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x11docker options overview
mviereck edited this page Feb 28, 2021
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x11docker: Run GUI applications and desktop environments in Docker containers.
Usage:
To run a Docker container on a new X server:
x11docker IMAGE
x11docker [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND]
x11docker [OPTIONS] -- IMAGE [COMMAND [ARG1 ARG2 ...]]
x11docker [OPTIONS] -- DOCKER_RUN_OPTIONS -- IMAGE [COMMAND [ARG1 ARG2 ...]]
To run a host application on a new X server:
x11docker [OPTIONS] --exe COMMAND
x11docker [OPTIONS] --exe -- COMMAND [ARG1 ARG2 ...]
To run only an empty new X server:
x11docker [OPTIONS] --xonly
x11docker always runs a fresh container from image and discards it afterwards.
Runs on Linux and (with some restrictions) on MS Windows. Not adapted for macOS.
Optional features:
* GPU hardware acceleration
* Sound with pulseaudio or ALSA
* Clipboard sharing
* Printer access
* Webcam access
* Persistent home folder
* Wayland support
* Language locale creation
* Several init systems and DBus in container
* Support of several container runtimes
Focus on security:
* Avoids X security leaks using additional X servers.
* Container user is same as host user to avoid root in container.
* Restricts container capabilities to bare minimum.
x11docker sets up an unprivileged container user with password 'x11docker'
and restricts container capabilities. Some applications might behave different
than with a regular 'docker run' command due to these security restrictions.
Achieve a less restricted setup with --cap-default, --sudouser or --user=root.
Dependencies on host:
For core functionality x11docker only needs bash, docker and an X server.
Depending on chosen options x11docker might need some additional tools.
It checks for them on startup and shows messages if some are missing.
Core list of recommended tools:
* Recommended to allow security and convenience:
X servers: xpra Xephyr nxagent
X tools: xauth xclip xrandr xhost xinit
* Advanced GPU support: weston Xwayland xpra xdotool
See also: https://github.com/mviereck/x11docker/wiki/Dependencies
Dependencies in image:
No dependencies in image except for a few feature options. Most important:
--gpu: OpenGL/MESA packages, collected often in 'mesa-utils' package.
--pulseaudio: Needs pulseaudio on host and pulseaudio client libs in image.
--printer: Needs cups on host and cups client libs in image.
See also: https://github.com/mviereck/x11docker/wiki/Dependencies
Options: (short options do not accept arguments)
--help Display this message and exit.
-e, --exe Execute host application instead of docker container.
--xonly Only create empty X server.
Basic settings:
-d, --desktop Indicate a desktop environment in image.
In that case important for automatical X server choice.
-i, --interactive Run with an interactive tty to allow shell commands.
Useful with commands like bash.
Host integration:
--alsa [=ALSA_CARD] Sound with ALSA. You can define a desired sound card
with ALSA_CARD. List of available sound cards: aplay -l
-c, --clipboard Share clipboard. Graphical clips with --xpra only.
-g, --gpu GPU access for hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering.
Works best with open source drivers on host and in image.
For closed source nvidia drivers regard terminal output.
-I, --network [=NET] Allow internet access. (Currently enabled by default,
will change in future.)
For optional argument NET see Docker documentation
of docker run option --network.
--network=none disables internet access. (future default)
-l, --lang [=LOCALE] Set language variable LANG=LOCALE in container.
Without arg LOCALE host variable --lang=$LANG is used.
If LOCALE is missing in image, x11docker generates it
with 'localedef' in container (needs 'locales' package).
Examples for LOCALE: ru, en, de, zh_CN, cz, fr, fr_BE.
-P, --printer [=MODE] Share host printers through CUPS server.
Optional MODE can be 'socket' or 'tcp'. Default: socket
-p, --pulseaudio [=MODE] Sound with pulseaudio. Needs 'pulseaudio' on host
and in image. Optional arg MODE can be 'socket' or 'tcp'.
--webcam Share host webcam device files.
Shared host folders or Docker volumes:
-m, --home [=ARG] Create a persistant HOME folder for data storage.
Default: Uses ~/.local/share/x11docker/IMAGENAME.
ARG can be another host folder or a Docker volume.
(~/.local/share/x11docker has a softlink to ~/x11docker.)
(Use --homebasedir to change this base storage folder.)
--share ARG Share host file or folder ARG. Read-only with ARG:ro
Device files in /dev can be shared, too.
ARG can also be a Docker volume instead of a host folder.
X server options:
--auto Automatically choose X server (default). Influenced
noteable by options --desktop, --gpu, --wayland, --wm.
-h, --hostdisplay Share host display :0. Quite bad container isolation!
Least overhead of all X server options.
Some apps may fail due to restricted untrusted cookies.
Remove restrictions with option --clipboard.
