Distoolbox

Distrobox? Toolbox? Whatever you want.

Distoolbox

Reese's Arch Distoolbox

Using Reese's Arch Toolbox

Head to https://gitea.reeseapps.com/services/-/packages and pick the CPU image or AMD GPU image.

If you can't decide pick the CPU image.

The GPU image was built and tested with a Framework 16 with 7700s GPU module.

Click the image and copy the tag (should be something like: 2a421392b1)

Next you need distrobox or toolbox. Both are good options.

If you don't know whether to use distrobox or toolbox:

If you're on Fedora, and you haven't used either, toolbox is built-in
If you understand toolbox and you've never used distrobox, try distrobox
If you understand distrobox and you've never used toolbox, try toolbox
If you care what I use: distrobox

Once you have toolbox or distrobox installed, try the following:

export TBOX_REPO='gitea.reeseapps.com/services'
export TBOX_IMAGE='arch-toolbox'
export TBOX_TAG=paste image tag copied above here
export TBOX_NAME="$TBOX_IMAGE-$TBOX_TAG"

# With distrobox
distrobox create --name $TBOX_NAME --image $TBOX_REPO/$TBOX_IMAGE:$TBOX_TAG
distrobox enter $TBOX_NAME

# With toolbox
toolbox create -i $TBOX_REPO/$TBOX_IMAGE:$TBOX_TAG
SHELL=/bin/zsh toolbox enter $TBOX_NAME

Integrating distoolbox into your workflow

Copy the relevant aliases below into your .bashrc.

Run ntbox the first time to create a new toolbox.

Run tbox anytime you want to enter the toolbox.

Run rtbox to delete the toolbox.

Aliases using Distrobox

Add the following to your .bashrc

# Reese's Toolbox Commands
export TBOX_REPO='gitea.reeseapps.com/services'

# NOTE: Uncomment one of the below for either the amdgpu or cpu image
# export TBOX_IMAGE='arch-toolbox'
# export TBOX_IMAGE='arch-toolbox-amdgpu'

export TBOX_TAG=paste image tag copied above here
export TBOX_NAME="$TBOX_IMAGE-$TBOX_TAG"

# Creates a new toolbox
alias ntbox="distrobox create --name $TBOX_NAME --image $TBOX_REPO/$TBOX_IMAGE:$TBOX_TAG"
# Enters the toolbox when you want to use it, you'll be running this all the time
alias tbox="distrobox enter $TBOX_NAME"
# Removes the toolbox
alias rtbox="distrobox stop $TBOX_NAME --yes && podman container rm $TBOX_NAME"

Aliases using Toolbox

# Reese's Toolbox Commands
export TBOX_REPO='gitea.reeseapps.com/services'

# NOTE: Uncomment one of the below for either the amdgpu or cpu image
# export TBOX_IMAGE='arch-toolbox'
# export TBOX_IMAGE='arch-toolbox-amdgpu'

export TBOX_TAG='latest'
export TBOX_NAME="$TBOX_IMAGE-$TBOX_TAG"

# Creates a new toolbox
alias ntbox="toolbox create -i $TBOX_REPO/$TBOX_IMAGE:$TBOX_TAG"
# Enters the toolbox when you want to use it, you'll be running this all the time
alias tbox="SHELL=/bin/zsh toolbox enter $TBOX_NAME"
# Removes the toolbox
alias rtbox="podman container stop $TBOX_NAME && podman container rm $TBOX_NAME"

Building Reese's Arch Toolbox

You can build and run the image with the arch-build.sh script (See Containerfile in this directory):

./active/software_distoolbox/arch-build.sh

In vscode you can set this as your default build task for homelab and trigger it with ctrl shift B

.vscode/tasks.json

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Build arch-toolbox",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "./active/software_distoolbox/arch-build.sh",
            "problemMatcher": [],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        }
    ]
}

Distrobox Notes

https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/usage/distrobox-create.md

# --init creates a separate systemd environment. You won't be able to access the system's host processes.
distrobox create -i docker.io/library/debian --name test-debian

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