bxshell - All the IBM Cloud tools I need in one Docker image and a few shell scripts

bxshell is made of one Docker image where the IBM Cloud CLI, its plugins and commonly used tools have been preinstalled.

• No more hassle downloading and installing CLIs - all you need to be productive should already be there;
• bxshell Docker image is rebuilt weekly with the latest versions;
• Multiple environments on the same machine - open shell windows on multiple user accounts, multiple orgs with no conflict or side-effects;
• Access your local files from the shell

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Requirements

• Docker Engine

Tested on macOS Big Sur with Docker Engine - Community 20.10.5

Install

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/l2fprod/bxshell
   

2. Add bxshell/bin directory to your path

3. Ensure your Docker engine is running

4. Start the shell for an environment with bxshell <env_name>

   bxshell us-south
   

   This retrieves the bxshell Docker image and starts a container.

5. Once in the shell, run bx login as you would normally do, change account, org, space.

6. Eventually, quit the shell with exit

7. Restart the shell bxshell us-south to restore account, org, space

8. Run multiple environments in parallel in different shells

How it works

On your host, bxshell stores configuration files under $HOME/.bxshell where it creates one subfolder per environment. Under these folders, you'll find several configuration files created by the Docker container as you use the various IBM Cloud CLI and other scripts there.

Use bxshell <env_name> to start a new shell on the environment env_name. Environment name is arbitrary. You can use any name. This is only a way to keep configuration files together.

bxshell runs the Docker container interactively. The container will die when you quit the shell. It starts the Docker container with privileged mode and expose the local Docker socket inside the container so you can build images there too.

bxshell also mounts your $HOME directory and the $HOME/.bxshell/environments directory under /root/mnt in the container. This way you can access your files from within the container.

Tips and tricks

Bash Autocomplete

To autocomplete existing environment names, add the next lines to your Bash startup script:

# bxshell autocomplete
source <bxshell-checkout-directory>/bin/.bxshell-bash-completion.sh

Skip pulling the latest image

Use bxshell -l <env_name> to use the current Docker image in your local registry.

Transient environment

Use bxshell -t to run the Docker container with no mount and no persistent storage.

Remove an environment

To remove an environment simply delete its directory:

rm -r $HOME/.bxshell/environments/<environment>

Environment Customization

Global env file

You can define global environment variables passed to all sessions by editing $HOME/.bxshell/global.env.

Example:

BXSHELL_ENABLE_POWERLINE=1
LANG=en_US.utf8

Local customization

Under $HOME/.bxshell/environments/<env_name> you can create a .env_profile file to perform additional initialization when bxshell starts.

Using powerline shell

bxshell comes with experimental support for Powerline shell.

1. Add BXSHELL_ENABLE_POWERLINE=1 to the global.env file
2. Download and install a Powerline patched font. I use DejaVu
3. Configure your shell to use this font.

This is my configuration for iTerm 2:

Tools included in bxshell

The exact list can be found by looking at the installation script.

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The program is provided as-is with no warranties of any kind, express or implied.