As stated above, there are 4 tools at disposal, 2 have to be used outside the distrobox (from the host) and 2 have to be used inside the distrobox (from the container).
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.
Usage:
distrobox-create --image registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:35 --name fedora-toolbox-35
distrobox-create --clone fedora-toolbox-35 --name fedora-toolbox-35-copy
distrobox-create --image alpine my-alpine-container
You can also use environment variables to specify container name and image
DBX_NON_INTERACTIVE=1 DBX_CONTAINER_NAME=test-alpine DBX_CONTAINER_IMAGE=alpine distrobox-create
Options:
--image/-i: image to use for the container default: registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:35
--name/-n: name for the distrobox default: fedora-toolbox-35
--non-interactive/-N: non-interactive, pull images without asking
--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.
--help/-h: show this message
--verbose/-v: show more verbosity
--version/-V: show version
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.
Usage:
distrobox-enter --name fedora-toolbox-35 -- bash -l
distrobox-enter my-alpine-container -- sh -l
Options:
--name/-n: name for the distrobox default: fedora-toolbox-35
--/-e: end arguments execute the rest as command to execute at login default: bash -l
--headless/-H: do not instantiate a tty
--help/-h: show this message
--verbose/-v: show more verbosity
--version/-V: show version
This is used to enter the distrobox itself. Personally, I just create multiple profiles in my gnome-terminal to have multiple distros accessible.
distrobox-list lists available distroboxes. It detects them and lists them separately from the rest of normal podman or docker containers.
Usage:
distrobox-list
Options:
--help/-h: show this message
--verbose/-v: show more verbosity
--version/-V: show version
distrobox-rm delete one of the available distroboxes.
Usage:
distrobox-rm --name container-name [--force]
distrobox-rm container-name [-f]
Options:
--name/-n: name for the distrobox
--force/-f: force deletion
--help/-h: show this message
--verbose/-v: show more verbosity
--version/-V: show version
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
The option "--sudo" will launch the exported item as root inside the distrobox.
Note you can use --app OR --bin OR --service but not together.
distrobox-export --service nginx --sudo
Usage:
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]
Options:
--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-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 ran 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.
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.
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.
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-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.
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.
Usage:
distrobox-init --name test-user --user 1000 --group 1000 --home /home/test-user
Options:
--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
--verbose/-v: show more verbosity
--version/-V: show version
This is used as entrypoint for the created container, it will take care of creating the users, setting up sudo, mountpoints, and exports.
You should not have to launch this manually, this is used by distrobox create to set up
container's entrypoint.