2.1 KiB
Distrobox
Allows the installation of software available on other distributions.
Under the hood distrobox is creating containers (similar to but much lighter and more integrated than a Virtual Machine) of a different linux distribution, letting your install software from that distro in that container.
The major difference between distrobox and a normal containers is that:
- Your home folder is shared with the containers to better integrate with your system and desktop environment.
- distrobox has functions to export programs that are installed in the container to make it available to your normal system.
Note: While containers are often used to provide some security by separating programs from your main system, this is not the case or goal of distrobox. The goal of distrobox is to integrate the container with your system to make it like a normal program as much as possible, thus you don't gain the normal security benefits, but it is not any more dangerous than a normal program.
Install
Simply install distrobox from your system's package manager:
Arch-Based
sudo pacman -S distrobox
Debian/Ubuntu/Mint
sudo apt install distrobox
Fedora
sudo dnf install distrobox
Container Backend
Note that distrobox also requires a backend to create and run containers, I highly recommend podman.
See the Podman Document for install instructions.
Usage
See the official docs for usage info https://distrobox.it/#quick-start
Or see Distroshelf below for a nice Graphical Interface.
Distroshelf
Distroshelf is a nice Graphical Interface to manage and create distrobox containers
Note: distrbox and podman still need to be install on your system, this is simply a graphical interface.
Install
Flatpak (Universal)
Requires Flatpak to be installed and setup. You should be able to install it through your Graphical Package Manager, otherwise use the command below:
flatpak install com.ranfdev.DistroShelf
Arch-Based (AUR Package)
yay -S distroshelf