DISTROBOXDISTROBOX-CREATE

COMPATIBILITY

This project does not need a dedicated image. It can use any OCI images from docker-hub, quay.io, or any registry of your choice.

Many cloud images are stripped down on purpose to save size and may not include commands such as which, mount, less or vi). Additional packages can be installed once inside the container. We recommend using your preferred automation tool inside the container if you find yourself having to repeatedly create new containers. Maintaining your own custom image is also an option.

The main concern is having basic Linux utilities (mount), basic user management utilities (usermod, passwd), and sudo correctly set.

SUPPORTED CONTAINER MANAGERS

distrobox can run on either podman or docker

It depends either on podman configured in rootless mode or on docker configured without sudo (follow THESE instructions (https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/))

	•		Minimum podman version: 2.1.0
	•		Minimum docker version: 18.06.1

Follow the official installation guide here:

	•		<https://podman.io/getting-started/installation>
	•		<https://docs.docker.com/engine/install>
	•		<https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/>

CONTAINERS DISTROS

Distrobox guests tested successfully with the following container images:

Note however that if you use a non-toolbox preconfigured image (e.g. images pre-baked to work with <https://github.com/containers/toolbox>), the first distrobox-enter you’ll perform can take a while as it will download and install the missing dependencies.

A small time tax to pay for the ability to use any type of image. This will not occur after the first time, subsequent enters will be much faster.

NixOS is not a supported container distro, and there are currently no plans to bring support to it. If you are looking for unprivlaged NixOS environments, we suggest you look into nix-shell (https://nixos.org/manual/nix/unstable/command-ref/nix-shell.html).

NEW DISTRO SUPPORT

If your distro of choice is not on the list, open an issue requesting support for it, we can work together to check if it is possible to add support for it.

Or just try using it anyway, if it works, open an issue and it will be added to the list!

OLDER DISTRIBUTIONS

For older distributions like CentOS 5, CentOS 6, Debian 6, Ubuntu 12.04, compatibility is not assured.

Their libc version is incompatible with kernel releases after >=4.11. A work around this is to use the vsyscall=emulate flag in the bootloader of the host.

Keep also in mind that mirrors could be down for such old releases, so you will need to build a custom distrobox image to ensure basic dependencies are met.

NAME

distrobox create

distrobox-create

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-create takes care of creating the container with input name and

image. The created container will be tightly integrated with the host,

allowing sharing of the HOME directory of the user, external storage,

external usb devices and graphical apps (X11/Wayland), and audio.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox create

--image/-i: image to use for the container default: registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:36

--name/-n: name for the distrobox default: my-distrobox

--pull/-p: pull latest image unconditionally without asking

--yes/-Y: non-interactive, pull images without asking

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--clone/-c: name of the distrobox container to use as base for a new container

this will be useful to either rename an existing distrobox or have multiple copies

of the same environment.

--home/-H select a custom HOME directory for the container. Useful to avoid host's home littering with temp files.

--volume additional volumes to add to the container

--additional-flags/-a: additional flags to pass to the container manager command

--init-hooks additional commands to execute during container initialization

--pre-init-hooks additional commands to execute prior to container initialization

--init/-I use init system (like systemd) inside the container.

this will make host's processes not visible from within the container.

--compatibility/-C: show list of compatible images

--help/-h: show this message

--no-entry: do not generate a container entry in the application list

--dry-run/-d: only print the container manager command generated

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

COMPATIBILITY

for a list of compatible images and container managers, please consult the man page:

man distrobox

man distrobox-compatibility

or consult the documentation page on: https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/compatibility.md#containers-distros

EXAMPLES

distrobox create --image alpine:latest --name test --init-hooks "touch /var/tmp/test1 && touch /var/tmp/test2"

distrobox create --image fedora:35 --name test --additional-flags "--env MY_VAR-value"

distrobox create --image fedora:35 --name test --volume /opt/my-dir:/usr/local/my-dir:rw --additional-flags "--pids-limit -1"

distrobox create -i docker.io/almalinux/8-init --init --name test --pre-init-hooks "dnf config-manager --enable powertools && dnf -y install epel-release"

distrobox create --clone fedora-35 --name fedora-35-copy

distrobox create --image alpine my-alpine-container

distrobox create --image registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:35 --name fedora-toolbox-35

distrobox create --pull --image centos:stream9 --home ~/distrobox/centos9

You can also use environment variables to specify container name, image and

container manager:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER="docker" DBX_NON_INTERACTIVE=1 DBX_CONTAINER_NAME=test-alpine DBX_CONTAINER_IMAGE=alpine distrobox-create

