If you’ve ever faced the challenge of running graphical user interface (GUI) programs within a container, fear not! While it may seem like a daunting task at first, with this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the process using Incus Container. We will set up and configure your environment to run GUI-based applications seamlessly in a virtualized space. Let’s get started!

Create a GUI profile

To begin, you must create a new profile specifically for managing GUI programs within the Incus container. This can be done using the following command:

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incus profile create gui

And edit with incnus profile edit gui. Throw the following contents in and save it.

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config:
  environment.DISPLAY: :0
description: ""
devices:
  X0:
    bind: container
    connect: unix:@/tmp/.X11-unix/X0
    listen: unix:@/tmp/.X11-unix/X0
    security.gid: "1000"
    security.uid: "1000"
    type: proxy
  mygpu:
    type: gpu
name: gui

We are using host’s display so we will be using sockets.

Add NixOS configuration

Now add the following in configuration.nix, rebuild and switch.

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users.users.root = {
  subUidRanges = [
    {
      count = 1000;
      startUid = 1000;
    }
  ];
  subGidRanges = [
    {
      count = 1000;
      startGid = 1000;
    }
  ];
};

This update enables the matching of users and groups between your host machine and container.

Configure default Incus settings

Create or edit the ~/.config/incus/default.conf file to provide default settings tailored specifically for running GUI applications within an Incus container. Add these configurations to your default.conf:

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## For regular unpriv containers:
#incus.id_map = u 0 100000 65536
#incus.id_map = g 0 100000 65536
## For GUI upriv containers
incus.idmap = u 0 100000 1000
incus.idmap = g 0 100000 1000
incus.idmap = u 1000 1000 1
incus.idmap = g 1000 1000 1
incus.idmap = u 1001 101001 64535
incus.idmap = g 1001 101001 64535
incus.mount.entry = /dev/dri dev/dri none bind,optional,create=dir
incus.mount.entry = /dev/snd dev/snd none bind,optional,create=dir
incus.mount.entry = /tmp/.X11-unix tmp/.X11-unix none bind,optional,create=dir
incus.mount.entry = /dev/video0 dev/video0 none bind,optional,create=file

These configurations allow for the proper mapping of GUI applications within Incus and provide mounting entries that correspond to essential devices required by these programs (e.g., graphics card drivers).

On host machine, run

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xhost +local:

Add your container to gui profile:

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incus profile add <container> gui

Running X Server Inside Your Container:

Now that you’ve set up your profile, it’s time to install an X server inside your container to render graphical elements on the GUI applications. The installation process may vary depending on your distribution and version. For example, if using Arch Linux, run these commands:

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yay -S xorg-server xorg-xauth xorg-drivers mesa-utils

This will install X server components required to render the GUI elements for your applications within Incus.

Executing a GUI Program in Your Container

Finally, let’s test our setup by running an example GUI program inside the container with the appropriate user permissions. To do this, use the following command:

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incus exec <container> --user 1000 -- glxgears

After executing the above command, you should see a window displaying spinning gears from the GLXGEARS program - indicating that your GUI application is now successfully running within Incus Container.

Happy hacking!