Epic: Windows support

[bfirsh]

This is a meta-issue for keeping track of all the things we're doing around Windows support for Compose.

Various things that are part of this:

• Building a binary on Windows. PyInstaller, the method we currently use to build binaries for Linux and OS X, also works with Windows. In theory this should just work. It would be useful to have build scripts etc to automate this.
• Run Compose inside a container. This may be be easier than building a native binary for Windows. Epic: Make Compose a Docker container #169 Docker image and bash script for running compose in a container #1806
• Making Compose Windows compatible. I expect this will be mostly making sure paths work and getting the TTYs to work.
• Volume sharing. When running Compose on OS X, it expects /Users to be mounted in the right place so volumes work. I wonder if we need something added to Machine/boot2docker to make volumes work as expected on Windows. (The Compose quick start guide has a demonstration of how volumes are used to mount code inside a container.)
• Run CI tests on Windows. We don't all test on Windows, so we'd have to be careful about regressions. Run CI tests on multiple Docker versions #886

Steps:

• Investigate whether binaries will build cleanly on Windows Spike: Investigate building binaries for Windows #1051
• Investigate whether running Compose inside a container will be easier than running it natively on Windows

Related issues:

• Windows 7 with boot2docker support for fig #598

[mikehaertl]

So you talk about a native Windows version of docker-compose here?

As there isn't even a docker version for windows yet, I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to focus on including docker-compose into the boot2docker VM for now:

boot2docker/boot2docker#603

This is something that blocks many developers on Windows machines. And even though there are workarounds, I'd consider them hacks. Windows users should not have such a hard time to work with docker-compose.

[funkyfuture]

Using Linux containers on Windows. Yeah, that's epic.

[dduportal]

@mikehaertl The docker client is not a requirement for docker-compose (which embed its own python-written client). For example, we use https://github.com/rhuss/docker-maven-plugin in my companyy, which can contact our boot2docker, but running a JVM process in Windows.

So there are two main use cases :

• Running Compose inside boot2docker (at OS level or inside a container)
• Running compose from your Host OS

=> In the two cases, compiling and running is just some plumbing. The main goal will be making that usable.
The real tecnical problem is the data sharing.

[bfirsh]

@mikehaertl Windows support is being added to the Docker client. moby/moby#9113 moby/moby#10864

Happy to accept changes which make Compose work inside boot2docker, but I think the ideal situation would be for Docker to run on Windows natively.

[funkyfuture]

now seriously,
i see a lot of issues open for a long time.
from my experience, adding and maintaining Windows-support is a real time-eater and will constantly bring up issues.
I'm not opposing Windows-support at all, but i'd say that should be done when few issues are on the backlog. especially functional enhancements.

and on the other hand i'm still irritated what that whole Docker on Windows-thing is actually aiming at. just to claim cross-platform-support? save Microsoft from getting irrelevant on servers? (yep, that's ot, no need to discuss it here.)

[kuborgh-mspindelhirn]

We use docker partilly for development machine setup and Windows support would be really cool.

I don´t really think this is a supprise as docker-machine and docker ( windows client is buildable since the start of the year ) support windows. Is there any reason that docker-compose should not?

[atrauzzi]

Slightly related perhaps: https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/6573649-full-posix-support

Would having proper POSIX support like on OSX help? As a community, maybe it's worthwhile to at least help drive that message?

[kskalvar]

Would a cygwin version be workable? I used cygwin on windows and it's awesome.

[tknerr]

@ahmetalpbalkan will you be involved in this, too? Being able to docker-compose on windows would be awesome!

[ahmetb]

@tknerr happy to help! We have quite some Windows porting knowledge we can transfer from docker, boot2docker-cli, docker-machine. 😄