distrobox assemble distrobox-assemble
distrobox-assemble takes care of creating or destroying containers in batches, based on a manifest file. The manifest file by default is ./distrobox.ini, but can be specified using the --file flag.
distrobox assemble
--file: path to the distrobox manifest/ini file --name/-n: run against a single entry in the manifest/ini file --replace/-R: replace already existing distroboxes with matching names --dry-run/-d: only print the container manager command generated --verbose/-v: show more verbosity --version/-V: show version
This is an example manifest file to create two containers:
[ubuntu] additional_packages="git vim tmux nodejs" image=ubuntu:latest init=false nvidia=false pull=true root=false replace=true start_now=false # You can add comments using this # [arch] # also inline comments are supported additional_packages="git vim tmux nodejs" home=/tmp/home image=archlinux:latest init=false start_now=true init_hooks="touch /init-normal" nvidia=true pre_init_hooks="touch /pre-init" pull=true root=false replace=false volume="/tmp/test:/run/a /tmp/test:/run/b"
Create
We can bring them up simply using
distrobox assemble create
If the file is called distrobox.ini and is in the same directory you’re launching the command, no further arguments are needed. You can specify a custom path for the file using
distrobox assemble create --file /my/custom/path.ini
Replace
By default, distrobox assemble will replace a container only if replace=true is specified in the manifest file.
In the example of the manifest above, the ubuntu container will always be replaced when running distrobox assemble create, while the arch container will not.
To force a replace for all containers in a manifest use the --replace flag
distrobox assemble create --replace [--file my/custom/path.ini]
Remove
We can bring down all the containers in a manifest file by simply doing
distrobox assemble rm
Or using a custom path for the ini file
distrobox assemble rm --file my/custom/path.ini
Test
You can always test what distrobox would do by using the --dry-run flag. This command will only print what commands distrobox would do without actually running them.
Available options
This is a list of available options with the corresponding type:
boolean options default to false if not specified. string options can be broken in multiple declarations additively in order to improve readability of the file:
[ubuntu] image=ubuntu:latest additional_packages="git vim tmux nodejs" additional_packages="htop iftop iotop" additional_packages="zsh fish"
Be aware that if you’re doing lines with spaces, you need to quote them. If you’re doing multiple hooks (init or pre_init) in multiple lines, end the line with a semicolon (;) in order to execute them one after the other.
For an explanation of each of the option in the list, take a look at the distrobox create usage, each option corresponds to one of the create flags.
Advanced example
[tumbleweed_distrobox]
image=registry.opensuse.org/opensuse/distrobox
pull=true
additional_packages="acpi bash-completion findutils iproute iputils sensors inotify-tools unzip"
additional_packages="net-tools nmap openssl procps psmisc rsync man tig tmux tree vim htop xclip yt-dlp"
additional_packages="git git-credential-libsecret"
additional_packages="patterns-devel-base-devel_basis"
additional_packages="ShellCheck ansible-lint clang clang-tools codespell ctags desktop-file-utils gcc golang jq python3"
additional_packages="python3-bashate python3-flake8 python3-mypy python3-pipx python3-pycodestyle python3-pyflakes python3-pylint python3-python-lsp-server python3-rstcheck python3-yapf python3-yamllint rustup shfmt"
additional_packages="kubernetes-client helm"
init_hooks=GOPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/system-go" GOBIN=/usr/local/bin go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@latest;
init_hooks=GOPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/system-go" GOBIN=/usr/local/bin go install github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo@latest;
init_hooks=GOPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/system-go" GOBIN=/usr/local/bin go install golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports@latest;
init_hooks=GOPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/system-go" GOBIN=/usr/local/bin go install golang.org/x/tools/gopls@latest;
init_hooks=GOPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/system-go" GOBIN=/usr/local/bin go install sigs.k8s.io/kind@latest;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/conmon;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/crun;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/docker;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/docker-compose;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/flatpak;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/podman;
init_hooks=ln -sf /usr/bin/distrobox-host-exec /usr/local/bin/xdg-open;
exported_apps="htop"
exported_bins="/usr/bin/htop /usr/bin/git"
exported_bins_path="~/.local/bin"