distrobox-images/README.md

distrobox-images

Dockerfiles for heavy software (Houdini, ...) run via distrobox, built once and pushed to a private registry instead of rebuilding on every distrobox create.

Convention

One self-contained folder per app:

<soft>/
  Dockerfile          # often multi-stage: shared base + amd / nvidia variant
  build-and-push.sh   # build + push to the registry
  <soft>-run          # launcher installed in the image (app entrypoint)
  README.md           # specifics: prerequisites, licensing, distrobox create, gotchas

No shared base image across different apps — each has its own system dependencies, sharing more than the folder structure doesn't buy anything.

Two GPU variants per app when OpenGL/Vulkan rendering matters (viewport, preview):

• <soft>-amd — Mesa baked into the image (radeonsi / RADV), also works for Intel.
• <soft>-nvidia — nothing baked in; the host's NVIDIA driver is mounted at runtime by distrobox --nvidia.

If GPU rendering doesn't matter for a given app, one image is enough — don't duplicate on principle.

Private registry

Registry: docker.slambin.fr. If it's a real domain with TLS (reverse proxy

• cert) in front, nothing to configure on the container engine side — push/pull just work. Only if the registry runs plain HTTP (e.g. a local test without TLS) does it need to be declared "insecure":

podman run -d --name registry --restart=always \
  -p 5000:5000 -v registry-data:/var/lib/registry \
  registry:2

podman — /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/local.conf:

[[registry]]
location = "docker.slambin.fr"
insecure = true

docker — /etc/docker/daemon.json, then restart docker:

{ "insecure-registries": ["docker.slambin.fr"] }

Licensing / EULA

Several of these apps (Houdini included) are installed from a proprietary binary downloaded with a personal account, and the EULA generally forbids redistribution. The registry must stay private — never push an image containing one of these binaries to a public registry.

Apps

• houdini/ — Houdini Apprentice