Running in Docker Leave feedback

In this documentation topic you will learn how to run GroupDocs.Total for .NET in Docker container based on simple code examples.

If the target framework is .NET 6 or over, due to limitations in the System.Drawing.Common version 6.0.0 (see Microsoft documentation), you need to add the following setting to the .csproj file.

<ItemGroup>
    <RuntimeHostConfigurationOption Include="System.Drawing.EnableUnixSupport" Value="true" />
</ItemGroup>

or you can also add runtimeconfig.json file to the root of you project

{
  "configProperties": {
    "System.Drawing.EnableUnixSupport": true
  }
}

When using GroupDocs.Total in Linux environment, the following packages should be installed as they are required for the proper library work:

1. libgdiplus - is the Mono library that provides a GDI+-compatible API on non-Windows operating systems.
2. libx11-dev - Needed for drawing functions (image/font rendering).
3. fontconfig - Enables font lookup for text rendering with System.Drawing.
4. ttf-mscorefonts-installer - package with Microsoft compatible fonts, required for GroupDocs.Total.

To install packages on Debian-based Linux distributions use apt-get utility:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libgdiplus libx11-dev fontconfig ttf-mscorefonts-installer

In case packages are not available, you can add the contrib repository:

RUN sed -i'.bak' 's/$/ contrib/' /etc/apt/sources.list

This is the most basic example that shows how to run GroupDocs.Total for .NET in Docker. The example demonstrates document conversion functionality using a simple console application.

Note

You can download this sample application from here.

The sample application has the following folder structure:

📂 basic-example/
├── 📂 output/                   # Output directory for converted files
├── 📄 .dockerignore             # Files to exclude from Docker build context
├── 📄 business-plan.docx        # Sample input document
├── 📄 Dockerfile                # Docker container definition
├── 📄 GroupDocs.Total.lic       # License file (optional)
├── 📄 Program.cs                # Main application code
├── 📄 BasicExample.csproj       # .NET project file
└── 📄 BasicExample.sln          # Visual Studio solution file

We’re using the official Microsoft .NET 6 SDK image to build and run the application. This approach provides a complete development environment with all necessary tools. Here are the most essential parts:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:6.0
WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies
RUN sed -i'.bak' 's/$/ contrib/' /etc/apt/sources.list
RUN apt update && apt install -y \
    libgdiplus \
    libx11-dev \
    fontconfig \
    ttf-mscorefonts-installer

# Copy the app
COPY . .

# Run the app
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "run", "--framework", "net6.0", "--verbosity", "normal"]

using System.IO;
using GroupDocs.Conversion;
using GroupDocs.Conversion.Options.Convert;

// Set the license (Optional)
string licensePath = Path.GetFullPath("./GroupDocs.Total.lic");
License license = new License();
license.SetLicense(licensePath);

// Initialize convert options and converter
PdfConvertOptions options = new PdfConvertOptions();
Converter converter = new Converter("./business-plan.docx");

// Convert and save file
converter.Convert("./output/business-plan.pdf", options);

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <RuntimeHostConfigurationOption Include="System.Drawing.EnableUnixSupport" Value="true" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="GroupDocs.Total" Version="25.7.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

To create the Docker image, run the following command in the directory containing the Dockerfile:

docker build -t groupdocs-total:basic-example .

To run the application and mount the output directory:

docker run -it --rm -v ${PWD}/output:/app/output groupdocs-total:basic-example

docker run -it --rm -v %cd%/output:/app/output groupdocs-total:basic-example

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/output:/app/output groupdocs-total:basic-example

The application creates the output business-plan.pdf file and places it into the output folder on your host machine. You can download expected output file from here.

• -it: Runs the container in interactive mode
• --rm: Automatically removes the container when it exits
• -v: Mounts the host directory to the container directory for file output

If you encounter font-related errors:

# Install additional fonts
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y fonts-liberation fonts-dejavu-core

In case you experience any other exeptions when running the application please contact us using GroupDocs Free Support Forum and we’ll be happy to help.