feat: Add Development Container and Windows specific development pre-requisites

[davem-bis]

Description

Adds a development container for those working on Windows as the repository relies on Python functionality only available on UNIX systems.

Expands the development.md documentation to include caveats with developing on Windows.

Test Plan

Dev container was built from scratch and make fast-test run successfully.

Checklist

• I have run make style and fixed any issues
• [ ] I have added tests for my changes (if applicable) Not Applicable
• All existing tests pass (make fast-test)
• My commits are signed off (git commit -s) per the DCO

[StuffbyYuki]

@davem-bis Thanks for this PR!

Blocker

• post-create-command.sh installs msodbcsql18 without adding the Microsoft apt repo. That package isn’t in Ubuntu’s default repos (see .circleci/install-prerequisites.sh fabric path), so a clean create should fail here. Easiest fix: drop msodbcsql18 from the default install (it’s only needed for Fabric/ODBC), or you can also restore the Microsoft repo setup.

Optional

• Add set -e so apt failures don’t continue into make install-dev.
• Docs: how to open the container, and that Windows host clones need core.symlinks=true before bind-mount.
• Soften the SIGUSR1 rationale, that path is already gated via hasattr(faulthandler, "register"); symlinks are the clearer Windows caveat.

Let me know if I'm missing anything!

[davem-bis]

Hi @StuffbyYuki, thanks for the review.

Regarding the msodbcsql18 install - because this is using a Microsoft hosted version of the Ubuntu container, this already has the Microsoft apt repository available by default.

I'll implement the rest though. Regarding the SIGUSR1 rational, one of the tests fails on that import on Windows - I'll try to track down which one it is and see if I can tweak it.

[davem-bis]

Hi @StuffbyYuki - sorry for the delay. Those changes have been implemented.

[StuffbyYuki]

Thanks! The set -e and docs updates look good.

On msodbcsql18: I think this is mixing up two different “Microsoft-hosted Ubuntu” setups. GitHub Actions / Azure DevOps agents often already have the Microsoft apt repo, but this PR uses mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-24.04, a Docker image on MCR, not a runner. MCR hosting doesn’t mean the repo is configured inside the image.

Microsoft’s Ubuntu install steps still require adding packages-microsoft-prod.deb first (docs). The image is a plain Ubuntu base (Dockerfile); I checked it and there’s no packages.microsoft.com source, so msodbcsql18 isn’t available.

If you agree, let's either drop msodbcsql18 from the default install (I think only needed for Fabric/ODBC), or add the Microsoft repo setup like .circleci/install-prerequisites.sh does for fabric.

[davem-bis]

Hi @StuffbyYuki - I had a deeper dig into this, I was mistaken before, the Microsoft package repository was being added by the Java and Docker-in-Docker features, not the base docker image.

I've added an extra step to the install script to add the repository if it's not available, in case those features are removed from the development container configuration in the future.