Running GUI software on Docker container

What provides GUI to OS

An X server is a program in the X Window System that runs on local machines (i.e., the computers used directly by users) and handles all access to the graphics cards, display screens, and input devices (typically a keyboard and mouse) on those computers.

Communication between an X server and X clients is governed by the X protocol, which is sometimes termed the message format of the X Window System.

First, we would create a docker image that runs any GUI app. I will use Firefox and then run Jupyter notebook on top of it

So, we will make a directory for task 2

# mkdir task2

# cd task2

# vim Dockerfile

# docker build -t gui:v1

The image is build successfully.

We use the below commands to disable access control because we don't have the rights by any other software to use display. xhost + disable those rights

# echo $DISPLAY

# export DISPLAY=:0

# xhost +

Now we will launch the container with the help of the image we have created.

#docker run -it --net-host --env="DISPLAY" gui:v1

Now we will launch jupyter notebook on firefox with the help of GUI.

# jupyter notebook --allow-root

We can see that Jupyter Notebook is opened successfully on firefox with the help of GUI.