Docker

Using Docker (development only - beginner-friendly guide)

Warning: this is for development/testing purposes only, this must NOT be used in production environments as it represents huge security risks, maintainability issues and performance degradations.

As a developer, by using Docker you can quickly get the platform running in DEV mode and experiment with code changes.

Requirements:

• Docker Engine (latest)
• docker-compose (latest)

Windows 10 Users: you can follow the official guide to install WSL 2 and then Docker Desktop:

Docker Desktop WSL 2 backend

Then clone the project into your WSL’s user folder (for example, cd ~ and then git clone this repo’s URL), then navigate into the new project folder (cd Claroline).

Starting Docker

In the project folder, run the following command (it may take 5-10 minutes, in the end you should see that webpack-dev-server has compiled the UI, you may ignore any warnings):

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docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up

Then you can open http://localhost/ and you should see the login page, this means that the project was started successfully.

Login

You can use the admin credentials from the docker-compose.dev.yml file and you are strongly advised to change the default password.

Development

When you modify ReactJS components, the page will automatically refresh.

When you modify PHP files, you’ll need to manually refresh the page.

Rebuilding your theme in watch mode

While running the containers, open a new console in the project folder and run the following command (replace “yourthemename” with the name of your theme):

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docker exec -it claroline-web npx nodemon -e less --watch files/themes-src/yourthemename --exec 'php bin/console claroline:theme:build --theme=yourthemename'

If you’re working on one of the core themes (the ones included with Claroline), you can adapt this command by changing the folder to watch and by passing the theme’s name.