questions above.

So I still have the last question, about persisting the workspace.

And new question, if I use this devcontainer what's the intended mechanism for adding my own R and Python packages? Should I make my own Dockerfile based on yours and point the r-geosptial devcontainer at that one instead?

[benz0li]

Is it possible to override the directory where files are mounted to something other than /home/vscode? (Will that screw something up?)

The idea is that you store your work within the (default) user's home directory (/home/vscode, e.g. folder ~/projects) – as you would with a regular Linux distribution.
ℹ️ Persisting the home directory also ensures that dot files/folders (e.g. settings) are persisted.

By default, mount type volume is used, so Dev Containers behave the same as Codespaces.
ℹ️ See also [Data Science dev containers] Do they work with bind mounts?

Also, why would workspaces be persisted, and where?

/workspaces is persisted by default. Where?

• Dev Container: The (Git) Repository is bind mounted to /workspaces/$RepositoryName
  • Persisted on your local file system
• Codespaces: The (Git) Repository is cloned to /workspaces/$RepositoryName
  • Persisted on a loop device