On Sat, Jun 16, 2018 at 7:22 AM, Joachim Lindenberg <[email protected]>
wrote:

> ...
>
> (I am aware of that ADD is kind of deprecated). What I don´t understand is
> why I use /ext/ and in fact the files end up in /root/.guacamole/.
>

Copying the provided template GUACAMOLE_HOME into place is part of the
Docker image's startup process:

https://github.com/apache/guacamole-client/blob/984ab48ce8dbbb5b9949ce1f5e5f774168b4830b/guacamole-docker/bin/start.sh#L340-L352

The Docker image (somewhat confusingly) uses its own GUACAMOLE_HOME
variable to define the location that should serve as the basis for the
webapp's GUACAMOLE_HOME. As the GUACAMOLE_HOME environment variable has
special meaning to the web application, it is explicitly forced back to
~/.guacamole/ with your custom value stored in GUACAMOLE_HOME_TEMPLATE:

https://github.com/apache/guacamole-client/blob/984ab48ce8dbbb5b9949ce1f5e5f774168b4830b/guacamole-docker/bin/start.sh#L31-L33

To some extent this also clarifies how to include multiple extensions: just
> add all of them. However it is not really a modular approach then.
>

How is separating things into distinct extensions not modular?

·       what I dislike about the docker file above is, that I have to
> include the configuration with the code and force a rebuild on every
> configuration change. Imho being able to separate code and data is one of
> the key aspects in using containers.
>

I believe this is as aspect of the approach the unmodified Docker image
already takes. With the exception of third-party customizations (which
naturally can't be part of the mainline Docker image), the container is
self-contained and driven by configuration provided through environment
variables.

You will need to dynamically generate your guacamole.properties during
container startup (like the existing start.sh does) if you wish to avoid
rebuilding the image.

Maybe I am just unaware of a better approach, but what comes to my mind is
> that it would be great to have distinct environment variables pointing to
> extensions directory vs guacamole configuration. For compatibility reasons
> the extensions directory variable can still default to the existing
> definition.
>

I disagree here.

Though the Docker image layers its own semantics on top of GUACAMOLE_HOME
(let's set those aside for the moment as they are not a part of the
webapp), the point of the main GUACAMOLE_HOME directory with respect to
Guacamole configuration is to be able to rely upon convention. Once the
location of GUACAMOLE_HOME is defined, the locations of all
Guacamole-specific configuration files, all extensions, etc. are known and
rigorous.

- Mike

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