-n, --nxagent Nested X server supporting seamless and --desktop mode.
Faster than --xpra, but can have compositing issues.
-Y, --weston-xwayland Desktop mode like --xephyr, but supports option --gpu.
Runs from console, within X and within Wayland.
-y, --xephyr Nested X server for --desktop mode. Without --desktop
a host window manager will be provided (option --wm).
-x, --xorg Core Xorg server. Runs ootb from console.
Switch tty with <CTRL><ALT><F1>....<F12>. Always switch
to a black tty before switching to X to avoid crashes.
-a, --xpra Nested X server supporting seamless and --desktop mode.
-A, --xpra-xwayland Like --xpra, but supports option --gpu.
Special X server options:
--kwin-xwayland Like --weston-xwayland, but using kwin_wayland
-t, --tty Terminal only mode. Does not run an X or Wayland server.
--xdummy Invisible X server using dummy video driver.
--xvfb Invisible X server using Xvfb.
--xdummy and --xvfb can be used for custom VNC access.
Output of environment variables on stdout. (--showenv)
Along with option --gpu an invisible setup with Weston,
Xwayland and xdotool is used (instead of Xdummy or Xvfb).
-X, --xwayland Blanc Xwayland, needs a running Wayland compositor.
--xwin X server to run in Cygwin/X on MS Windows.
Wayland instead of X:
-W, --wayland Automatically set up a Wayland environment.
Chooses one of following options and regards --desktop.
-T, --weston Weston without X for pure Wayland applications.
Runs in X, in Wayland or from console.
-K, --kwin KWin without X for pure Wayland applications.
Runs in X, in Wayland or from console.
-H, --hostwayland Share host Wayland without X for pure Wayland apps.
X and Wayland appearance options:
--border [=COLOR] Draw a colored border in windows of --xpra[-xwayland].
Argument COLOR can be e.g. 'orange' or '#F00'. Thickness
can be specified, too, e.g. 'red,3'. Default: 'blue,1'
--dpi N dpi value (dots per inch) to submit to X clients.
Influences font size of some applications.
-f, --fullscreen Run in fullscreen mode.
--output-count N Multiple virtual monitors for Weston, KWin or Xephyr.
--rotate N Rotate display (--xorg, --weston and --weston-xwayland)
Allowed values: 0, 90, 180, 270, flipped, flipped-90,
flipped-180, flipped-270. (flipped means mirrored)
--scale N Scale/zoom factor N for xpra, Xorg or Weston.
Allowed for --xpra, --xorg --xpra-xwayland: 0.25...8.0.
Allowed for --weston and --weston-xwayland: 1...9.
(Mismatching font sizes can be adjusted with --dpi).
Odd resolutions with --xorg might need --scale=1.
--size WxH Screen size of new X server (e.g. 800x600).
-w, --wm [=ARG] Provide a window manager to container applications.
If available, image x11docker/openbox will be used.
Otherwise x11docker looks for a host window manager.
Possible ARG:
host: Enforce autodetection of a host window manager.
COMMAND: COMMAND can be a desired host window manager.
IMAGE: IMAGE can be a local docker image with a WM.
none: Run without a window manager. Same as --desktop.
-F, --xfishtank Show fish tank on new X server.
X and Wayland special configuration:
--clean-xhost Disable xhost access policies on host display.
--display N Use display number N for new X server.
--keymap LAYOUT Set keyboard layout for new X server, e.g. de, us, ru.
For possible LAYOUT look at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols.
--no-auth Allow access to X for everyone. Security risk!
--vt N Use vt / tty N (regarded by --xorg only).
--westonini FILE Custom weston.ini for --weston and --weston-xwayland.
--xhost STR Set "xhost STR" on new X server (see 'man xhost').
(Use with care. '--xhost +' allows access for everyone).
--xoverip Connect to X over TCP network. For special setups only.
Only supported by a subset of X server options.
--xtest [=yes|no] Enable or disable X extension XTEST. Default is yes for
--xpra, --xvfb and --xdummy, no for other X servers.
Needed to allow custom access with xpra.
Container user settings:
--group-add GROUP Add container user to group GROUP.
--hostuser USER Run X (and container user) as user USER. Default is
result of $(logname). (x11docker must run as root).
--sudouser Allow su and sudo for container user. Use with care,
severe reduction of default x11docker security!
--user N Create container user N (N=name or N=uid). Default:
same as host user. N can also be an unknown user id.
You can specify a group id with N being 'user:gid'.
Special case: --user=RETAIN keeps image user settings.
Container capabilities:
In most setups x11docker sets --cap-drop=ALL --security-opt=no-new-privileges
and shows warnings if doing otherwise.
Custom capabilities can be added with --cap-add=CAP after --
--cap-default Allow default docker container capabilities.
Includes --newprivileges=yes.