Supported environment variables:

DBX_CONTAINER_ALWAYS_PULL

DBX_CONTAINER_CUSTOM_HOME

DBX_CONTAINER_HOME_PREFIX

DBX_CONTAINER_IMAGE

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER

DBX_CONTAINER_NAME

DBX_NON_INTERACTIVE

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM

DBX_CONTAINER_HOME_PREFIX defines where containers’ home directories will

be located. If you define it as ~/dbx then all future containers’ home

directories will be ~/dbx/$container_name

The --additional-flags or -a is useful to modify defaults in the container

creations. For example:

distrobox create -i docker.io/library/archlinux -n dev-arch

podman container inspect dev-arch | jq '.[0].HostConfig.PidsLimit'

2048

distrobox rm -f dev-arch

distrobox create -i docker.io/library/archlinux -n dev-arch --volume $CBL_TC:/tc --additional-flags "--pids-limit -1"

podman container inspect dev-arch | jq '.[0].HostConfig,.PidsLimit'

0

Additional volumes can be specified using the --volume flag. This flag

follows the same standard as docker and podman to specify the mount point

so --volume SOURCE_PATH:DEST_PATH:MODE.

distrobox create --image docker.io/library/archlinux --name dev-arch --volume /usr/share/:/var/test:ro

During container creation, it is possible to specify (using the

additional-flags) some environment variables that will persist in the

container and be independent from your environment:

distrobox create --image fedora:35 --name test --additional-flags "--env MY_VAR-value"

The --init-hooks is useful to add commands to the entrypoint (init) of the

container. This could be useful to create containers with a set of

programs already installed, add users, groups.

distrobox create --image fedora:35 --name test --init-hooks "dnf groupinstall -y \"C Development Tools and Libraries\""

The --init is useful to create a container that will use its own separate

init system within. For example using:

distrobox create -i docker.io/almalinux/8-init --init-hooks "dnf install -y openssh-server" --init --name test

Inside the container we will be able to use normal systemd units:

~$ distrobox enter test

user@test:~$ sudo systemctl enable --now sshd

user@test:~$ sudo systemctl status sshd

● sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon

Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)

Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-01-28 22:54:50 CET; 17s ago

Docs: man:sshd(8)

man:sshd_config(5)

Main PID: 291 (sshd)

Note that enabling --init will disable host’s process integration. From

within the container you will not be able to see and manage host’s

processes. This is needed because /sbin/init must be pid 1.

The --home flag let’s you specify a custom HOME for the container. Note

that this will NOT prevent the mount of the host’s home directory, but will

ensure that configs and dotfiles will not litter it.

From version 1.4.0 of distrobox, when you create a new container, it will

also generate an entry in the applications list.

DISTROBOX-ENTER

NAME

distrobox enter

distrobox-enter

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-enter takes care of entering the container with the name

specified. Default command executed is your SHELL, but you can specify

different shells or entire commands to execute. If using it inside a

script, an application, or a service, you can specify the –headless mode to

disable tty and interactivity.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox enter

--name/-n: name for the distrobox default: my-distrobox

--/-e: end arguments execute the rest as command to execute at login default: bash -l

--no-tty/-T: do not instantiate a tty

--no-workdir/-nw: always start the container from container's home directory

--additional-flags/-a: additional flags to pass to the container manager command

--help/-h: show this message

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--dry-run/-d: only print the container manager command generated

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-enter --name fedora-toolbox-35 -- bash -l

distrobox-enter my-alpine-container -- sh -l

distrobox-enter --additional-flags "--preserve-fds" --name test -- bash -l

distrobox-enter --additional-flags "--env MY_VAR=value" --name test -- bash -l

MY_VAR=value distrobox-enter --additional-flags "--preserve-fds" --name test -- bash -l

You can also use environment variables to specify container manager and

container name:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER="docker" DBX_CONTAINER_NAME=test-alpine distrobox-enter

Supported environment variables:

DBX_CONTAINER_NAME

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER

DBX_SKIP_WORKDIR

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM

This is used to enter the distrobox itself. Personally, I just create

multiple profiles in my gnome-terminal to have multiple distros accessible.

