Now that I found a way to expose host files to the container -v option I would like to do kind of the opposite How can I edit files from a running container with a host editor sshfs could probably do the job but since a running container is already some kind of host directory I wonder if there is a portable between aufs btrfs and device mapper way to do that

How to edit Docker container files from the host?

The best way is:

  $ docker cp CONTAINER:FILEPATH LOCALFILEPATH
  $ vi LOCALFILEPATH
  $ docker cp LOCALFILEPATH CONTAINER:FILEPATH

Limitations with $ docker exec: it can only attach to a running container.

Limitations with $ docker run: it will create a new container.

~ Answered on 2016-12-21 23:27:51