--hostipc Sets docker option --ipc=host. Disables IPC namespacing.
Severe reduction of container isolation! Shares
host interprocess communication and shared memory.
Allows MIT-SHM extension of X servers.
--limit [=FACTOR] Limit CPU and RAM usage of container to
currently free RAM x FACTOR and available CPUs x FACTOR.
Allowed range is 0 < FACTOR <= 1.
Default for --limit without argument FACTOR: 0.5
--newprivileges [=yes|no|auto] Set or unset docker run option
--security-opt=no-new-privileges. Default with no
argument is 'yes'. Default for most cases is 'no'.
Container init system, elogind and DBus daemon:
--dbus [=system] Run DBus user session daemon for container command.
With argument 'system' also run a DBus system daemon.
(To run a DBus system daemon rather use one of
--init=systemd|openrc|runit|sysvinit )
--hostdbus Connect to DBus user session from host.
--init [=INITSYSTEM] Run an init system as PID 1 in container. Solves the
zombie reaping issue. INITSYSTEM can be:
tini: Default. Mostly present as docker-init on host.
none: No init system, container command will be PID 1.
Others: systemd, sysvinit, runit, openrc, s6-overlay.
--sharecgroup Share /sys/fs/cgroup. Allows elogind in container if
used with one of --init=openrc|runit|sysvinit
Container special configuration:
--env VAR=value Set custom environment variable VAR=value
--name NAME Specify container name NAME.
--no-entrypoint Disable ENTRYPOINT in image to allow other commands, too
--runtime RUNTIME Specify docker runtime. Known by x11docker:
runc: Docker default runtime.
crun: Fast replacement for runc written in C.
nvidia: Runtime for nvidia/nvidia-docker images.
kata-runtime: Runtime using a QEMU VM.
--shell SHELL Set preferred user shell. Example: --shell=/bin/zsh
--stdin Forward stdin of x11docker to container command.
--workdir DIR Set working directory DIR.
Additional commands: (You might need to move them to background with 'CMD &'.)
--runasroot CMD Run command CMD as root in container.
Caution: Runs with --privileged host access.
--runasuser CMD Run command CMD with user privileges in container
before running image command.
--runfromhost CMD Run host command CMD on new X server.
Miscellaneous:
--cachebasedir DIR Custom base folder for cache files.
--homebasedir DIR Custom base folder for option --home.
--enforce-i Run x11docker in interactive bash mode to allow tty
access. Can help to run weston-launch on special systems.
--fallback [yes|no] Allow or deny fallbacks if a chosen option cannot
be fulfilled. By default fallbacks are allowed.
--launcher Create application launcher with current options
on desktop and exit. You can get a menu entry moving
the created .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications
--mobyvm Use MobyVM (for WSL2 only that defaults to linux Docker).
--preset FILE Read a set of predefined options stored in file FILE.
Useful to shortcut often used option combinations.
FILE is searched in directory /etc/x11docker/preset,
or in directory ~/.config/x11docker/preset or absolute.
Multiple lines in FILE are allowed.
Comment lines must begin with #
--pull [=ask|yes|no|always] Behaviour if image is missing on host.
ask: Ask in terminal, timeout after 60s (default).
yes: Allow docker pull (default for --pull without arg).
no: Do not run or ask for 'docker pull'
always: Always run 'docker pull'. Download only if
newer image is available. Allows sort of auto-update.
--pw FRONTEND Choose frontend for password prompt. Possible FRONTEND:
su sudo gksu gksudo lxsu lxsudo kdesu kdesudo
pkexec beesu none
Output of parseable information on stdout:
Get output e.g. with: read xenv < <(x11docker --showenv x11docker/check)
--showenv Print new $DISPLAY, $XAUTHORITY and $WAYLAND_DISPLAY.
--showid Print container ID.
--showinfofile Print path to internal x11docker info storage file.
--showpid1 Print host PID of container PID 1.
Verbosity options:
-D, --debug Debug mode: Show some less verbose debug output
and enable rigorous error control.
-q, --quiet Suppress x11docker terminal messages.
-v, --verbose Be verbose. Output of x11docker.log on stderr.
-V Be verbose with colored output.
Installation options (need root permissions), license and cleanup:
--install Install x11docker and x11docker-gui from current folder.
Useful to install from an extracted zip file.
--update Download and install latest release from github.
--update-master Download and install latest master version from github.
--remove Remove x11docker from your system. Includes --cleanup.
Preserves ~/.local/share/x11docker from option --home.
--license Show license of x11docker (MIT) and exit.
--cleanup Clean up orphaned containers and cache files.
Terminates currently running x11docker containers, too.
Exit codes:
0: Success
64: x11docker error
130: Terminated by ctrl-c
other: Exit code of command in container
x11docker version: 6.7.0
Please report issues and get help at: https://github.com/mviereck/x11docker