build: Add devcontainer config

[spenserblack]

• The PR title must conform to Conventional Commits and start with one of the types specified by the Angular convention.

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This adds a configuration to allow a devcontainer to work "out of the box" for this project. A devcontainer is a temporary development environment living in a Docker container. One use case for devcontainers is developing in a GitHub Codespace, a remote workstation.

Personally, I use Codespaces to:

• Not clutter my device's storage
• Have a development environment that's accessible across devices

So the first thing I usually do when considering contributing to a project is to make a devcontainer configuration so I can do that, then make a PR to share that configuration.

Please let me know if you'd like any changes to the devcontainer.json file. A few things to consider:

• I've configured it to install rust-lang.rust-analyzer by default in VS Code (including VS Code on the web). You may want to add more extensions, are have a less opinionated configuration with no extensions.
• I've made it open up the CONTRIBUTING.md and pull_request_template.md files by default, to encourage contributors to read those. You may want different files to open by default.

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Let me know if you have any questions about devcontainers or GitHub Codespaces 🙂

[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request introduces a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file to establish a standardized Rust development environment. Feedback suggests enhancing the VS Code configuration by adding the even-better-toml extension and configuring rust-analyzer to use clippy and enable all features to better align local development with CI requirements.

[gemini-code-assist]

To better align the development environment with the project's strict CI requirements (clippy and multi-feature support), consider adding the even-better-toml extension for Cargo.toml validation and configuring rust-analyzer to use clippy and enable all features by default. This helps contributors identify issues locally before submitting a pull request.

    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "rust-lang.rust-analyzer",
        "tamasfe.even-better-toml"
      ],
      "settings": {
        "rust-analyzer.check.command": "clippy",
        "rust-analyzer.cargo.allFeatures": true
      }
    }

[spenserblack]

BTW, while I felt like build: was an unusual prefix for this, that's the prefix Angular themselves used (angular/angular@2727637), so I figured that was the best for this PR.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a Dev Container configuration so contributors can spin up a ready-to-use Rust development environment (e.g., via GitHub Codespaces) without manual local setup.

Changes:

• Introduces .devcontainer/devcontainer.json using the official Rust devcontainers image.
• Configures Codespaces to open contributor-focused docs by default.
• Installs rust-lang.rust-analyzer automatically in VS Code environments.

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[spenserblack]

Would probably be a good idea to pin to the MSRV. A rust-toolchain.toml file could do the same thing BTW if you'd prefer that instead. Thoughts?

[im7mortal]

Awesome!

I use devcontainers for development, but I haven’t pushed the configuration yet.

I use JetBrains RustRover, so this setup probably won’t work for me.

I use

{
  "name": "zip2",
  "build": {
    "dockerfile": "Dockerfile",
    "context": "..",
    "args": {
      "USER_UID": "1000",
      "USER_GID": "1000"
    }
  },
  "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}",
  "remoteUser": "vscode",
  "updateRemoteUserUID": false,
  "postCreateCommand": "rustup component add rustfmt clippy",
  "customizations": {
    "jetbrains": {...}
  }
}

I install python dependencies as need them for benchmarking

FROM rust:1.95

# Match a typical host Linux UID/GID (override in devcontainer.json "build" -> "args" if needed)
ARG USERNAME=vscode
ARG USER_UID=1000
ARG USER_GID=1000

ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup
ENV CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
		sudo \
		python3 \
		python3-pip \
		python3-matplotlib \
	&& groupadd --gid $USER_GID $USERNAME \
	&& useradd -s /bin/bash -m -u $USER_UID -g $USER_GID $USERNAME \
	&& chown -R $USER_UID:$USER_GID $RUSTUP_HOME $CARGO_HOME \
	&& echo "$USERNAME ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/$USERNAME \
	&& chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/$USERNAME \
	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

USER $USERNAME

Do you think we could have something IDE-independent? Have you tried devpod?

[spenserblack]

Have you tried devpod?

I haven't. I've actually been meaning to search for an alternative to GitHub Codespaces, so thanks for making me aware of that! 😆

I'll experiment with the configuration you posted. I think it's possible to make something fairly IDE-independent. Or, more specifically, something that can work on any IDE that supports devcontainers, but with IDE-specific customizations where it can be helpful.

[spenserblack]

@im7mortal Your configuration works pretty well with VS Code on the Web! 84cd6ee

It seems that the mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/rust has a few conveniences that got lost when switching to the rust image. For example, git shell completions aren't as good. But, overall, it works just fine IMO. I can add on your recommended jetbrains configuration, if you want.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

[spenserblack]

#848 (comment) 🙃

[spenserblack]

FWIW the default devcontainer configuration (mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/...) also does this.