docker-wine

Included in the boberfly/docker-wine GitHub repository are scripts to enable you to build a Docker container that runs Wine. The container is based on Ubuntu 16.04 and uses the Wine Staging branch (latest/ less stable) and also includes the latest version of winetricks. Included below are instructions for running the docker-wine container with X11 forwarding to display graphics in the local user's session without needing to compromise xhost security.

This is derived from scottyhardy/docker-wine GitHub repository but modified to get the latest wine staging as well as removing VOLUME /home/wine directive so that /home/wine can be further modified in docker files that FROM this before attaching a volume to it.

Included packages

Package	Purpose
winehq-staging	Staging branch of wine
winetricks	Script to assist with configuring your wine bottle and installing software
wget	Required for winetricks
cabextract	Required for winetricks
p7zip	Required for winetricks
unzip	Required for winetricks
wget	Required for winetricks
zenity	Required for winetricks

In addition to the system packages, the following Windows installation files are also included so you don't need to download them each time:

File	Purpose
wine-mono-4.7.1.msi	Mono open-source .Net alternative
wine_gecko-2.47-x86.msi	Gecko 32 bit open-source Internet Explorer alternative
wine_gecko-2.47-x86_64.msi	Gecko 64 bit open-source Internet Explorer alternative

The Windows installation files are copied to /home/wine/.cache/wine as the /home/wine folder is set to home for all users.

Creating your own docker-wine image

First, clone the repository from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/boberfly/docker-wine.git

To build the container, simply run:

make

To run the container and start an interactive session with /bin/bash run either:

make run

or use the docker-wine script as described below.

Running from Docker Hub image

The recommended commands for running docker-wine securely are:

docker volume create winehome

docker run -it \
    --rm \
    --env="DISPLAY" \
    --volume="$HOME/.Xauthority:/home/wine/.Xauthority:ro" \
    --volume="winehome:/home/wine" \
    --net="host" \
    --name="wine" \
    boberfly/docker-wine <Additional arguments e.g. wine notepad.exe>

This includes the user's ~/.Xauthority file which contains the magic cookie required to write to the current user's X session. For this to work you also need to include the --net=host argument when executing docker run to use the host's network stack which includes the X11 socket.

Manually creating docker-wine script for use with Docker Hub image

To replicate the docker-wine script from the GitHub repository, just copy and paste the following into a file named docker-wine and run chmod +x ./docker-wine:

#!/bin/bash

case $1 in
    --rm)
        echo "Auto-removing volume container 'winehome' after completing action..."
        shift
        $0 "$@"
        exitcode=$?
        docker volume rm winehome 2>&1 >/dev/null
        echo "Removed 'winehome' volume container"
        exit $exitcode
        ;;
    --help)
        echo "Usage: $0 [--rm] [command] [arguments]..."
        echo "e.g."
        echo "    $0"
        echo "    $0 --rm"
        echo "    $0 wineboot --init"
        echo "    $0 --rm wine explorer.exe"
        exit 0
        ;;
esac

if ! docker volume ls -qf "name=winehome" | grep -q "winehome"; then
    echo "Creating volume container 'winehome'..."
    docker volume create winehome
else
    echo "Using existing volume container 'winehome'..."
fi

docker run -it \
    --rm \
    --env="DISPLAY" \
    --volume="$HOME/.Xauthority:/root/.Xauthority:ro" \
    --volume="winehome:/home/wine" \
    --net="host" \
    --name="wine" \
    boberfly/docker-wine $*

Running the docker-wine script

When the container is run with the docker-wine script, you can override the default interactive bash session by adding wine, winetricks, winecfg or any other valid commands with their associated arguments:

./docker-wine wine notepad.exe

./docker-wine winecfg

./docker-wine winetricks msxml3 dotnet40 win7

Volume container winehome

When the docker-wine image is instantiated with ./docker-wine script or with the recommended docker volume create and docker run commands, the contents of the /home/wine folder is copied to the winehome volume container on instantiation of the wine container.

Using a volume container allows the wine container to remain unchanged and be safely removed after every execution with docker run --rm .... Any user environments created with wine will be stored separately and user data persists as long as the winehome volume is not removed. This effectively allows the docker-wine image to be switched out to a newer image at anytime.

You can manually create the winehome volume container by running:

docker volume create winehome

If you don't want the volume container to persist after running ./docker-wine, just add --rm as your first argument. e.g.

./docker-wine --rm wine notepad.exe

Alternatively you can manually delete the volume container by using:

docker volume rm winehome

entrypoint script explained

The ENTRYPOINT set for the docker-wine image is simply /usr/bin/entrypoint. This script is key to ensuring the wine container is run as the wine user and ownership of /home/wine/.Xauthority is also set to the same user.

The contents of the /usr/bin/entrypoint script is:

#!/bin/bash

# Copy and take ownership of .Xauthority
if [ -f /root/.Xauthority ]; then
    cp /root/.Xauthority /home/wine
    chown wine:wine /home/wine/.Xauthority
fi

# If no arguments, just su to 'wine' which will start /bin/bash
if [ $# == 0 ]; then
    su - wine

# Otherwise, run the command line arguments as 'wine'
else
    su -c "$*" - wine
fi

Arguments specified after ./docker-wine or after the docker run ... docker-wine command are also passed to this script. For example:

./docker-wine wine notepad.exe

The arguments wine notepad.exe are interpreted by the wine container as effectively overriding a CMD directive, which would normally follow the ENTRYPOINT command. The ENTRYPOINT command in this case is /usr/bin/entrypoint and the arguments are eventually run in the wine user context by the su -c "$*" - wine

If no arguments are specified, it simply uses su to change to wine. This in turn spawns a new /bin/bash session in wine's context to interact with.

If you plan to use boberfly/docker-wine as a base for another Docker image, you can set up exactly the same functionality by adding the following to your Dockerfile:

FROM boberfly/docker-wine
... <your code here>
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/entrypoint"]

Or if you prefer to run a program by default you could use:

ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/entrypoint", "wine", "notepad.exe"]

Or if you want to be able to run a program by default but still be able to override it easily you could use:

ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/entrypoint"]
CMD ["wine", "notepad.exe"]