1DISTROBOX-EXPORT(1)               User Manual              DISTROBOX-EXPORT(1)
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Application and service exporting

6       distrobox-export  takes  care of exporting an app a binary or a service
7       from the container to the host.
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9       The exported app will be easily available in your normal  launcher  and
10       it  will  automatically  be  launched from the container it is exported
11       from.
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13       The exported services will be available in the  host’s  user’s  systemd
14       session, so
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16              systemctl --user status exported_service_name
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18       will show the status of the service exported.
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20       The  exported binaries will be exported in the “–export-path” of choice
21       as a wrapper script that acts naturally both on the  host  and  in  the
22       container.   Note  that “–export-path” is NOT OPTIONAL, you have to ex‐
23       plicitly set it.
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25       You can specify additional flags to add to the command, for example  if
26       you  want  to  export  an electron app, you could add the “–foreground”
27       flag to the command:
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29              distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"
30              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --extra-flags "-p"
31              distrobox-export --service syncthing --extra-flags "-allow-newer-config"
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33       This works for services, binaries, and apps.  Extra flags are only used
34       then  the exported app, binary, or service is used from the host, using
35       them inside the container will not include them.
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37       The option “–delete” will un-export an app, binary, or service.
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39              distrobox-export --app atom --delete
40              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/vim --export-path ~/.local/bin --delete
41              distrobox-export --service syncthing --delete
42              distrobox-export --service nginx --delete
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44       The option “–sudo” will launch the exported item  as  root  inside  the
45       distrobox.
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47       Note you can use –app OR –bin OR –service but not together.
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49              distrobox-export --service nginx --sudo
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51       Usage:
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53              distrobox-export --app mpv [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]
54              distrobox-export --service syncthing [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]
55              distrobox-export --bin /path/to/bin --export-path ~/.local/bin [--extra-flags "flags"] [--delete] [--sudo]
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57       Options:
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59              --app/-a:       name of the application to export
60              --bin/-b:       absolute path of the binary to export
61              --service/-s:       name of the service to export
62              --delete/-d:        delete exported application or service
63              --export-label/-el: label to add to exported application name.
64                          Defaults to (on \$container_name)
65              --export-path/-ep:  path where to export the binary
66              --extra-flags/-ef:  extra flags to add to the command
67              --sudo/-S:      specify if the exported item should be ran as sudo
68              --help/-h:      show this message
69              --verbose/-v:       show more verbosity
70              --version/-V:       show version
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72       You may want to install graphical applications or user services in your
73       distrobox.  Using distrobox-export from inside the container  will  let
74       you use them from the host itself.
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76       App export example:
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78              distrobox-export --app abiword
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80       This tool will simply copy the original .desktop files along with need‐
81       ed  icons,  add  the  prefix  /usr/local/bin/distrobox-enter  -n   dis‐
82       trobox_name  -e  ... to the commands to run, and save them in your home
83       to be used directly from the host as a normal app.
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85       Service export example:
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87              distrobox-export --service syncthing --extra-flags "--allow-newer-config"
88              distrobox-export --service nginx --sudo
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90       For services, it will similarly export the systemd unit inside the con‐
91       tainer  to  a systemctl --user service, prefixing the various ExecStart
92       ExecStartPre ExecStartPost ExecReload ExecStop  ExecStopPost  with  the
93       distrobox-enter command prefix.
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95       Binary export example:
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97              distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/code --extra-flags "--foreground" --export-path $HOME/.local/bin
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99       In  the  case  of exporting binaries, you will have to specify where to
100       export it (--export-path) and the tool will  create  a  little  wrapper
101       script  that will distrobox-enter -e from the host, the desired binary.
102       This can be handy with the use of direnv to have different versions  of
103       the same binary based on your env or project.
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105       [IMAGE:          app-export         (https://user-images.githubusercon‐
106       tent.com/598882/144294795-c7785620-bf68-4d1b-b251-1e1f0a32a08d.png)]
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108       [IMAGE:       service-export        (https://user-images.githubusercon‐
109       tent.com/598882/144294314-29a8921f-4511-453d-bf8e-d0d1e336db91.png)]
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111       NOTE:  some electron apps such as vscode and atom need additional flags
112       to work from inside the container, use the --extra-flags option to pro‐
113       vide a series of flags, for example:
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115       distrobox-export --app atom --extra-flags "--foreground"
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119Distrobox                          Jun 2022                DISTROBOX-EXPORT(1)
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