# Running Discourse on Docker for Mac
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [September 3, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682 "2016-09-03T19:28:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/22 "2018-01-12T05:30:09Z")
`docker-sync` user here ✋
Essentially, I created a modified version of `bin/docker/boot_dev` to start the container in detached mode with the `docker-sync`’ed volumes, so the rest of the Discourse `bin/docker` scripts would still work.
* * *
This is how I structured everything.
```plaintext
.
|-- src/
|-- docker-sync.yml
|-- up
|-- down
```
`src/` is the cloned Discourse git repo.
`up` is the aforementioned modified `boot_dev` script, to `docker-sync start` and start the docker container; `down` stops `docker-sync` and the docker container.
> **My \`docker-sync.yml\`**
>
> ```yml
> version: "2"
>
> options:
> verbose: true
> syncs:
> discourse-sync:
> src: './src'
> sync_userid: '1000'
> sync_groupid: '1000'
> sync_excludes: ['tmp/cache', '.DS_Store', '._*', 'data/postgres*', 'log/development.log']
> postgres-sync:
> src: './src/data/postgres'
> sync_userid: '107'
> sync_groupid: '112'
>
> ```
> **Critical snippet in \`up\`**
>
> ```bash
> docker-sync start
>
> docker run -d -p 1080:1080 -p 3000:3000 \
> --volumes-from discourse-sync \
> --volumes-from postgres-sync \
> -v "postgres-sync:/shared/postgres_data:nocopy" \
> -v "discourse-sync:/src:nocopy" \
> -e BUNDLE_PATH=/src/vendor/bundle \
> --hostname=discourse \
> --name=discourse_dev \
> --restart=always \
> discourse/discourse_dev:release /sbin/boot
>
> ```
I kinda forgot why I have two separate sync’ed volumes: one for the database and another for the source code.
Never got around to perfect the script since it just works 😅 Lemme know if you’ve any questions!
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/23 "2018-01-13T19:33:12Z")
Thanks! @xrav3nz! That was very helpful 🙂
I think I’m very close to getting it to work.
Here’s what I did:
1. Used your docker-sync.yml, put it in the directory containing my app directory.
2. Duplicated the boot\_dev script and replaced the `docker run -d...` line with the content in your second snippet. Saved it as `up` in the same directory as the docker-sync file.
3. My app directory is named `discourse`, so I replaced _src_ with _discourse_ in **both** of the snippets.
4. Ran `./up` in the directory containing the up file.
5. Docker-sync and Docker start
How do I start rails? I tested running `./up --init` which fails with this error:
```
Installing gems...
./up: line 47: /Users/jt/app/bundle: No such file or directory
```
On that line it attempts to run `"${SCRIPTPATH}/bundle" install` so it is not registering as a regular “bundle install”
If I run `./bin/docker/rails s` it now fails too saying that I’m not doing the command correctly:
```
Usage:
rails new APP_PATH [options]
```
I’m sure I’m just missing a small puzzle piece here 😃 Thanks again 🙂
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/24 "2018-01-13T20:06:58Z")
Since `up` is not in the `bin/docker` directory with the rest of the scripts, `$SCRIPT_PATH` is incorrect and thus `$SCRIPT_PATH/bundle` does not exist.
The easiest fix would be to only start `docker-sync` and the docker containers in `up`, and run the rest of the scripts separately.
For example,
```bash
$ ./up
# this is the initialization process in `boot_dev --init`
$ discourse/d/bundle install
$ discourse/d/rake db:migrate
$ discourse/d/rake admin:create
$ discourse/d/rails s
```
I hope it works this time, let me know how it goes.
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/25 "2018-01-13T20:35:28Z")
Thanks! 🙂
Running `discourse/d/bundle install` in the directory containing `discourse` says:
`Could not locate Gemfile`
Running `discourse/d/rails s` gives the same error as in my previous post.
