A Configuration-Driven Standardized Development Environment (Docker)

• Author: Potter White
• Date: February 2025

Project Overview

This project is a complete solution aimed at solving the problems caused by environmental heterogeneity in embedded development.

By introducing the core idea of “Separation of Configuration and Logic,” we utilized Docker to build an automated and reproducible standardized development environment. This system significantly reduces the onboarding costs for new members, ensures the consistency of build artifacts, and lays a solid foundation for subsequent CI/CD practices.

This project documentation is organized into a series, divided into three parts, detailing the entire process from top-level design to concrete implementation:

1. Part 1: High-Level Design - A Configuration-Driven Standardized Development Environment Architecture

   • Discusses the core idea of the system—configuration-driven—and how to achieve flexibility and maintainability by separating configuration from build logic.

2. Part 2: Image Build Deep Dive - Analysis of Docker Multi-stage Builds and Dynamic Script Generation

   • Delves into the technical details of image construction, analyzing how to use multi-stage builds to optimize image size and respond to external configurations using dynamic script generation techniques.

3. Part 3: Management and Distribution - Optimizing Developer Workflow and Delivery Practices

   • Focuses on the “last mile,” introducing how to simplify user interaction by wrapping docker-compose and achieving “one-click” standardized delivery of the development environment.

Core Tech Stack

• Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose
• Automation: Shell Scripting, envsubst
• Architectural Concepts: Configuration-Driven, Build-time Script Templating, Separation of Concerns
• Application Domains: Embedded Systems, Cross-Compilation