Chapter 4. Introduction to devfile in Dev Spaces
Devfiles are yaml text files used for development environment customization. Use them to configure a devfile to suit your specific needs and share the customized devfile across multiple workspaces to ensure identical user experience and build, run, and deploy behaviours across your team.
Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces is expected to work with most of the popular images defined in the components section of devfile. For production purposes, it is recommended to use one of the Universal Base Images as a base image for defining the Cloud Development Environment.
Some images can not be used as-is for defining Cloud Development Environment since Visual Studio Code - Open Source ("Code - OSS") can not be started in the containers with missing openssl and libbrotli. Missing libraries should be explicitly installed on the Dockerfile level e.g. RUN yum install compat-openssl11 libbrotli
Devfile and Universal Developer Image
You do not need a devfile to start a workspace. If you do not include a devfile in your project repository, Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces automatically loads a default devfile with a Universal Developer Image (UDI).
Devfile Registry
Devfile Registry contains ready-to-use community-supported devfiles for different languages and technologies. Devfiles included in the registry should be treated as samples rather than templates.