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/26 "2018-01-13T20:39:32Z")
`discourse/d/bundle install --gemfile=/discourse/Gemfile` seems to work..
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/27 "2018-01-13T20:41:05Z")
Hmmm 🤔 interesting…
In `up`:
```bash
docker run -d -p 1080:1080 -p 3000:3000 \
--volumes-from discourse-sync \
--volumes-from postgres-sync \
-v "postgres-sync:/shared/postgres_data:nocopy" \
-v "discourse-sync:/src:nocopy" \
-e BUNDLE_PATH=/src/vendor/bundle \
--hostname=discourse \
--name=discourse_dev \
--restart=always \
discourse/discourse_dev:release /sbin/boot
```
Did you replace the `src` in `-v "discourse-sync:/src:nocopy" ` to `discourse` as well? This `src` refers to the directory in the container. Sorry if my folder names are a bit confusing…
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/28 "2018-01-13T20:55:55Z")
Yes, I did 🙂 Is there anything else that has been changed in the up file?
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/29 "2018-01-13T21:00:58Z")
I was trying to say that ` -v "discourse-sync:/src:nocopy"` should **not** be changed, otherwise the source code would be mounted to a different directory in the container. This explains why neither `rails` nor `bundler` could find the source code. 🤦♂️
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/30 "2018-01-13T21:35:56Z")
D’oh 😉 Brilliant, thank you! Having this up and running makes dev work so much easier! 🙂
I owe you a 🍺
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/31 "2018-01-13T22:04:39Z")
Be sure to do a PR to discourse making this config optional so we both document and make switches for it.
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/32 "2018-01-14T01:41:41Z")
So I had it working for a few minutes. Then I noticed that files weren’t actually syncing after making changes. Figured I’d try a docker-sync clean and do the whole thing again. I do the same steps we just went through, but again, I get the _Gemfile not found_ message. However, this time I haven’t renamed src to discourse. 🤪 Not sure what is happening here.
I’ve even tried renaming the discourse folder to src to match your code exactly, but it still won’t work.
Is there a way to check if the source code is mounted to the right directory?
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/33 "2018-01-14T06:12:56Z")
> Is there a way to check if the source code is mounted to the right directory?
`d/shell` into the container and check manually? `docker-sync` on macOS is not quite stable (judging from its GitHub issues), but I’ve rarely had problems myself.
* * *
I added the `docker-sync` related functionalities to Discourse and pushed it to a branch on my fork:
[`xrav3nz:dev/docker-sync`](https://github.com/xrav3nz/discourse/tree/dev/docker-sync). Would you like to try it out instead? `docker-sync` is integrated into `boot_dev` and `shutdown_dev`, and all the existing docker scripts should continue to work.
I’ll PR the changes into core if everything looks good for the next few days.
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/34 "2018-01-14T16:40:33Z")
Nice! Unfortuntely, even on your branch I get “Could not locate Gemfile” 😕
```
in /discourse: $ ./bin/docker/boot_dev --init
Using source in: /Users/jorgen/Dropbox/Design/2018/discourse
Using data in: /Users/jorgen/Dropbox/Design/2018/discourse/data/postgres
ok Starting native_osx for sync discourse-sync
discourse-sync
unison: stopped
unison: started
success Sync container started
ok Starting native_osx for sync postgres-sync
postgres-sync
unison: stopped
unison: **ERROR (spawn error)**
success Sync container started
success Starting Docker-Sync in the background
2fb1ebd82c77cb705b96c10069e5ec5970b8aa13417390114a34461f00237f48
Installing gems...
Could not locate Gemfile
```
There is a “spawn error” near the end there..not sure if that has anything to do with it.
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/35 "2018-01-14T17:00:31Z")
Could you try `d/shutdown_dev && docker-sync clean && rm .docker-sync/daemon.log && d/boot_dev`, and PM me the content of `.docker-sync/daemon.log`? Please do not add the `--init` option just yet, since that will obfuscate the log.
