Tasks that run on the host

[ineffyble]

It would be great if you could define a task that executes on the host (not in a Docker container).

This is useful because:

• It means you can use batect as your task runner for all tasks, even the ones that can't/shouldn't run in Docker
• It means when you're setting up task workflows using dependencies, you can include these

A prime example: I want to run a bash script that build a Docker image for my Java app. The Dockerfile includes a COPY that takes my app.zip, which was built by Gradle, and extracts it into the image.

I want to use that bash script/task as a dependency of a task that then uses the new Docker image as part of a Terraform deployment.

This means my task flow goes:

1. Compile the Java (done in a batect java-env)
2. Run shell script to build and push the Docker image
3. Run the Terraform (done in a terraform-env)
4. More steps

Right now, 2. is done in a "docker-env" which actually doesn't contain much, and mounts the Docker socket from the host. Ideally it would be run directly on the host, but I can't do that and still have my end-to-end task workflow with batect.

[charleskorn]

This is something I've been thinking a bit about lately. Is your only use case for running a command locally building and pushing an image?

[ineffyble]

I think there's other usecases. For example, installing a pre-commit hook for the repo.

The problem is that teams tend to try and use batect instead of a "go" script, but it's hard to do that when it has to run everything in Docker.

[charleskorn]

OK, makes sense. This isn't something I'm going to implement soon, but I will one day.

Out of interest, is there a reason why you can't mount the source directory into a container and set up the pre-commit hooks from there?

[stale]

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