Running CivetWeb in Docker

Overview

This guide explains how to build and run CivetWeb using a multi-stage Dockerfile. The Dockerfile uses Alpine Linux for both the build and runtime stages, making the final image lightweight.

Prerequisites

• Docker installed on your machine
• Basic understanding of Docker commands

Dockerfile Explained

Build Stage

The build stage uses Alpine Linux 3.18 and installs the necessary build tools and libraries.

FROM alpine:3.18 AS build
RUN apk update && \
    apk add --no-cache \
    build-base zlib-dev

The source code and other necessary files are copied into the /civetweb directory in the container.

WORKDIR /civetweb
COPY src ./src/
COPY include ./include/
COPY Makefile ./
COPY resources ./resources/
COPY *.md ./

The Civetweb server is then built and installed into the /app directory.

RUN make build && \
    make WITH_ALL=1 && \
    make install PREFIX=/app

Image Stage

The image stage also uses Alpine Linux 3.18 but installs only the runtime dependencies.

FROM alpine:3.18
RUN apk update && \
    apk add --no-cache \
    libstdc++ zlib

A non-root user civetweb is created for security reasons.

RUN addgroup -S civetweb && adduser -S civetweb -G civetweb
USER civetweb

The built application from the build stage is copied into this stage.

COPY --chown=civetweb:civetweb --from=build /app/ /app/

The container will listen on port 8080 at runtime.

EXPOSE 8080

Finally, the entry point for the container is set.

ENTRYPOINT  [ "/app/bin/civetweb", "/app/etc/civetweb.conf" ]

Build and Run

To build the Docker image, run:

docker build -t civetweb:latest .

To run the container, execute:

docker run -p 8080:8080 civetweb:latest

Conclusion

This Dockerfile provides a secure and efficient way to build and run CivetWeb. The use of multi-stage builds ensures that the final image is as small as possible. The EXPOSE directive informs that the application will listen on port 8080, making it easier to map ports when running the container.