wenzel / docker-gui-app

Summary of the techniques available to run gui applications inside docker

docker-gui-app

Summary of the methods available to run gui applications inside docker

Choose the method you want to try :

ln -sf Dockerfile-<method> Dockerfile

Then build the container (firefox is used as example in all Dockerfiles)

docker build -t dk-firefox

1 - Shared X11 socket

docker run -d \
    --rm=true \
    -e DISPLAY="$DISPLAY" \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro \
    dk-firefox

2 - VNC Server

docker run -ti \
    --rm=true \
    -e DISPLAY="$DISPLAY" \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro \
    dk-firefox

Once the container is started, type the following commands to

1. Run an xvfb server (X Virtual FrameBuffer)
2. Run Firefox
3. Run the VNC Server

Xvfb $DISPLAY -extension GLX -screen 0 1024x780x24 &
$DISPLAY /usr/bin/firefox &
x11vnc -usepw -display $DISPLAY

3 - X11 Forwarding

TODO

References

• Running GUI apps with Docker
• can you run GUI apps in a docker container?
• Running a GUI application in a Docker container
• Sandboxing proprietary applications with Docker