The --additional-flags or -a is useful to modify default command when

executing in the container. For example:

distrobox enter -n dev-arch --additional-flags "--env my_var=test" -- printenv &| grep my_var

my_var=test

This is possible also using normal env variables:

my_var=test distrobox enter -n dev-arch --additional-flags -- printenv &| grep my_var

my_var=test

If you’d like to enter a rootful container having distrobox use a program

other than ‘sudo’ to run podman/docker as root, such as ‘pkexec’ or ‘doas’,

you may specify it with the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM environment variable. For

example, to use ‘doas’ to enter a rootful container:

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM="doas" distrobox enter -n container --root

Additionally, in one of the config file paths that distrobox supports, such

as ~/.distroboxrc, you can also append the line

distrobox_sudo_program="doas" (for example) to always run distrobox

commands involving rootful containers using ‘doas’.

DISTROBOX-EPHEMERAL

NAME

distrobox ephemeral

distrobox-ephemeral

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-ephemeral creates a temporary distrobox that is automatically

destroyed when the command is terminated.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox ephemeral

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--help/-h: show this message

--/-e: end arguments execute the rest as command to execute at login default: bash -l

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-ephemeral --image alpine:latest -- cat /etc/os-release

distrobox-ephemeral --root --verbose --image alpine:latest --volume /opt:/opt

You can also use flags from distrobox-create to customize the ephemeral

container to run.

Refer to

man distrobox-create

or

distrobox-create --help

Supported environment variables:

distrobox-ephemeral calls distrobox-create, SEE ALSO distrobox-create(1) for

a list of supported environment variables to use.

DISTROBOX-EXPORT

NAME

distrobox-export

DESCRIPTION

Application and service exporting

distrobox-export takes care of exporting an app a binary or a service from

the container to the host.

The exported app will be easily available in your normal launcher and it

will automatically be launched from the container it is exported from.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox-export

--app/-a: name of the application to export

--bin/-b: absolute path of the binary to export

--service/-s: name of the service to export

--delete/-d: delete exported application or service

--export-label/-el: label to add to exported application name.

Defaults to (on \$container_name)

--export-path/-ep: path where to export the binary

--extra-flags/-ef: extra flags to add to the command

--sudo/-S: specify if the exported item should be run as sudo

--help/-h: show this message

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

You may want to install graphical applications or user services in your

distrobox. Using distrobox-export from inside the container will let you

use them from the host itself.

EXAMPLES

distrobox-export --app mpv [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]

distrobox-export --service syncthing [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]

distrobox-export --bin /path/to/bin --export-path ~/.local/bin [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]

App export example

distrobox-export --app abiword

This tool will simply copy the original .desktop files along with needed

icons, add the prefix /usr/local/bin/distrobox-enter -n distrobox_name -e

... to the commands to run, and save them in your home to be used directly

from the host as a normal app.

Service export example

distrobox-export --service syncthing --extra-flags "--allow-newer-config"

distrobox-export --service nginx --sudo

For services, it will similarly export the systemd unit inside the

container to a systemctl --user service, prefixing the various ExecStart

ExecStartPre ExecStartPost ExecReload ExecStop ExecStopPost with the

distrobox-enter command prefix.

The exported services will be available in the host’s user’s systemd

session, so

systemctl --user status exported_service_name

will show the status of the service exported.

Binary export example

distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/code --extra-flags "--foreground" --export-path $HOME/.local/bin

In the case of exporting binaries, you will have to specify where to export

it (--export-path) and the tool will create a little wrapper script that

will distrobox-enter -e from the host, the desired binary. This can be

handy with the use of direnv to have different versions of the same binary

based on your env or project.

The exported binaries will be exported in the “–export-path” of choice as a

wrapper script that acts naturally both on the host and in the container.

Note that “–export-path” is NOT OPTIONAL, you have to explicitly set it.

