microsnailapps/base repository overview

⁠Microsnail apps base image

All Microsnail dockerized applications are built on base image which sets common layer for them. Normally you don't need to bother with this image, however, it might be useful for tests in case you decide to build your own application on top of it.

It was built and tested on Windows host, but should run on Mac or Linux also.

As it is intended to run GUI applications it needs X11 server running on a host - VcXsrv (sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv)⁠ is a good option for Windows.

⁠How to use it

⁠1. Start X11 server

You can use any X11 server. The command bellow shows start of VcXsrv on Windows:

vcxsrv.exe :0 -ac +bs -reset -terminate -dpi auto -render color -lesspointer -multiwindow -multimonitors +xinerama -clipboard -emulate3buttons -hostintitle -keyhook -wgl -swrastwgl -winkill

This will enable to start docker application in a standard window with clipboard mapped to/from container.

⁠2. Start the container

The easiest way to run and test dockerized apps is to run the base container with following command:

docker run -it --rm microsnailapps/base sh

and then install application in the image as usually. When you tune the installation steps, you can then compile Dockerfile and configure mount directories.

⁠Configuration

Most of settings are built into the image, however some of them can be changed on runtime via environment variables or commands.

⁠Timezone

The default timezone of the image is Europe/Prague. However, you can change it by passing environment variable on container start -e "TZ=$YOURTIMEZONE".

⁠Display

The default DISPLAY value is host.docker.internal:0.0, which resolves to host address in Docker Desktop for Windows and Mac from version 18.03. Until Linux Docker distribution will supported this also, you can override the default on start by -e "DISPLAY=$YOURDISPLAYVALUE".

⁠Keyboard input language

The default keyboard language is US (QWERTY). Unfortunatelly, it cannot be changed by any shortcut, but following command will do the trick:

docker exec $CONTAINER setxkbmap $KB

where $KB is two letter identification of keyboard language, e.g. us for US keyboard, cz for Czech keyboard.

⁠More resources

You can find more information (like Dockerfile, helper scripts and contact) at Microsnail docker apps and utils⁠ page.