Devilbox Documentation

Overview

Main idea
Features
Supported Host OS
Requirements
Docker documentation
Devilbox documentation
Video Tutorials
Available PHP Modules
Supported Frameworks and CMS

1. Main idea

The devilbox allows you to have an unlimited number of projects ready without having to install any external software and without having to configure any virtual hosts. As well as providing a very flexible development stack that you can run offline. (Internet is only required to initially pull docker container).

The only thing you will have to do is to create a new folder on the filesystem and your virtual host is ready to be served with your custom domain.

The default project catch-all domain is *.loc (see Configure for how to change it). Let's view an example:

# Inside your main project folder
$ ls -l
drwxr-xr-x 3 cytopia 4096 Jun 10 13:10 my-drupal
drwxr-xr-x 3 cytopia 4096 Jun 10 13:10 my-wordpress
drwxr-xr-x 3 cytopia 4096 Jun 10 13:10 project1
drwxr-xr-x 3 cytopia 4096 Jun 10 13:10 project2
drwxr-xr-x 3 cytopia 4096 Jun 10 13:10 yii-test

By having the above folders, the devilbox will automatically be able to serve the following vhosts:

New folders can be created, deleted and removed during run-time and corresponding virtual hosts will be available instantly without having to restart anything.

2. Features

Feature	Description
Internet
No always-on	Internet connection is only required during initial setup or update (to pull containers), afterwards you can always work offline.
Projects
Unlimited Projects	Add as many Projects as you need.
Auto VirtualHosts	New VirtualHosts are added instantly without a restart or reload. Just create a new directory and you are ready to go.
Auto DNS	Use the built-in DNS server to stop worrying about `/etc/hosts` setup per project.
Email catch-all	All outgoing emails are intercepted and stored locally. Use the intranet to view any sent email.
Custom VirtualHost domains	Whatever project domain you desire: `.dev`, `.loc`, `.local` or even subdomains like `.sub.example` - you can adjust it to your needs.
Run
Selective start	Run only the Docker container you actually need.
Version choice	Use your development stack with whatever version combination needed.
Stack choice	Attach SQL or NoSQL container and use Nginx or Apache to simulate your live env.
Log files	Log files are available for each chosen version.
Configuration
HHVM	You can choose between PHP 5.6 and PHP 7 mode for HHVM
php.ini	You an overwrite PHP settings for each PHP version.
Custom PHP modules	You can add any custom PHP modules without having to rebuild the Docker container.
my.cnf	You an overwrite MySQL settings for each MySQL version.
Intranet
phpMyAdmin	Manage your MySQL databases here.
Adminer	Manage your SQL and NoSQL databases here.
OpCacheGUI	Visualize the state of opcache usage.
EmailGUI	See all sent emails at a glance
Docker Tools
Work inside container	You can completely work inside the PHP container and use all bundled tools in order to keep your host system clean.
Hacking
Add custom container	You can add any other Docker container to `docker-compose.yml` and start using them in your development stack.

3. Supported Host OS

The devilbox runs on all major operating systems. Below you can quickly check the recommended docker versions and current issues per OS.


Docker Version	normal	Docker for Windows	Docker dor Mac
Current Issues	here	here	here

How about FreeBSD?

The devilbox has not been tested on FreeBSD yet. Current milestones include to make it rock-solid on the above listed operating systems. However, if you want it to run on FreeBSD open up an issue on Github and you will receive support making it work on FreeBSD.

4. Requirements

Internet connection - only required during initial setup for cloning the devilbox repository and pulling the required docker container. Afterwards you can always work offline.
Docker Engine 1.12.0+
Docker Compose 1.9.0+
On Windows use Docker for Windows (not tested on Docker Toolbox)
On OSX use Docker for Mac (not tested on Docker Toolbox)

5. Docker documentation

If you have never worked with docker/docker-compose before, you should check up on their documentation to get you started: docker docs.

6. Devilbox documentation

Topic	Description
Quickstart	Command overview to get you started quickly
Install	How to install docker, docker-compose and the devilbox
Update	Update best practise
Configure	How to configure the devilbox, switch versions (PHP, MySQL, PgSQL, ...) and how to set custom options (php.ini, my.cnf, httpd.conf, ...)
Run	How to operate the devilbox, start and stop all or only required Docker container.
Usage	How to create projects, Email and DNS usage, tools (`composer`, `npm`, `node`, `drush`, ...), entering the container, Log files, Xdebug, Backups, Intranet, ...
OS	Operating System differences between Linux, Windows and OSX.
Backups	How to backup and restore your databases for different versions.
Examples	Some project examples for popular CMS/Frameworks. How to setup Wordpress, Drupal, Yii, ...
Technical	Technical background information
Hacking	How to extend the devilbox with your own docker container
FAQ	Questions and Troubleshooting

7. Video Tutorials

Have a look at youtube to see some the features in action.

8. Available PHP Modules

The devilbox is a development stack, so it is made sure that a lot of PHP modules are available out of the box in order to work with many different frameworks.

apc, apcu, bcmath, bz2, calendar, Core, ctype, curl, date, dom, ereg, exif, fileinfo, filter, ftp, gd, gettext, gmp, hash, iconv, igbinary, imagick, imap, intl, json, ldap, libxml, magickwand, mbstring, mcrypt, memcache, memcached, mhash, mongodb, msgpack, mysql, mysqli, mysqlnd, openssl, pcntl, pcre, PDO, pdo_mysql, pdo_pgsql, pdo_sqlite, pgsql, phalcon, Phar, posix, pspell, readline, recode, redis, Reflection, session, shmop, SimpleXML, soap, sockets, SPL, sqlite3, standard, sysvmsg, sysvsem, sysvshm, tidy, tokenizer, uploadprogress, wddx, xdebug, xml, xmlreader, xmlrpc, xmlwriter, xsl, Zend OPcache, zip, zlib

There will however be slight differences between the versions and especially with HHVM. To see the exact bundled modules for each version visit the corresponding docker repositories on Github:

PHP 5.4 | PHP 5.5 | PHP 5.6 | PHP 7.0 | PHP 7.1 | PHP 7.2 | HHVM

** Custom PHP Modules**

Apart from asking for new modules to be bundled with each Docker container, you can simply also just place any missing modules into mod/(php-fpm|hhvm)-<VERSION> and add a custom *.ini file to load them. See Custom PHP Modules in the Configuration documentation for how to do that in two simple steps.

9. Supported Frameworks and CMS

As far as tested there are no limitations and you can use any Framework or CMS just as you would on your live environment. Below are a few examples of extensively tested Frameworks and CMS: