this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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Programming

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Dev tools inside a dev container? (feddit.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by jdw@feddit.org to c/programming@programming.dev
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I've recently started to get into containerized development (of LaTeX documents for now) using VSCode with the Dev Containers Extension. While compilation and everything works fine, I'm a bit annoyed by the very barebones shell of my podman container in the integrated terminal. I'm used to zsh with syntax highlighting and autocompletion, I like to use neovim to write my commit messages (even when I'm using VSCode to write my code) and of course I need git and ssh to push to my git forge.

I wonder if it is recommended to

  1. install neovim, zsh, ssh, git inside the dev container using the package manager (apt in this case) and manually write some config files
  2. Specify the installation of those packages in the Containerfile for my dev container and configure the devcontainer.json to mount my host's config files
  3. Use those tools from outside my dev container somehow
  4. Just not use any convenience tools like zsh, neovim, with individual config even, and only install purely functional packages like git and ssh in the container?

Since I'm not a software developer by training (trying to become one right now) I'd be very happy about some best practices or recommendations.

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[โ€“] doeknius_gloek@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The best practice would be using dev container features. Those are basically install scripts that get layered onto your container. See this list for some available features or write your own.

One nice thing about features is that, in a collaborative environment, you can add required features for everyone directly in the devcontainer.json and personal preferences like a zsh feature in your settings.json (dev.containers.defaultFeatures) so they get installed into every container you open.

[โ€“] jdw@feddit.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, I'll check out features! The DefaultFeatures sound like the distinction between configuration for everyone and personal preferences that I was looking for!