— This guide applies ONLY to Docker for Windows 10/11 (AND ONLY in ‘Windows containers’ mode) —

1. Use an already existing Docker image and run a Docker container to compile

IMPORTANT: the Docker image MUST match your version of Windows 10/11 (See menu ‘Démarrer’ then ‘Paramètres’ then ‘Système’ then ‘À propos de’ then down ‘Version’), here are the supported versions of Windows 10/11 currently: 1809=ltsc2019 / (1903)/(1909)/(2004)/(20h2) / ltsc2022=win11
docker pull your_Docker_ID/your_docker_image

start a container in interactive mode: docker run -it your_Docker_ID/your_docker_image

cmd
git clone your_repository
cd your_folder
md build & cd build
cmake …
MSBuild /m your_solution.sln
ctest -j 3 --output-on-failure
exit

if needed later, to restart a container in interactive mode: docker start CONTAINER_ID -i (to find CONTAINER_ID: docker ps -a)

2. Create a Docker image

See this ‘Dockerfile’ sample for inspiration: https://gitlab.liris.cnrs.fr/mtola/Docker-CI/-/blob/master/windows/1809_or_ltsc2019/sample_vcpkg_project/vs2017-myproject-vcpkg/Dockerfile
IMPORTANT: in general, you will normally only have to focus on the ‘vcpkg install’ lines in this file
In the folder containing your ‘Dockerfile’:

build the image: docker build -t your_docker_image .

push your Docker image to your personal account on Docker Hub (https://hub.docker.com):

Log in to the service with ‘docker login’ command
docker push your_Docker_ID/your_docker_image
Then sign out with ‘docker logout’ command

3. Enable continuous integration with GitLab and Docker

IMPORTANT: in the web interface of the GitLab repository —> menu on the left ‘Settings’ then ‘CI / CD’ then ‘Auto DevOps’ then uncheck ‘Default to Auto DevOps pipeline’ then ‘Save changes’

[ USELESS if you already have a dedicated ‘Windows Server’ with Docker !

Install ‘Docker’: see ‘Docker Install’
Install ‘GitLab Runner’: https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/windows.html
’Register’ your runner(s): https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/register/index.html#windows (it is not compulsory to necessarily use the notion of ‘tags’)

choose ‘docker-windows’ as ‘runner executor’ when asked

USELESS if you already have a dedicated ‘Windows Server’ with Docker ! ]

Add a ‘.gitlab-ci.yml’ to the root of the GitLab repository, here is an example with 2 different configs (one run with vs2017 and one run with vs2019) which show the interest of ‘templates’ (same, again, the 2 lines with the ‘n’ tags are optional):

.windows_build_template_0x - Release: &windows_build_definition_0x-release
  script:
    - md build; cd build
    - cmake .. -DCMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES=Release -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=C:\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake
    - MSBuild /m myproject.sln
    - $env:PATH += ";$env:MSVC_KIT_ROOT\debug\bin;$env:MSVC_KIT_ROOT\bin"
    - ctest
    - (...my commands which are good for "myproject"...)

##################
# CONF1 - vs2017 #
##################
#
conf1 - vs2017:
  tags:
    - my_tag1,my_tag2
  image: my_dockerhub_name/my_vs2017-ltsc2019-for-myproject
  <<: *windows_build_definition_0x-release

##################
# CONF2 - vs2019 #
##################
#
conf2 - vs2019:
  tags:
    - my_tag1,my_tag2
  image: my_dockerhub_name/my_vs2019-ltsc2019-for-myproject
  <<: *windows_build_definition_0x-release

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