docker / docker/compose

Support defining profiles on includes

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#12,296 2 comments 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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kind/feature
Dominant language
Go
Stars
38.2k
Forks
5.8k
Avg merge
2d 14h
Merged PRs (30d)
55

Description

Description

The ability to "include" a compose file into a parent file is incredibly powerful for supporting modular compose configurations. However, a key missing feature is the ability to add a global profile to the included file from the parent compose file.

Our use case is having multiple the ability to split a super compose file into separate child compose files, but allowing control over which child compose files are started by default. For example, we have a parent compose file that spins up most of the stack needed for resting. However, we have a separate compose file for the components related to our internal dashboard (this includes frontend, backend, and agent services). We would like the ability to optionally start the dashboard services from the main compose file when needed.

While we could define the profile on services in the "child" compose file, this is not desirable as then the child compose file can no longer be independently used without always starting the profile.

The ideal solution would be to add profiles as a configuration key alongside path under include and automatically extend all services from the included configuration with the defined profiles.

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No file, test, or entry point is named. Start by tracing Compose's include and profile configuration handling, then check how included services are merged. Done means an include entry can define profiles in the parent while the child file remains independently usable, with coverage for starting the included services with and without that profile.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker-compose, go
Domain
devops, infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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