mvs-docker

Docker images for MVS 3.8j development and CI/CD workflows.

Images

mvs-dev

Headless development container for MVS 3.8j projects. Contains all build tools, editors, and CLI utilities needed to cross-compile C to S/370 assembler and interact with a remote MVS system via the mvsMF REST API.

Image: ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvs-dev (public)

This image does not contain MVS itself. It connects to an external MVS system (e.g. a separate mvsce-builder container, remote TK4-/TK5) configured via .env variables.

Included Tools

Category	Tools
Compilers / Build	clang, clangd, gcc, make, c2asm370 v1.2
Editors	vim, neovim (latest) + LazyVim
Shell	zsh + oh-my-zsh (git, docker, autosuggestions, syntax-highlighting)
Node.js	Node.js 22 LTS, npm
MVS Tools	Zowe CLI, c2asm370
Neovim Deps	fzf, ripgrep, fd, tree-sitter-cli, lazygit
Utilities	python3, curl, jq, git, gh CLI, docker CLI

Standalone Usage

docker pull ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvs-dev

# Interactive shell with current directory mounted as workspace
docker run -it -v "$(pwd)":/home/dev/workspace ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvs-dev

Docker-outside-Docker with mvsce-builder

To start an mvsce-builder as the MVS backend from within the devcontainer, bind-mount the host Docker socket and use a shared Docker network so both containers can communicate by name:

# Create a shared network
docker network create mvs-net

# Start mvs-dev with Docker socket access on the shared network
docker run -it --network mvs-net \
  -v "$(pwd)":/home/dev/workspace \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvs-dev

# Inside the container, start mvsce-builder on the same network
docker run -d --name mvs --network mvs-net \
  -p 3270:3270 -p 8888:8888 \
  ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvsce-builder

# The mvsMF API is now reachable at http://mvs:1080 from within mvs-dev
curl -u IBMUSER:SYS1 http://mvs:1080/zosmf/info

Set MVSMF_HOST=mvs and MVSMF_PORT=1080 in your project's .env file.

VS Code Devcontainer / GitHub Codespaces

Create a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json in your project:

{
  "image": "ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvs-dev:latest",
  "remoteUser": "dev",
  "mounts": [
    "source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock,type=bind"
  ],
  "runArgs": ["--network=mvs-net"]
}

Create the network before opening the devcontainer: docker network create mvs-net

Open the project in VS Code with the Dev Containers extension, or push to GitHub and open in Codespaces.

Connecting to MVS

The container connects to an external MVS system via environment variables. Create a .env file in your project (see each project's .env.example):

MVSMF_HOST=mvs              # container name on shared network, or IP/hostname
MVSMF_PORT=1080              # mvsMF API port
MVSMF_USER=IBMUSER           # MVS userid
MVSMF_PASSWORD=SYS1          # MVS password

Build scripts (mvsasm, mvslink, etc.) read these variables to communicate with MVS via the mvsMF REST API.

---

mvsce-builder

Build image for CI pipelines. Contains a fully operational MVS/CE system with HTTPD and mvsMF (z/OSMF-compatible REST API) pre-installed.

Image: ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvsce-builder (public)

Use cases:

• Cross-compile C to S/370 assembler, then assemble + link on MVS
• Upload sources, submit JCL, poll results via REST API
• Generate XMIT distribution files

Usage

docker pull ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvsce-builder

docker run -d --name mvs-build \
  -p 3270:3270 -p 3505:3505 -p 3506:3506 -p 1080:1080 -p 8888:8888 \
  ghcr.io/mvslovers/mvsce-builder

# Wait for MVS to IPL (~15s), then verify mvsMF is running
curl -u IBMUSER:SYS1 http://localhost:1080/zosmf/info

mvstk4-test / mvstk5-test / mvsce-test (planned)

Test images based on TK4-, TK5, and MVS/CE for validating builds against different MVS configurations.

Status: Planned

Build

# Build all images
make all

# Build individual images
make mvsce-builder
make mvs-dev

# Push all images to ghcr.io
make publish

# Push individual images
make publish-mvsce-builder
make publish-mvs-dev

# Smoke tests
make test-mvsce-builder
make test-mvs-dev

# Cleanup
make clean

Ports (mvsce-builder)

Port	Service
3270	TN3270 (terminal access)
3505	JES2 ASCII socket reader
3506	JES2 EBCDIC card reader
1080	HTTPD + mvsMF REST API
8888	Hercules web console

Repository Structure

mvs-docker/
├── mvs-dev/           mvs-dev image (headless devcontainer)
├── mvsce-builder/     mvsce-builder image (MVS/CE + HTTPD + mvsMF)
├── mvstk4-test/       TK4- test image (planned)
├── mvstk5-test/       TK5 test image (planned)
├── mvsce-test/        MVS/CE test image (planned)
├── common/            shared scripts and configs
├── Makefile           build/push/test automation
└── README.md

Related Projects

Project	Purpose
crent370	C runtime library for MVS 3.8j
c2asm370	Cross-compiler C to S/370
mvsmf	z/OSMF REST API for MVS 3.8j
mvsce	Base MVS/CE Docker image