Favorite Apps & Tools #8 - Docker

macos
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Tools

In contrast to the use cases mentioned in the official documentation my private use of Docker is much more mundane. I mostly need it to extend my tooling.

There is not much missing on my macOS machines to accommodate all of my needs. But in some rare cases I need to have access to some GNU/Linux exclusive software.

On those occasional instances I have grown to rely on docker.

  • Fire up a docker container with the appropriate image.
  • Install the needed software in case they are not built in.
  • Run the task(s) and destroy the container as appropriate.

<span style=“color:#d08770;">This is probably better illustrated with an example.</span>

This is not a how to

I recently got into a pickle, where I needed to delete A LOT of duplicate mails in my maildir directory.

After an extensive search on the internet, I decided that this wonderful post would help me the most.

The only hiccup was that the how-to uses reformail (included in maildrop) which was not available on macOS.

Well… Docker to the rescue.

  • Fired up an Ubuntu image with mapped volumes to my maildir directory.
  • Installed maildrop.
  • Performed the steps as mentioned

And that was that.

Conclusion

One cannot deny the usefulness of the container concept. Not just for Devs and/DevOps, but for any type of user.

At work Docker is as much a necessity as my machine itself. But I like Docker much more at home for these one-off tasks – similar to the example above.

But what about Windows software? Just… No.