Additional flags

You can specify additional flags to add to the command, for example if you

want to export an electron app, you could add the “–foreground” flag to the

command:

distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"

distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --extra-flags "-p"

distrobox-export --service syncthing --extra-flags "-allow-newer-config"

This works for services, binaries, and apps. Extra flags are only used

then the exported app, binary, or service is used from the host, using them

inside the container will not include them.

Unexport

The option “–delete” will un-export an app, binary, or service.

distrobox-export --app atom --delete

distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --delete

distrobox-export --service syncthing --delete

distrobox-export --service nginx --delete

Run as root in the container

The option “–sudo” will launch the exported item as root inside the

distrobox.

Exporting apps from rootful containers

It is worth noting that, when exporting any item - which includes graphical

apps - from rootful containers (created with distrobox create --root), root

privileges will be needed every time the item is launched (in order to

enter the rootful container), which, by default, is done using sudo (see

docs for distrobox-enter on how to customize that). However, for graphical

apps in specific, since they launch without a terminal, the usage of sudo

might, at first, make it impossible to launch them.

To fix this without needing to customize the sudo program, one can define a

global SUDO_ASKPASS environment variable on their machine, which is a PATH

to an executable that is run by sudo when no terminal is available (or when

it is given the --askpass or -A option), and the output of that executable

to stdout is used as the password input. The executable is called as many

times is needed for authentication as root to succeed (unless a limit of

amount of attempts is reached).

To do this, pick a program to ask the user for graphical password input.

In this example, we will use zenity --password, which should be present for

GNOME users (and can also be installed in other DEs) - there are other

options, such as kdialog --password "Message" for KDE users.

Write the call to the desired program to a script file, for example to

/usr/bin/my-password-prompt (sample contents below):

#!/bin/sh

zenity --password "Authentication as root is required"

(You may save the script under, for example, ~/.local/bin if you want to

keep it fully local to your user.)

Afterwards, make it executable (e.g. run sudo chmod +x

/usr/bin/my-password-prompt). Then, make sure to set SUDO_ASKPASS to

"/usr/bin/my-password-prompt" (replace with your script’s path) in a global

profile file, so that it is picked up by sudo when running graphical apps

(and, therefore, sudo will run the script you created to ask for a

password). This is done with the shell line export

SUDO_ASKPASS="/path/to/script/goes/here". You can do this for your user

only by running the command below (replace the script path as needed):

echo 'export SUDO_ASKPASS="/usr/bin/my-password-prompt"' >> ~/.profile

Which appends the appropriate line to the end of your ~/.profile file, thus

making the change local to your user. Alternatively, to set it system-wide

(for all users), you may create a file in /etc/profile.d/ (or equivalent

for your system) with that line.

Now just log out and log back in, and graphical apps exported from rootful

containers should now be properly asking for root’s password before

launching (instead of not opening, if that was the case before).

Notes

Note you can use –app OR –bin OR –service but not together.

distrobox-export --service nginx --sudo

[IMAGE: app-export

(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/598882/144294795-c7785620-bf68-4d1b-b251-1e1f0a32a08d.png)]

[IMAGE: service-export

(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/598882/144294314-29a8921f-4511-453d-bf8e-d0d1e336db91.png)]

NOTE: some electron apps such as vscode and atom need additional flags to

work from inside the container, use the --extra-flags option to provide a

series of flags, for example:

distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"

DISTROBOX-GENERATE-ENTRY

NAME

distrobox generate-entry

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-generate-entry will create a desktop icon for one of the

available distroboxes. This will be then deleted when you remove the

matching distrobox.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox generate-entry

--help/-h: show this message

--all/-a: perform for all distroboxes

--delete/-d: delete the entry

--icon/-i: specify a custom icon [/path/to/icon] (default auto)

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-generate-entry container-name [--delete] [--icon [auto,/path/to/icon]]

DISTROBOX-HOST-EXEC

NAME

distrobox-host-exec

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-host-exec lets one execute command on the host, while inside of a

container.

Under the hood, distrobox-host-exec uses host-spawn a project that let’s us

execute commands back on the host. If the tool is not found the user will

be prompted to install it.

