How to Run Moodle on Docker for Development

Moodle is a popular open-source learning management system (LMS) used worldwide. When developing Moodle applications, developers often face challenges such as setting up consistent development environments, managing dependencies, and ensuring seamless integration with databases like PostgreSQL.

1. Technical Tools Used in This Article

In this guide, we’ll use Docker to create a portable and reproducible environment for developing Moodle. Docker allows us to encapsulate Moodle, its dependencies, and PostgreSQL in isolated containers, ensuring consistency across different development machines.

2. Setting Up Environments for Moodle Development

2.1. Directory Work Tree

Ensure your project directory structure looks like this:

.
├── moodle
└── moodle-docker-developing
    ├── Dockerfile
    ├── LICENSE
    └── docker-compose.yml

2.2. Dockerfile Setup

Create a Dockerfile in the moodle-docker-developing directory to define your Moodle environment:

# Use an official PHP runtime with Apache as a parent image
FROM php:8.2-apache

# Update and install necessary packages
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    libpq-dev \
    libonig-dev \
    libcurl4-openssl-dev \
    postgresql-client \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install PHP extensions using a script
ADD --chmod=0755 https://github.com/mlocati/docker-php-extension-installer/releases/latest/download/install-php-extensions /usr/local/bin/

# Set the working directory in the container
WORKDIR /var/www/html

# Install PHP extensions required by Moodle
RUN install-php-extensions gd pdo_pgsql pgsql opcache iconv mbstring curl openssl ctype zip zlib simplexml spl pcre dom xml xmlreader intl json hash fileinfo xsl soap exif yaml

# Enable Apache modules required by Moodle
RUN a2enmod rewrite

# Edit the config of php.ini of the container.
RUN echo "max_input_vars = 5000" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/moodle.ini

# Set permissions for Moodle directories
RUN chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html \
    && mkdir /var/www/moodledata \
    && chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/moodledata

# Expose Apache HTTP port
EXPOSE 80

# Start Apache web server
CMD ["apache2-foreground"]

2.3 Docker Compose Setup

Create a docker-compose.yml file in the moodle-docker-developing to define your Docker services:

services:
  moodle:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    container_name: moodle
    ports:
      - '80:80'
    volumes:
      - ./../moodle:/var/www/html # Mount the entire project root
      - moodledata:/var/www/moodledata
    environment:
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_TYPE=pgsql
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_HOST=moodledb
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_USER=moodleuser
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_PASSWORD=123456
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_NAME=localdb
    depends_on:
      - moodledb

  moodledb:
    image: postgres:16
    container_name: moodle-db
    ports:
      - '5432:5432'
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: localdb
      POSTGRES_USER: moodleuser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: 123456
    volumes:
      - dbdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
      - ./db_backups/:/var/www/db_backups # Mount the db backup project to container.

volumes:
  moodledata:
  dbdata:

3. Edit Files Locally and Affect Docker Container

With the setup above, any changes made locally in the moodle directory will automatically reflect in the Docker container due to volume mounts defined in docker-compose.yml. This setup facilitates seamless development without needing to rebuild the Docker image repeatedly.

4. Testing Development Environments

After setting up Docker and running docker-compose up -d, access your Moodle instance at http://localhost:80. Ensure everything functions correctly and make necessary adjustments to your Moodle application.

5. Connect to PostgreSQL in Docker Container

To interact with PostgreSQL running in the Docker container:

• Use tools like psql or connect directly from your application code.
• Ensure your Moodle settings (config.php) are configured to use PostgreSQL as per the environment variables set in docker-compose.yml.

GitHub Reference:

For more details, visit https://github.com/emhat098/moodle-docker-developing.

Summary

Running Moodle on Docker simplifies development by providing a consistent and isolated environment. With Docker Compose, you can easily manage dependencies like PHP, Apache, and PostgreSQL, ensuring your development workflow remains efficient and productive.

Thank you for following along with this guide on setting up Moodle on Docker for development. We hope this article has helped streamline your Moodle development process. Happy coding!

This guide covers the essential steps to get you started with Moodle development using Docker. Adjust configurations and permissions as per your specific requirements to optimize your development environment further.