Liferay DXP Nightly & Master Builds Guide¶

This guide describes how to run, upgrade, and configure Liferay DXP Nightly / Master builds using Liferay Docker Manager (LDM) without compiling source code locally.

📌 Overview & Concept¶

When testing bleeding-edge features or validating bug fixes against the latest Liferay codebase, developers often need to run "master" builds.

Rather than compiling the Liferay source code locally, LDM leverages automated nightly builds published directly to Docker Hub (liferay/dxp). These multi-architecture images (amd64 and arm64) are built and published multiple times per day by Liferay release automation.

🚀 Quick Start: Running a Nightly Build¶

To launch a sandbox using the latest nightly build, use the --nightly (or --master) flag:

ldm run my-nightly-sandbox --nightly

Or pass a specific timestamped tag directly using --tag:

ldm run my-nightly-sandbox --tag 7.4.13.nightly-d10.0.72-20260730141335

Note

Vanilla Baseline Default: Pre-warmed seed databases are not generated for moving nightly builds. When --nightly or --master is specified, LDM defaults to a clean vanilla database initialization (--vanilla) to prevent schema incompatibility errors.

⚙️ Multi-Level Configuration Cascading¶

If you frequently work with nightly builds, you can configure your preference at the machine, user, or project level so you do not need to specify --nightly on the CLI each time.

LDM resolves settings using the following precedence hierarchy (lowest to highest):

Machine Level (/etc/ldmrc): System-wide default for workstation setups or CI build agents.

ldm defaults release_type nightly --global

User Level (~/.ldmrc): Developer user preference across all local projects.

ldm defaults release_type nightly
ldm defaults auto_pull_nightly prompt

Not ldm config set release_type nightly — that writes the root of ~/.ldmrc, which the defaults resolver ignores whenever a defaults block exists (LDM-#1651).

Project Level ([project]/meta): Project-specific metadata overriding user/machine defaults.

{
  "project_name": "my-nightly-sandbox",
  "tag": "7.4.13.nightly",
  "release_type": "nightly",
  "auto_pull_nightly": "prompt"
}

CLI Flags (--nightly / --tag): Explicit command-line arguments override all config levels.

🔄 Upgrading Nightly Builds¶

Nightly builds on Docker Hub update under the floating 7.4.13.nightly tag as new code commits land. LDM provides non-intrusive image pull options and automated schema upgrades:

1. On-Demand Image Pull¶

To pull the latest nightly image layers before starting your stack:

ldm start my-nightly-sandbox --pull

2. Startup Update Prompt¶

When auto_pull_nightly is set to prompt (default), starting a nightly sandbox will check Docker Hub for newer image digests and prompt:

[!] A newer nightly build is available on Docker Hub (published 2 hours ago).
Would you like to pull the latest nightly image before starting? (y/N) [default: N]

Pressing Enter defaults to No, ensuring your local workflow is never interrupted unless requested.

3. Pre-Upgrade Backup & Schema Migration¶

When accepting a nightly build update, LDM's version upgrade pipeline ensures data safety:

Pre-Upgrade Safety Backup: Offers an automated database dump snapshot (ldm snapshot) prior to updating image layers.
Schema Auto-Upgrade: Enables Liferay's schema upgrade tool (LIFERAY_UPGRADE_PERIOD_DATABASE_PERIOD_AUTO_PERIOD_RUN=true) during startup if database schema modifications were included in the nightly build.
Persistent Volume Remapping: Named Docker data volumes (liferay-data) and host bind mounts remain preserved across container recreations.

Last Updated: 2026-09-10 | Last Reviewed: 2026-09-10