Docker Build Issues with mini_racer and db config - adding discourse to Node:18-alpine3.18 monolith

General
1

I’m working on a project where I’m combining several software packages into a single monolith. I’ve chosen the base image node:18-alpine3.18 due to other dependencies. However, I’ve encountered several issues:

  1. MiniRacer in Gemfile: Initially, I faced problems with mini_racer. I tried removing it and rtlcss (which requires it), but received multiple errors. I then tried switching to a multistage build and attempting to precompile assets which led to issues with the database connection. I tried stubbing the database with a mock implementation and using the fakeredis gem, which had a Redis version mismatch. Running Redis in the container then brought up issues with Postgres.
  2. Installing MiniRacer from Source: Frustrated with database stubbing, I decided to install mini_racer from source. I found that it didn’t recognize libv8-node, so I installed that from source as well. However, it required node:16 to build libv8. Out of desperation, I changed the base image to node:16-alpine3.18, but still encountered a dependency conflict for mini_racer when bundling.

I’m struggling with this quite a bit, and I’d really appreciate advice on how to proceed. Below is the current build stage for reference:

# Discourse stage
FROM node:16-alpine3.18 AS discourse

ARG DISCOURSE_VERSION=3.1.0
ENV RAILS_ENV=production
ENV RUBY_GLOBAL_METHOD_CACHE_SIZE=131072
ENV LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ENV LANGUAGE=en_US:en
ENV LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# Install system dependencies
RUN apk add --no-cache \
    ruby \
    ruby-dev \
    ruby-bundler \
    git \
    build-base \
    linux-headers \
    postgresql-dev \
    libxml2-dev \
    libxslt-dev \
    imagemagick \
    sudo \
    tzdata \
    wget \
    python3 \
    curl \
    gcc \
    g++ \
    make \
    && gem install bundler

# Create discourse user
RUN adduser -D -h /home/discourse discourse && \
    echo "discourse ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/discourse

# Clone repository and checkout version
RUN git clone --depth 1 --branch v${DISCOURSE_VERSION} --single-branch https://github.com/discourse/discourse.git /home/discourse/discourse && \
    chown -R discourse:discourse /home/discourse/discourse

# Set Git safe directory
RUN git config --system --add safe.directory /home/discourse/discourse

WORKDIR /home/discourse/discourse

# Update mini_racer version in Gemfile
RUN sed -i 's/gem "mini_racer".*$/gem "mini_racer", "0.6.2"/' Gemfile

# Install libv8-node and mini_racer
RUN gem install libv8-node -v 16.10.0.0 -- --with-system-v8=false && \
    gem contents libv8-node | grep -E 'vendor/v8/.*\.a

Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated! &&
ls -l $(gem contents libv8-node | grep -E 'vendor/v8/.*.a


Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated! | sed 's/libv8_monolith\.a$//') && \
    gem install mini_racer -v 0.6.2 -- \
    --with-v8-dir=$(gem contents libv8-node | grep -E 'vendor/v8/.*\.a

Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated! | sed ‘s/libv8_monolith.a$//’)

Update Gemfile.lock

RUN bundle lock --update

Configure bundler

RUN bundle config set --local deployment ‘true’ &&
bundle config set --local without ‘development:test’ &&
bundle config build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries

Install dependencies

RUN bundle install --jobs 4 --retry 3 &&
yarn install

Copy configuration files

COPY discourse-config.yml /home/discourse/discourse/config/discourse.yml

Create a minimal database.yml for asset precompilation

RUN echo “production:\n adapter: postgresql\n database: discourse\n host: localhost\n pool: 5” > /home/discourse/discourse/config/database.yml

Create a mock Redis implementation

RUN echo “class Redis\n def method_missing(*args)\n nil\n end\n def self.new(*args)\n self\n end\nend” > /home/discourse/discourse/config/initializers/mock_redis.rb

Precompile assets without connecting to database or Redis

RUN RAILS_ENV=production
SKIP_REDIS=1
SKIP_DB=1
SKIP_TAGS=1
SECRET_TOKEN=dummytoken
DISABLE_CUSTOM_PLUGINS=1
LOAD_PLUGINS=0
bundle exec rake assets:precompile

Remove the temporary configuration files

RUN rm /home/discourse/discourse/config/database.yml /home/discourse/discourse/config/initializers/mock_redis.rb

Set correct ownership

RUN chown -R discourse:discourse /home/discourse/discourse


Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated!