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Docker container for MKVToolNix

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This is a Docker container for MKVToolNix. The GUI of the application is accessed through a modern web browser (no installation or configuration needed on client side) or via any VNC client.


MKVToolNix logo MKVToolNix

MKVToolNix is a set of tools to create, alter and inspect Matroska file.


Quick Start

First create the configuration directory for MKVToolNix. In this example, /docker/appdata/mkvtoolnix is used. The directory $HOME/Videos is assumed to be the location of your video files. Launch the MKVToolNix docker container with the following command:

docker run -d --rm \
    --name=mkvtoolnix \
    -p 5800:5800 \
    -p 5900:5900 \
    -v /var/docker/mkvtoolnix:/config \
    -v $HOME/Videos:/storage:rw \
    jlesage/mkvtoolnix

Browse to http://your-host-ip:5800 to access the MKVToolNix GUI. Your video files appear under the /storage folder in the container.

Usage

docker run [-d] [--rm] \
    --name=mkvtoolnix \
    [-e <VARIABLE_NAME>=<VALUE>]... \
    [-v <HOST_DIR>:<CONTAINER_DIR>[:PERMISSIONS]]... \
    [-p <HOST_PORT>:<CONTAINER_PORT>]... \
    jlesage/mkvtoolnix
Parameter Description
-d Run the container in background. If not set, the container runs in foreground.
--rm Automatically remove the container when it exits.
-e Pass an environment variable to the container. See the Environment Variables section for more details.
-v Set a volume mapping (allows to share a folder/file between the host and the container). See the Data Volumes section for more details.
-p Set a network port mapping (exposes an internal container port to the host). See the Ports section for more details.

Environment Variables

To customize some properties of the container, the following environment variables can be passed via the -e parameter (one for each variable). Value of this parameter has the format <VARIABLE_NAME>=<VALUE>.

Variable Description Default
USER_ID ID of the user the application runs as. See User/Group IDs to better understand when this should be set. 1000
GROUP_ID ID of the group the application runs as. See User/Group IDs to better understand when this should be set. 1000
TZ TimeZone of the container. Timezone can also be set by mapping /etc/localtime between the host and the container. Etc/UTC
DISPLAY_WIDTH Width (in pixels) of the display. 1280
DISPLAY_HEIGHT Height (in pixels) of the display. 768
VNC_PASSWORD Password needed to connect to the application's GUI. See the VNC Pasword section for more details. (unset)
KEEP_GUIAPP_RUNNING When set to 1, the application will be automatically restarted if it crashes or if user quits it. (unset)
APP_NICENESS Priority at which the X application should run. A niceness value of −20 is the highest priority and 19 is the lowest priority. By default, niceness is not set, meaning that the default niceness of 0 is used. (unset)

Data Volumes

The following table describes data volumes used by the container. The mappings are set via the -v parameter. Each mapping is specified with the following format: <HOST_DIR>:<CONTAINER_DIR>[:PERMISSIONS].

Container path Permissions Description
/config rw This is where the application stores its configuration, log and any files needing persistency.
/storage rw This is where video files to be edited are located.

Ports

Here is the list of ports used by the container. They can be mapped to the host via the -p parameter (one per port mapping). Each mapping is defined in the following format: <HOST_PORT>:<CONTAINER_PORT>. The port number inside the container cannot be changed, but you are free to use any port on the host side.

Port Mapping to host Description
5800 Mandatory Port used to access the application's GUI via the web interface.
5900 Mandatory Port used to access the application's GUI via the VNC protocol.

User/Group IDs

When using data volumes (-v flags), permissions issues can occur between the host and the container. For example, the user within the container may not exists on the host. This could prevent the host from properly accessing files and folders on the shared volume.

To avoid any problem, you can specify the user the application should run as.

This is done by passing the user ID and group ID to the container via the USER_ID and GROUP_ID environment variables.

To find the right IDs to use, issue the following command on the host, with the user owning the data volume on the host:

id <username>

Which gives an output like this one:

uid=1000(myuser) gid=1000(myuser) groups=1000(myuser),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),46(plugdev),113(lpadmin)

The value of uid (user ID) and gid (group ID) are the ones that you should be given the container.

Accessing the GUI

Assuming the host is mapped to the same ports as the container, the graphical interface of the application can be accessed via:

  • A web browser:
http://<HOST IP ADDR>:5800
  • Any VNC client:
<HOST IP ADDR>:5900

If different ports are mapped to the host, make sure they respect the following formula:

VNC_PORT = HTTP_PORT + 100

This is to make sure accessing the GUI with a web browser can be done without specifying the VNC port manually. If this is not possible, then specify explicitly the VNC port like this:

http://<HOST IP ADDR>:5800/?port=<VNC PORT>

VNC Password

To restrict access to your application, a password can be specified. This can be done via two methods:

  • By using the VNC_PASSWORD environment variable.
  • By creating a .vncpass_clear file at the root of the /config volume. This file should contains the password (in clear). During the container startup, content of the file is obfuscated and renamed to .vncpass.

NOTE: This is a very basic way to restrict access to the application and it should not be considered as secure in any way.