Distrobox is a program that lets you run almost any Linux distro in a terminal. This means you can install apps from Fedora, Ubuntu, and Arch without a dual boot or a VM, and run them as if they were running natively! I tested it to run arch steam with mesa-git, and it works pretty well, if a bit finicky to set up.
Steps I followed:
- Install
docker: sudo eopkg it docker
- Install distrobox without root:
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/89luca89/distrobox/main/install | sh -s -- --prefix ~/.local
- Create docker user group and add current user to it:
sudo groupadd docker; sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
- Add this line to
.bashrc so you can run graphical applications: xhost +si:localuser:$USER
- Follow the instructions on Github to create and enter a new container. Then you can run commands for the native distro and install whatever you want (just exercise care).
Please note this warning from the developer.
⚠️ BE CAREFUL ⚠️: if you use docker, or you use podman with the --root/-r flag, the containers will run as root, so root inside the rootful container can modify system stuff outside the container, if you have security concern for this, use podman that runs in rootless mode. Rootless docker is still not working as intended and will be included in the future when it will be complete.
I tried running it with podman, but couldn't get it working. You might have more luck. So far though, so good. I haven't had any issues. Goodbye dual boot!
