sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1

Introduction
- Contributing
- Issues
Getting started
Maintenance
References

Introduction

Dockerfile to create a Docker container image consisting of the following web browsers:

chromium-browser
firefox
google-chrome
tor-browser

The image uses X11 and Pulseaudio unix domain sockets on the host to enable audio/video support in the web browsers. These components are available out of the box on pretty much any modern linux distribution.

Contributing

If you find this image useful here's how you can help:

Send a pull request with your awesome features and bug fixes
Help users resolve their issues.
Support the development of this image with a donation

Issues

Before reporting your issue please try updating Docker to the latest version and check if it resolves the issue. Refer to the Docker installation guide for instructions.

SELinux users should try disabling SELinux using the command setenforce 0 to see if it resolves the issue.

If the above recommendations do not help then report your issue along with the following information:

Output of the docker version and docker info commands
The docker run command or docker-compose.yml used to start the image. Mask out the sensitive bits.
Please state if you are using Boot2Docker, VirtualBox, etc.

Getting started

Installation

Automated builds of the image are available on Dockerhub and is the recommended method of installation.

Note: Builds are also available on Quay.io

docker pull sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1

Alternatively you can build the image yourself.

docker build -t sameersbn/browser-box github.com/sameersbn/docker-browser-box

With the image locally available, install the wrapper scripts using:

docker run -it --rm \
  --volume /usr/local/bin:/target \
  --env BROWSER_BOX_REPO=sameersbn \
  sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1 install

If you would the settings for chrome and firefox to persist after each time the browser is launched then you will need to add additional environment variable to the install command. In the example below "username" needs to get replace with your login user name.

docker run -it --rm \
  --volume /usr/local/bin:/target \
  --env CHROME_USERDATA=/home/username/.chrome \
  --env FIREFOX_USERDATA=/home/username/.mozillia \
  --env BROWSER_BOX_REPO=sameersbn \
  sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1 install

This will install wrapper scripts to launch:

chromium-browser
firefox
google-chrome, google-chrome-stable
tor-browser

Note

If the browser being launched is installed on the the host then the host binary is launched instead of starting a Docker container. To force the launch of a browser in a container use the browser-bundle script. For example, browser-bundle firefox will launch the Firefox browser inside a Docker container regardless of whether it is installed on the host or not.

Use Cases

Protect your anonymity on the internet (tor-browser)
Access websites your ISP has blocked (tor-browser)
Protection from Adobe Flash vulnerabilities
Guest access

How it works

The wrapper scripts volume mount the X11 and pulseaudio sockets in the launcher container. The X11 socket allows for the user interface display on the host, while the pulseaudio socket allows for the audio output to be rendered on the host.

Maintenance

Upgrading

To upgrade to newer releases:

Download the updated Docker image:

docker pull sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1

Run install to make sure the host scripts are updated.

docker run -it --rm \
  --volume /usr/local/bin:/target \
  sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1 install

Uninstallation

docker run -it --rm \
  --volume /usr/local/bin:/target \
  sameersbn/browser-box:1.0.1 uninstall

Shell Access

For debugging and maintenance purposes you may want access the containers shell. If you are using Docker version 1.3.0 or higher you can access a running containers shell by starting bash using docker exec:

docker exec -it browser-box bash

References

http://fabiorehm.com/blog/2014/09/11/running-gui-apps-with-docker/

frodon1/docker-browser-box