How to publish docker-compose.yml itself?

Question

I'd like to make sure that our frontend developers have access to the latest versions of the backend web app and can update it whenever desired, so to avoid incompatibilities with the API, which is also under development.

I have created a docker-compose.yml file containing two services: one for the backend web application, built with a custom Dockerfile , and a generic postgres image for the database. It all works fine.

I already published the backend webapp image to my private docker registry powered by Nexus repository manager, using the docker-compose push command.

Now I would like to somehow make my docker-compose.yml available, so that all that frontend devs need to do is run it with simple command.

Is there a way to publish docker-compose.yml to a Docker registry so I can avoid sharing backend sources with the frontend devs?

Answer 1

The traditional solution for sharing docker-compose.yml files has been version control (eg GitHub).

Recently, Docker has been working on docker-app which allows you to share docker-compose.yml files using a registry server. This is a separate install, and currently experimental, so I wouldn't base a production environment on it, but may be useful for developers to try out. You can checkout the project here:

https://github.com/docker/app