SYNOPSIS

Just pass to “distrobox-host-exec” any command and all its arguments, if

any.

distrobox-host-exec [command [arguments]]

--help/-h: show this message

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

If no command is provided, it will execute “$SHELL”.

Alternatively, use symlinks to make distrobox-host-exec execute as that

command:

~$: ln -s /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/podman

~$: ls -l /usr/local/bin/podman

lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 51 Jul 11 19:26 /usr/local/bin/podman -> /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec

~$: podman version

...this is executed on host...

EXAMPLES

distrobox-host-exec ls

distrobox-host-exec bash -l

distrobox-host-exec flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox

distrobox-host-exec podman ps -a

DISTROBOX-INIT

NAME

distrobox-init

DESCRIPTION

Init the distrobox (not to be launched manually)

distrobox-init is the entrypoint of a created distrobox. Note that this

HAS to run from inside a distrobox, will not work if you run it from your

host.

This is not intended to be used manually, but instead used by

distrobox-create to set up the container’s entrypoint.

distrobox-init will take care of installing missing dependencies (eg.

sudo), set up the user and groups, mount directories from the host to

ensure the tight integration.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox-init

--name/-n: user name

--user/-u: uid of the user

--group/-g: gid of the user

--home/-d: path/to/home of the user

--help/-h: show this message

--init/-I: whether to use or not init

--pre-init-hooks: commands to execute prior to init

--upgrade/-U: run init in upgrade mode

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

--: end arguments execute the rest as command to execute during init

EXAMPLES

distrobox-init --name test-user --user 1000 --group 1000 --home /home/test-user

distrobox-init --upgrade

DISTROBOX-LIST

NAME

distrobox list

distrobox-list

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-list lists available distroboxes. It detects them and lists them

separately from the rest of normal podman or docker containers.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox list

--help/-h: show this message

--no-color: disable color formatting

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--size/-s: show also container size

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-list

You can also use environment variables to specify container manager

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER="docker" distrobox-list

Supported environment variables:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM

[IMAGE: image

(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/598882/147831082-24b5bc2e-b47e-49ac-9b1a-a209478c9705.png)]

DISTROBOX-RM

NAME

distrobox rm

distrobox-rm

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-rm delete one of the available distroboxes.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox rm

--name/-n: name for the distrobox

--force/-f: force deletion

--rm-home: remove the mounted home if it differs from the host user's one

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--help/-h: show this message

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-rm --name container-name [--force]

distrobox-rm container-name [-f]

You can also use environment variables to specify container manager and

name:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER="docker" DBX_CONTAINER_NAME=test-alpine distrobox-rm

Supported environment variables:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER

DBX_CONTAINER_NAME

DBX_NON_INTERACTIVE

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM

DISTROBOX-STOP

NAME

distrobox stop

distrobox-stop

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-stop stop a running distrobox.

Distroboxes are left running, even after exiting out of them, so that

subsequent enters are really quick. This is how they can be stopped.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox stop

--name/-n: name for the distrobox

--yes/-Y: non-interactive, stop without asking

--help/-h: show this message

--root/-r: launch podman/docker with root privileges. Note that if you need root this is the preferred

way over "sudo distrobox" (note: if using a program other than 'sudo' for root privileges is necessary,

specify it through the DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM env variable, or 'distrobox_sudo_program' config variable)

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-stop --name container-name

distrobox-stop container-name

You can also use environment variables to specify container manager and

name:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER="docker" DBX_CONTAINER_NAME=test-alpine distrobox-stop

Supported environment variables:

DBX_CONTAINER_MANAGER

DBX_CONTAINER_NAME

DBX_NON_INTERACTIVE

DBX_SUDO_PROGRAM

DISTROBOX-UPGRADE

NAME

distrobox-upgrade

DESCRIPTION

distrobox-upgrade will enter the specified list of containers and will

perform an upgrade using the container’s package manager.

SYNOPSIS

distrobox upgrade

--help/-h: show this message

--all/-a: perform for all distroboxes

--verbose/-v: show more verbosity

--version/-V: show version

EXAMPLES

distrobox-upgrade --all

distrobox-upgrade alpine-linux ubuntu22 my-distrobox123

distrobox upgrade CONTAINER_NAME [CONTAINER_NAME1 CONTAINER_NAME2 ...]