FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Of course, no one yet asked anything, but consider this a sort of extended README, only each statement is shorter and to the point, and also not always directly related to the project itself. Yet I think it would help understand it better.
Do you use DOCK yourself?
Yes. As of March 23, 2022 - it's probably been a year and a half since I wrote the first version of the dock script that I immediately started using. I never liked Docker, especially when it was imposed on teams. The win was supposed to be easy on-boarding, but the price was constant image updates and misery for the rest of the team.
This tool, dock, on the other hand, doesn't care about anyone else on the team using it. So I thought I wanted something that no one could object. dock, is meant for developer machines first and foremost.
Why not just use Docker and some aliases?
There are some aliases that I use, they're actually mentioned on the front page But, firstly, I wanted just one command, so I don't have to adjust every time and google it. If I needed a Python env, I'd make one myself - with my own shell and Vim settings and all of that. My personal experience was: I spent a lot of time in a terminal, so it makes sense to make a good base image with all the right tools mounted into it. NOTE: the nice bash utils are mounted, they're not part of the base image.
Why write it in Bash?
Because it's everywhere. Bash outlived a lot of things, it doesn't change much and POSIX tools are available on every UNIX system. Dependencies are minimal. Bash isn't really scary, just annoying sometimes. So why would I even rely on Docker in the future, when I can add other container engines?
How can I contribute?
Send me an email with a link to your cloned repository, or an MR on Github. If you'd like to get in touch, there's an email on the ABOUT & CONTACTS page.
You can also request a feature or report a bug. It would be greatly appreciated if along with those requests you sent a donation. But please email first in that case, if you want to make sure something is done exactly the way you want.
All other donations without any requests attached are appreciated even more and should be sent to this Bitcoin address:
36GN5qTZUaRmQA2fwAycuzyVwgF2AvJqbB
Please read the details on the DONATE page.
Are there other useful images for dock?
Yes, their release depends on donations I manage to gather. I have images for PHP, Ruby, Python, Bitcoin Core, Wireguard + TOR + Privoxy, and some others too. They need some additional preparation, as well as a bit of documentation written. This takes time and time is money.
If there's no forum, issues or any way to have a group discussion, how would communication in software projects work?
That's one of those things I've been thinking about and why I decided not to have a blog post or a page with comments or a Github account. I think good communities are small and select their members wisely. They're not shiny forums with avatars and endless captchas you need to solve to even sign up. They're something else.
P.S.
If you'd like to know more, you can ask (email). But I can't promise you I respond. Good things need good people and funding and none shall be seeking profit. I'm not counting on donations much, only myself. When I can, I'll be moving things forward on my own. I don't think I want Merge Requests flying in my direction right now, that' wouldn't be helpful.
The reasons I decided to release this software now is because it's been a year and a half since I've been using it myself and I thought the moment was right to do that - and maybe help other people too - in multiple ways.
Don't be thinking this isn't selfish. Nothing isn't. Most of the time we are blissfully ignorant of our true motivations. The hope is that our own ignorance is our unexpected virtue as well.