---
### Author:  [@DiscourseMetrics](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DiscourseMetrics)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/36 "2018-01-14T17:45:07Z")
Ah, I had forgotten to do a `docker-sync clean` after switching to your code, it seems to work as it should now 🙂 Thanks again 😃
---
### Author:  [@cmwebdev](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cmwebdev)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/37 "2018-02-07T01:42:05Z")
Sorry but I am having trouble understanding the setup process to get Discourse working locally with Docker for Mac. I’m not that great with Docker yet, so bear with me.
The first thing I did was run:
`docker pull discourse/base:release`
That downloads fine. Then I create a container by running:
`docker run --discourse -d discourse/base:release`
What’s the next thing I want to do after that?
I see the instructions here:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md)
I can’t do `docker exec -it discourse /bin/bash` because the container doesn’t stay running after I run it.
Thanks for the assistance!
---
### Author:  [@ChrisBeach](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ChrisBeach)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/38 "2018-04-05T08:39:03Z")
> [@xrav3nz](#):
>
> I added the docker-sync related functionalities to Discourse and pushed it to a branch on my fork:
>
> xrav3nz:dev/docker-sync . Would you like to try it out instead? docker-sync is integrated into boot\_dev and shutdown\_dev, and all the existing docker scripts should continue to work.
Hi @xrav3nz - thanks for doing this work. I find macOS/Docker/Discourse runs very slowly compared to Linux/Docker/Discourse
~~I tried using your branch but got the following on `d/boot_dev --init`: pg\_dump: [archiver] could not open output file "/src/db/structure.sql": Permission denied Any recommendations?~~
Update - it appears to have worked after retrying the boot\_dev command. Unsure what caused the original problem.
---
### Author:  [@xrav3nz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xrav3nz)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/39 "2018-04-14T18:47:27Z")
TL;DR: the Docker for Mac `delegated`/`cached` volume mount is consistently ~3x faster now, and much more stable than `docker-sync`. I’d be happy to PR a change when I’m sure this does not introduce new problems.
* * *
I’ve been running into more and more problems with `docker-sync` lately. Unfortunately, I don’t understand enough of it to figure out what exactly is wrong. 😞
I tried out the different mount options from Sam’s post a year ago,
> [@Running Discourse on Docker for Mac](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/17):
>
> Following: Doing dev work in docker on a mac may be workable! Rails BootSlowdownHost5.64Virtual Box 6.159%Virtual Box + Docker8.7855%Docker Mac (cached)11.298%Docker Mac (uncached)15.7178% Note: for Docker setup on virtual box has gems are in AUFS and working directory in a mounted volume. On mac the working directory is a cache mounted volume. It is likely performance would improve if overlay was used or gems are mounted on the host to avoid virtualized file system. Docker for Mac … uncach…
- `docker-sync`
- default (`consistent`) i.e. `-v "$SOURCE_DIR:/src"`
- `delegated` i.e. `-v "$SOURCE_DIR:/src:delegated"`
I have been using the `delegated` mount for the past two weeks, and have yet to ran into any problems. Even though `docker-sync` is still the most performant, `delegated/cached` is stable and consistent, and it’s already fast enough (~3x faster than the default) for me (running tests and `localhost`).
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/40 "2018-04-14T21:21:47Z")
Sure send through a pr, looks great
---
### Author:  [@ChrisBeach](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ChrisBeach)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682/41 "2018-04-14T21:23:02Z")
> [@xrav3nz](#):
>
> TL;DR: the Docker for Mac delegated/cached volume mount is consistently ~3x faster now, and much more stable than docker-sync. I’d be happy to PR a change when I’m sure this does not introduce new problems.
That’s great news!
I tried to get docker-sync working but struggled. Having another option comes as a relief!
[Previous page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/running-discourse-on-docker-for-mac/49682.md?page=3)