VS Code Development Containers with relative folders above root folder - visual-studio-code

Question

I am struggling with my VS Code setup in connection with the container extension.
My project structure has one project folder and several libraries on the same level (i.e. libraries are not subfolders of my project folder). The key thing is that I would like to save all config files in my project folder so the information how to bring up the project is version controlled with the project.
If I specify the workspace file as follows (using relative paths) and open the workspace file, things work fine locally.
{
"folders": [
{
"path": "."
},
{
"path": "../library1"
},
{
"path": "../library2"
},
]
}
However, when I try to bring this in my development container, I get the error message:
The workspace cannot be opened in a container. Folder c:\..\library1 is not a subfolder of shared root folder c:\..\project.
I could pull the project definition (and devcontainer.json file) one level up but then they are not under source control of my project folder.
Any ideas how to resolve this?

Answer 1

It seems to be a design limitation. Even if you set the workspace root of the container accordingly, it still doesn't seem to be possible to reference workspace folders outside of the folder containing the workspace definition.
https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-release/issues/387
To start, we could support an open workspace command that is the
equivalent of doing "Open Folder in Container" followed by "Open
Workspace" but does not resolve these two limitations. Specifically it
would:
Look for a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json or .devcontainer.json file
in the same folder as the .codeworkspace file. Mount this folder into
the container and open the workspace. The .codeworkspace file would
only be able to reference sub-folders.

Answer 2

It's 2022 - now using the updated Dev Containers extension.
I have the following structure (in short):
├───deployment
├───documentation
├───service1
│ ├───.vscode
│ └───sources
├───service2
│ ├───.vscode
│ └───sources
└───workspace
├───acme.app.code-workspace
├───.devcontainer
└───devcontainer.json
acme.app.code-workspace
{
"folders": [
{
"path": "."
},
{
"name": "Service 1",
"path": "../service1"
},
{
"name": "Service 2",
"path": "../service2"
},
{
"name": "Deployment",
"path": "../deployment"
},
{
"name": "Documentation",
"path": "../documentation"
}
]
}
devcontainer.json
Nothing really of interest here. Just put in what you need.
{
"name": "Docker in Docker",
"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:bullseye",
"features": {
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {
"version": "latest",
"enableNonRootDocker": "true",
"moby": "true"
},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {
"version": "3.11"
}
}
}
So when you start the container, all should be fine.
The only drawback - whether the prompt is acceptable when starting the devcontainer:
This does not work if I bring the .devcontainer folder into it's own workspace folder.
{
"folders": [
{
"path": "."
},
{
"path": "../.devcontainer"
},
...