How can I setup a docker container for developing on the Nordic nRF5 SDK?

Question

I'd like to setup a docker container and share it with my co-workers so we all don't have to setup development environments individually.

Answer 1

Note that this does not include saving the container as an image and uploading to DockerHub (search around for that part). Its also worth noting that this set of instructions would be a good start for creating a "dockerfile" which would automatically run all of these commands to build up this container on-demand.

    docker pull ubuntu
    docker run --privileged=true -it -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro -v /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb ubuntu

        // As root in the docker container:
    apt-get update
    apt-get install vim vifm ssh sshd iproute2 iputils-ping sshfs build-essential dos2unix git usbutils
    adduser mydevuser
    /etc/init.d/ssh start
    ip a

        // As mydevuser user in the docker container:
    - Download and unzip gcc compilers from ARM (gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update-linux.tar.bz2)
    - Download and unzip nRF5SDK (nRF5SDK160098a08e2.zip)
    - Download and unzip soft device (s113nrf52701.zip)
    - Download and unzip command line tools (nRF-Command-Line-Tools_10_4_1_Linux-amd64.tar.gz)
        // Configure for our compiler, here is my updated GNU_INSTALL_ROOT
    ~/nRF5SDK/components/toolchain/gcc ..) head Makefile.posix
                GNU_INSTALL_ROOT ?= /home/mydevuser/gcc/gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update/bin/
        // Now lets compile some examples
    ~/nRF5SDK/external/micro-ecc/nrf52hf_armgcc/armgcc ..) make
    ~/nRF5SDK/examples/dfu/secure_bootloader/pca10100_s113_ble_debug/armgcc ..) make
    ~/nRF5SDK/examples/peripheral/spi/pca10056/blank/armgcc ..) make

        // As root in the docker container:
    mv /home/mydevuser/cli_nrf/mergehex /opt/
    mv /home/mydevuser/cli_nrf/nrfjprog/ /opt/
    ln -s /opt/nrfjprog/nrfjprog /usr/local/bin/nrfjprog
    ln -s /opt/mergehex/mergehex /usr/local/bin/mergehex
    cp -pv /home/mydevuser/cli_nrf/JLink_Linux_V650b_x86_64/libjlinkarm* /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/

        // As root in the docker container:
        // Load the firmware over USB to the dev board:
    nrfjprog -f NRF52 --program nrf52840_xxaa.hex --chiperase --log