distrobox-export

Applicationandbinaryexporting

       distrobox-export takes care of exporting an app or a binary from the container to the host.

       The  exported  app will be easily available in your normal launcher and it will automatically be launched
       from the container it is exported from.

              distrobox-export --app mpv [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]
              distrobox-export --bin /path/to/bin [--export-path ~/.local/bin] [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]

       Appexportexample

              distrobox-export --app abiword

       This  tool  will  simply  copy  the  original  .desktop  files  along  with  needed icons, add the prefix
       /usr/local/bin/distrobox-enter -n distrobox_name -e ... to the commands to run, and  save  them  in  your
       home to be used directly from the host as a normal app.

              distrobox-export --app /opt/application/my-app.desktop

       This will skip searching for the desktopfile in canonical paths, and just use the provided file path.

       Binaryexportexample

              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/code --extra-flags "--foreground" --export-path $HOME/.local/bin

       In  the  case  of exporting binaries, you will have to specify where to export it (--export-path) and the
       tool will create a little wrapper script that will distrobox-enter -e from the host, the desired  binary.
       This  can be handy with the use of direnv to have different versions of the same binary based on your env
       or project.

       The exported binaries will be exported in the “–export-path” of choice as  a  wrapper  script  that  acts
       naturally both on the host and in the container.

       Additionalflags

       You  can  specify  additional  flags to add to the command, for example if you want to export an electron
       app, you could add the “–foreground” flag to the command:

              distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"
              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --extra-flags "-p"

       This works for binaries and apps.  Extra flags are only used then the exported app or binary is used from
       the host, using them inside the container will not include them.

       Unexport

       The option “–delete” will un-export an app or binary

              distrobox-export --app atom --delete
              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --delete

       Runasrootinthecontainer

       The option “–sudo” will launch the exported item as root inside the distrobox.

       Notes

       Note you can use –app OR –bin but not together.  [IMAGE: app-export] app-export

       NOTE: some electron apps such as vscode and atom need additional flags to work from inside the container,
       use the --extra-flags option to provide a series of flags, for example:

       distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"

Distrobox                                           Jan 2025                                 DISTROBOX-EXPORT(1)

              distrobox-export

distrobox-export

              --app/-a:       name of the application to export or absolute path to desktopfile to export
              --bin/-b:       absolute path of the binary to export
              --list-apps:        list applications exported from this container
              --list-binaries     list binaries exported from this container, use -ep to specify custom paths to search
              --delete/-d:        delete exported application or binary
              --export-label/-el: label to add to exported application name.
                          Use "none" to disable.
                          Defaults to (on \$container_name)
              --export-path/-ep:  path where to export the binary
              --extra-flags/-ef:  extra flags to add to the command
              --enter-flags/-nf:  flags to add to distrobox-enter
              --sudo/-S:      specify if the exported item should be run as sudo
              --help/-h:      show this message
              --verbose/-v:       show more verbosity
              --version/-V:       show version

       You may want to install graphical applications or CLI tools in your  distrobox.   Using  distrobox-export
       from inside the container will let you use them from the host itself.