microsoft / microsoft/vscode-remote-release

Rebuild container on start if devcontainer.json was changed

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#8,918 2 comments 12 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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containers feature-request
Dominant language
Dockerfile
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Currently there is an option if you change devcontainer.json inside container it will prompt you to rebuild. If there are changes made in another branch and user didn't know about them he will get this prompt. If he presses rebuild then everything is ok. If he chooses to skip or maybe doesn't notice the message and shuts down vscode then on subsequent launches opening container might fail, because vscode tries to open a container that doesn't correspond to new configuration.
The only option in this case is to open folder on host and run rebuild manually.
Please provide an option to automatically rebuild container on start if devcontainer.json was changed.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  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

Start by reviewing the devcontainer.json change-detection and container-start flow described in the issue. Determine how a changed configuration is handled when a rebuild prompt is skipped or missed. Done means a changed devcontainer.json can trigger an automatic rebuild on startup, while the existing manual rebuild behavior remains clear.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker
Domain
devops
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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