Distrobox: Difference between revisions

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== Tips and tricks ==

=== Using host fonts inside Distrobox containers ===

=== Using host fonts/icons/themes inside Distrobox containers ===

By default, Distrobox tries to bind mount the host's <code>/run/host/usr/share/fonts</code> directory inside the container as <code>/usr/local/share/fonts</code>[https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/d925c3f10315b72ec38a0405e57fe06c87edc754/distrobox-init#L997-L1000]. However, on NixOS, the directory is non-existent due to NixOS not following the [https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/index.html FHS Standard].

By default, Distrobox tries to bind mount the host's <code>/run/host/usr/share/{fonts, icons, themes}</code> directory inside the container as <code>/usr/local/share/{fonts, icons, themes}</code>[https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/d925c3f10315b72ec38a0405e57fe06c87edc754/distrobox-init#L997-L1000]. However, on NixOS, the directory is non-existent due to NixOS not following the [https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/index.html FHS Standard].

If you have already installed fonts on your NixOS system and want them to be accessible inside Distrobox containers by default, ~~you can set <code>fonts.fontDir.enable = true;</code> and bind mount~~ the ~~<code>/run/current-system/sw/share/X11/fonts</code> directory to <code>/run/host/usr/share/fonts</code>.~~

If you have already installed fonts/icons/themes on your NixOS system and want them to be accessible inside Distrobox containers by default, follow the instructions provided in this page: [[Fixes for non-Nix applications#Flatpak, Distrobox, Appimage and other non-Nix applications can't find system fonts/icons/themes]] .

~~(Note that~~ this ~~will only work~~ for ~~newly created or cloned~~ Distrobox ~~containers~~, ~~this won~~'t ~~affect older containers.)<syntaxhighlight lang="nixos" line="1">~~

~~# distrobox-font-fix.nix~~

~~{ pkgs, ... }:~~

{

~~# Bind mount fonts.fontDir path to FHS path~~

~~# to fix distrobox font issues~~

~~# Makes all the fonts declared in your NixOS~~

~~# config accessible under /run/current-~~system~~/sw/share/X11/~~fonts

~~fonts.fontDir.enable = true;~~

~~# Distrobox: Bind mounts~~ /~~run~~/~~host/usr/share/fonts~~

~~system.fsPackages = [ pkgs.bindfs~~ ];

~~fileSystems~~.~~"/run/host/usr/share/fonts" = {~~

~~device = "/run/current-system/sw/share/X11/fonts";~~

~~fsType = "fuse.bindfs";~~

~~options = [~~

~~"ro" # Mounts read-only~~

~~"resolve-symlinks" # Makes the files seem as if they are real files and not symlinks~~

~~"x-gvfs-hide" # Hides it from GUI file managers~~

];

};

}

~~</syntaxhighlight>~~

Note that although the aforementioned solution only bindmounts paths to <code>/usr/share/</code>, the container manager being used with Distrobox (<code>podman</code>, <code>docker</code>, <code>lilypod</code> etc) will automatically make the host's root filesystem (<code>/</code>) accessible inside the container as <code>/run/host/</code>, making the paths needed by Distrobox accessible as usual, thus the aforementioned fix is sufficient.

=== Using different architecture ===

The following example will run an Ubuntu container with a different architecture than the host, in this case arm64.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 == Tips and tricks ==
-=== Using host fonts inside Distrobox containers ===
+=== Using host fonts/icons/themes inside Distrobox containers ===
-By default, Distrobox tries to bind mount the host's <code>/run/host/usr/share/fonts</code> directory inside the container as <code>/usr/local/share/fonts</code>[https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/d925c3f10315b72ec38a0405e57fe06c87edc754/distrobox-init#L997-L1000]. However, on NixOS, the directory is non-existent due to NixOS not following the [https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/index.html FHS Standard].
+By default, Distrobox tries to bind mount the host's <code>/run/host/usr/share/{fonts, icons, themes}</code> directory inside the container as <code>/usr/local/share/{fonts, icons, themes}</code>[https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/d925c3f10315b72ec38a0405e57fe06c87edc754/distrobox-init#L997-L1000]. However, on NixOS, the directory is non-existent due to NixOS not following the [https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/index.html FHS Standard].
-If you have already installed fonts on your NixOS system and want them to be accessible inside Distrobox containers by default, you can set <code>fonts.fontDir.enable = true;</code> and bind mount the <code>/run/current-system/sw/share/X11/fonts</code> directory to <code>/run/host/usr/share/fonts</code>.
+If you have already installed fonts/icons/themes on your NixOS system and want them to be accessible inside Distrobox containers by default, follow the instructions provided in this page: [[Fixes for non-Nix applications#Flatpak, Distrobox, Appimage and other non-Nix applications can't find system fonts/icons/themes]] .
-(Note that this will only work for newly created or cloned Distrobox containers, this won't affect older containers.)<syntaxhighlight lang="nixos" line="1">
-# distrobox-font-fix.nix
-{ pkgs, ... }:
-{
-  # Bind mount fonts.fontDir path to FHS path
-  # to fix distrobox font issues
-  # Makes all the fonts declared in your NixOS
-  # config accessible under /run/current-system/sw/share/X11/fonts
-  fonts.fontDir.enable = true;
-  # Distrobox: Bind mounts /run/host/usr/share/fonts
-  system.fsPackages = [ pkgs.bindfs ];
-  fileSystems."/run/host/usr/share/fonts" = {
-    device = "/run/current-system/sw/share/X11/fonts";
-    fsType = "fuse.bindfs";
-    options = [
-      "ro" # Mounts read-only
-      "resolve-symlinks" # Makes the files seem as if they are real files and not symlinks
-      "x-gvfs-hide" # Hides it from GUI file managers
-    ];
-  };
-}
-</syntaxhighlight>
+Note that although the aforementioned solution only bindmounts paths to <code>/usr/share/</code>, the container manager being used with Distrobox (<code>podman</code>, <code>docker</code>, <code>lilypod</code> etc) will automatically make the host's root filesystem (<code>/</code>) accessible inside the container as <code>/run/host/</code>, making the paths needed by Distrobox accessible as usual, thus the aforementioned fix is sufficient.
 === Using different architecture ===
 The following example will run an Ubuntu container with a different architecture than the host, in this case arm64.