Configure your Symfony 5 local dev env with Docker

Webcu • September 15, 2020

dev_env symfony docker

Requirements

Docker

Installation

Create a folder where you're going to keep your project
```
mkdir ~/test
```
Move inside of the folder
```
cd ~/test
```

Create a docker-compose.yml file in that folder with this content

version: "3.4"

services:
  php:
    image: webcu/symfony-installer:latest
    restart: always
    working_dir: /symfony
    volumes:
      - .:/symfony
    command: tail -f /dev/null
    ports: 
        - 8000:8000
    environment:
      XDEBUG_HOST_SETTING: host.docker.internal
      PHP_IDE_CONFIG: "serverName=localhost"

Start the container
```
docker-compose up -d
```
Enter the container
```
docker-compose exec php bash
```

Create a new symfony project

symfony new test-project

If you want to avoid the warning message about your git identity, you can add your git config to your container adding this line to your docker-compose.yml file:

volumes:
    ...
  # To add your git info to the container
  - ~/.gitconfig:/etc/gitconfig

If you added the .gitconfig file after have created the container don't forget to recreate it ;)

# Exit your container 
root@4725a7a23464:/symfony exit

# Recreate your container
docker-compose up -d --force-recreate

# Enter the new container
docker-compose exec php bash

# Create a new Symfony project
symfony new test-project

Start the Built-in web server of PHP
```
php -S 0.0.0.0:8000 -t test-project/public
```
- php -S 0.0.0.0:8000
  
  This allows that the web server can be accessed from outside the container.
- -t test-project/public
  
  Specifies the Document root of the server.
For more information about the Built-in web server of PHP check its documentation:

PHP: Built-in web server - Manual
Enjoy your new and shiny Symfony project visiting:

http://localhost:8000
Now start writing your amazing application!

Docker Image details

To simplify the process of the creation of the Dev Env for Symfony using Docker I created an image based on the Official PHP images that include some functionalities/extensions needed/recommended for Symfony 5. Those functionalities/extensions are:

OPCache
Xdebug
Intl
Composer
Symfony Installer

You can find this image in Docker Hub. To use it you need to reference it in your docker-compose.yml file

services:
    php:
        image: webcu/symfony-installer
        ...

DockerFile tips related to PHP

Use the official PHP images

There is a great team behind them to make those images the best possible.
Use the helper scripts: docker-php-ext-configure,docker-php-ext-install, docker-php-ext-enable. They are available in the Official PHP images to install more easily the PHP extensions.

To add a PHP development config add this line to your Dockerfile

...
RUN mv "$PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini-development" "$PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini"
...

Add your custom php ini config

Configure the php.ini options according to your needs.
Check this project if you don't want to deal directly with the installation of the php extensions:

mlocati/docker-php-extension-installer

Configure your Symfony 5 local dev env with Docker

Requirements

Installation

Docker Image details

DockerFile tips related to PHP

References