7 files changed, 151 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..3e4e48b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.gitignore
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 3ec3965b..e529f79a 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	autogen.sh \
 	configure.ng \
 	.clang_complete \
+	.dockerignore \
 	.mailmap
 
 clean-local:
diff --git a/contrib/Dockerfile b/contrib/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..33eab278
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# ngIRCd -- The Next Generation IRC Daemon
+# Copyright (c)2001-2024 Alexander Barton (alex@barton.de) and Contributors
+
+# Build Container
+
+FROM docker.io/library/debian:stable-slim AS build
+USER root
+RUN apt-get -y update \
+	&& apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
+		autoconf \
+		automake \
+		build-essential \
+		expect \
+		gawk \
+		git \
+		libgnutls28-dev \
+		libident-dev \
+		libpam0g-dev \
+		openssl \
+		pkg-config \
+		telnet \
+		zlib1g-dev \
+	&& mkdir -p /usr/local/src/ngircd /opt/ngircd \
+	&& chown bin:bin /usr/local/src/ngircd /opt/ngircd
+WORKDIR /usr/local/src/ngircd
+COPY . /usr/local/src/ngircd
+RUN chown -R bin /usr/local/src/ngircd
+USER bin
+RUN ./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/ngircd \
+		--with-gnutls \
+		--with-iconv \
+		--with-ident \
+		--with-pam \
+	&& make all \
+	&& make -C src/ngircd check \
+	&& make install \
+	&& printf \
+		"# ngircd.conf\n\n[Global]\nServerGID=irc\nServerUID=irc\n\n[Options]\nIdent=no\nPAM=no\n\n[SSL]\nCAFile=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt\n" \
+		>/opt/ngircd/etc/ngircd.conf \
+	&& chmod -R a+rX /opt/ngircd
+
+# Run container
+
+FROM docker.io/library/debian:stable-slim
+USER root
+RUN apt-get -y update \
+	&& apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+		ca-certificates \
+		catatonit \
+		libgnutls30 \
+		libident \
+		libpam0g \
+		libwrap0 \
+		zlib1g \
+	&& apt-get -y clean \
+	&& rm -rf /var/cache/debconf/*-old /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+COPY --from=build /opt/ngircd /opt/ngircd
+USER irc
+ENTRYPOINT [ "/usr/bin/catatonit", "--", "/opt/ngircd/sbin/ngircd", "--nodaemon" ]
+EXPOSE 6667 6697
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --retries=1 --start-period=5s \
+	CMD [ "/usr/bin/grep", "-F", ":1A0B ", "/proc/net/tcp" ]
diff --git a/contrib/Makefile.am b/contrib/Makefile.am
index 27731b3f..f2d99012 100644
--- a/contrib/Makefile.am
+++ b/contrib/Makefile.am
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ SUBDIRS = Debian
 EXTRA_DIST = README.md \
 	de.barton.ngircd.metainfo.xml \
 	de.barton.ngircd.plist \
+	Dockerfile \
 	ngindent.sh \
 	ngircd-bsd.sh \
 	ngIRCd-Logo.gif \
diff --git a/contrib/README.md b/contrib/README.md
index 4f04dce6..fdd46495 100644
--- a/contrib/README.md
+++ b/contrib/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ This `contrib/` directory contains the following sub-folders and files:
 
 - `de.barton.ngircd.plist[.tmpl]`: launchd(8) property list file.
 
+- `Dockerfile`: Container definition file, for Docker or Podman for example.
+  More information can be found in the `doc/Container.md` file.
+
 - `ngindent.sh`: Script to indent the code of ngIRCd in the "standard way".
 
 - `ngircd-bsd.sh`: Start/stop script for FreeBSD.
diff --git a/doc/Container.md b/doc/Container.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29cc848b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/Container.md
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# [ngIRCd](https://ngircd.barton.de) - Container How-To
+
+The ngIRCd daemon can be run as a containerized application, for example using
+Docker or Podman (the latter being preferred and used in the examples below).
+The container definition file, also known as "Docker file", is bundled with this
+distribution as `contrib/Dockerfile` and based on the official "stable-slim"
+container of the Debian project (see https://hub.docker.com/_/debian).
+
+## Building the container
+
+You can use the following command to build the ngIRCd container image:
+
+```bash
+podman build --format=docker -f contrib/Dockerfile .
+```
+
+The `Dockerfile` includes a `HEALTHCHECK` directive, which is not supported by
+the default OCI 1.0 image format, therefore we use the "docker" format here.
+
+If you are using Git, you can tag the built image like this (use the ID of the
+newly built image!):
+
+```bash
+podman tag <container_id> "ngircd:$(git describe --tags | sed 's/rel-//g')"
+```
+
+## Running the container
+
+You can use this command to run the ngIRCd container using Podman, for example:
+
+```bash
+podman run --name=ngircd --detach \
+  -p 127.0.0.1:6667:6667 \
+  ngircd:<tag>
+```
+
+This creates and starts a new container named "ngircd" from the image
+"ngircd:<tag>" (you habe to substitute _<tag>_ with the real tag name here!) and
+maps the host port 6667 on localhost to the port 6667 inside of the container.
+
+### Configuring the container
+
+The ngIRCd inside of the container is installed inside of `/opt/ngircd/` and the
+default drop-in directory is `/opt/ngircd/etc/ngircd.conf.d`. Therefore you can
+map a host folder to this drop-in directory inside of the container and place
+drop-in configuration file(s) in the host path like this:
+
+```bash
+mkdir -p /host/path/to/ngircd/conf.d
+touch /host/path/to/ngircd/conf.d/my.conf
+podman run --name=ngircd --detach \
+  -p 127.0.0.1:6667:6667 \
+  -v /host/path/to/ngircd/conf.d:/opt/ngircd/etc/ngircd.conf.d' \
+  ngircd:<tag>
+```
+
+### Testing the configuration
+
+As with the native daemon, it is a very good idea to validate the configuration
+of the daemon after making changes.
+
+With Docker and Podman, you can pass arguments to the `ngircd` binary inside of
+the container by simply appending it to the "run" command line like this:
+
+```bash
+podman run --name=ngircd --rm -it \
+  -v /host/path/to/ngircd/conf.d:/opt/ngircd/etc/ngircd.conf.d' \
+  ngircd:<tag>
+  --configtest
+```
+
+### Reloading the daemon configuration in a running container
+
+To activate changed configuration of ngIRCd, you can either restart the
+container (which will disconnect all currently connected clients) or signal
+`ngircd`(8) inside of the running container to reload its configuration file(s).
+
+The latter can be done with this command, for example:
+
+```bash
+podman exec -it ngircd /bin/bash -c 'kill -HUP $(/usr/bin/pidof -s ngircd)'
+```
diff --git a/doc/Makefile.am b/doc/Makefile.am
index 91583f5c..a7e01999 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/Makefile.am
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ static_docs = \
 	Bopm.txt \
 	Capabilities.txt \
 	Commands.txt \
+	Container.md \
 	Contributing.txt \
 	FAQ.md \
 	HowToRelease.txt \