Setting up a LAMP development stack in Docker

The goods

In the root of your project, make the following files

compose.yaml

services:
  web:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: php.dockerfile
    container_name: php-apache
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:80:80" #this line maps your pc port to the container port
    depends_on:
      - db #this line links this container to the db container
    volumes:
      - ./html:/var/www/html #this line maps the content of ./html in your pc to the /var/www/html of the container
    networks:
      - php_network
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
    environment: # xdebug env var's required even though set in conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdeb
      XDEBUG_MODE: develop,debug 
      XDEBUG_CONFIG: client_host=host.docker.internal
        start_with_request=yes

  db:
    container_name: db
    image: mariadb #check the mysql version you need for your project
    environment:
      MARIADB_ALLOW_EMPTY_ROOT_PASSWORD: yes #insecure
    volumes:
      - ./mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql #this line maps the content of ./mysql_data in your pc to the /var/lib/mysql of the container
    ports:
      - "3306:3306"
    networks:
      - php_network

  phpmyadmin:
    container_name: php-admin
    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:8080:80" #this line maps your pc port to the container port
    depends_on:
      - db #this line links this container to the db container
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: db
    networks:
      - php_network

networks:
  php_network:
    name: php_network

php.dockerfile:

FROM php:apache

RUN docker-php-ext-install mysqli

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libxml2-dev && docker-php-ext-install soap 

RUN pecl install xdebug \
    && docker-php-ext-enable xdebug

COPY conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/

VSCode

Install Extensions

If you don't have these extensions installed yet, grab them:

• "PHP Debug" by Xdebug
• "Docker" by Microsoft
• "PHP Intelephense" by Ben Mewburn

Configure PHP Executable Path in VScode

1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+P to open the Command Palette.
2. Search for Preference: Open User Settings (JSON) and select it.
3. Press CTRL+F and search for the line php.validate.executablePath.
4. Set the value to "./php".
5. Create a file called php in the root of your project with the following content:

php

#!/bin/bash
#make this file executable with chmod +x 
#this file is used to provide vscode with a path to the php executable
docker exec -it php-apache php $@

6. Make the file executable by running chmod +x php.

Set up a Debugging Profile for VScode

Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to open the Run and Debug tab. Select the settings gear or click "Add Configuration" and add the following configuration:

launch.json

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Listen on Docker for Xdebug",
      "type": "php",
      "request": "launch",
      "port": 9003,
      "pathMappings": {
        "/var/www/html": "${workspaceFolder}/html"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Potential Gotchas

Networking Considerations

• External requests coming into the PHP container go through localhost. You can access your app via localhost from the host machine.
• However, if a request is made internally between PHP files or to a database, it will need to be sent to the internal IP of the PHP-Apache container.
• To find the IPs of all containers, open the Docker tab in VScode, right-click on the php_network under Networks, and select Inspect. A file with the following content will open.

...
    "Containers": {
        "6233e066b7e6009a2d0798b28ef49551c4d33868fdf9fa88d23f312eb14e1310": {
            "Name": "php-apache",
            "EndpointID": "87436db8d9d1d2272ad6b607fa7fa8e1775dd1957ef66f4ac8a323e306f27d0d",
            "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:03",
            "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.3/16",
            "IPv6Address": ""
        },
        "a2eec094259970f19db6cf8c79da036d4d3dc7c4a02d43e606b12eb7a42c7a70": {
            "Name": "php-admin",
            "EndpointID": "5ba4e4b6294a453c9a22c0b3a469b9521d01fb2a8e2c9365798b0960ee676e1f",
            "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:04",
            "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.4/16",
            "IPv6Address": ""
        },
        "b0697f319c99af352817141618592c4e20df9e8b909954e7dafd266a98d8ff8f": {
            "Name": "db",
            "EndpointID": "6ea7e802f147e1b3c738f0c1603847c43282dbd4064ad55491b37db44124cbed",
            "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:02",
            "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.2/16",
            "IPv6Address": ""
        }
    },
...

Editing php.ini

To edit the php.ini file, follow these steps:

1. Open up the Docker tab in VScode.
2. Right-click on the container and select Attach Shell.
3. The console along the bottom will now be attached to the container.

In this attached shell, navigate to the location of the php.ini file and make your edits as needed.

Viewing Server Information with phpinfo()

Create a new file called phpinfo.php in your project's HTML directory and add the following code:

<?php phpinfo(); 

Then, navigate to http://localhost/phpinfo.php in your web browser to view the PHP server information.

That's it! If you have anything to add, or have a question, feel free to leave a comment.