How to run a GUI application inside a docker container, and to access the application within a browser.
The easiest combo is to run
- Xvfb a virtual X server that can run on machines with no display hardware and no physical input devices. It emulates a dumb framebuffer using virtual memory
- a VNC server to be able to access from everywhere
- noVNC + websockify that allow to do VNC through a browser
- pulseaudio to share audio device
- a Window manager into an Ubuntu base image.
It is possible to choose any windows manager, but some are lighter than others. Below, there will be two simple examples with light ones:
The final image size is 1.9Go.
When building the image it possible to pass a personal timezone
docker build . \
--file Dockerfile \
--tag docker-vnc-xfce4 \
--build-arg TZ=Europe/Paris
It takes few minutes to make it.
The built image expose standard ports:
- 5900 for VNC access (here are VNC clients)
- 6080 for noVNC website
So that for browser access the full address is http://localhost:6080/vnc.html.
Applications starts with a simple user context: user (with password user01), and this user has sudo priviledges.
The most simple startup command is
docker run --rm \
--interactive \
--tty \
--publish 6080:6080 \
--publish ${VNC_PORT:-5900}:5900 \
--name desktop \
--env LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 \
docker-vnc-xfce4
Some variables can be passed to the docker run command to modify image behavior.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DESKTOP_ADDITIONAL_PROGRAMS | Automatically starts a program (ratpoison only) |
| DESKTOP_BACKGROUND_IMAGE | Default background image (can be an url) |
| DESKTOP_ENV | Choose desktop environment (between ratpoison and xfce4) |
| DESKTOP_KEYBOARD_LAYOUT | Specify default keyboard layout (format: layout/variant) |
| DESKTOP_SIZE | Define the screen size (default 1280x1024) |
| DESKTOP_THEME | Set the default Xfce4 theme |
| DESKTOP_VNC_PASSWORD | Set a VNC password (default is none) |
Example: run Xfce4 in french, with desktop personal settings and sound
docker run --rm \
--interactive \
--tty \
--volume /run/user/$(id -u)/pulse/native:/run/user/1000/pulse/native \
--privileged \
--publish 6080:6080 \
--publish ${VNC_PORT:-5900}:5900 \
--name desktop \
--env DESKTOP_ENV=xfce4 \
--env LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 \
--env DESKTOP_KEYBOARD_LAYOUT="fr/azerty" \
--env DESKTOP_SIZE="1920x1080" \
--env DESKTOP_THEME="Greybird-dark" \
--env DESKTOP_BACKGROUND_IMAGE="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Alberi_AlpediSiusi.JPG" \
docker-vnc-xfce4 /bin/bash
In the ratpoison example a firefox browser is started in the image. To use another application it is necessary to
- first install it in Dockerfile at line 44:
RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends firefox notepadqq(here we addnotepadqq) - then run it, setting it in
DESKTOP_ADDITIONAL_PROGRAMS
Example: run ratpoison with notepadqq in an interactive container
docker run --rm \
--interactive \
--tty \
--privileged \
--publish 6080:6080 \
--publish ${VNC_PORT:-5900}:5900 \
--name desktop \
--env LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 \
--env DESKTOP_ENV=ratpoison \
--env DESKTOP_SIZE="1024x800" \
--env DESKTOP_ADDITIONAL_PROGRAMS=/usr/bin/notepadqq \
docker-vnc-xfce4 /bin/bash
For more informations on ratpoison desktop manager see general use page.
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