friedelschoen/weakbox

Create a weak container for running programs from a different Linux distribution

weakbox

weakbox is a tool for Linux designed to create a weak (not secured) container for running programs from another Linux distribution. It is particularly useful for executing glibc-based programs (mostly closed-source software) under systems that are musl-based.

Features

• Create a container environment for running programs from different Linux distributions.
• Bind mount directories from the host system into the container.
• Map user and group IDs inside the container.
• Customizable root path for the container.
• Option to run commands within the container as root.

Installation

To install weakbox, simply clone the repository and compile the source code:

git clone https://github.com/friedelschoen/weakbox.git
cd weakbox
make
sudo make install # which installs /usr/bin/weakbox and /usr/share/man/man1/weakbox.1
sudo make PREFIX=... install # which installs $PREFIX/bin/weakbox and $PREFIX/share/man/man1/weakbox.1

Usage

Run weakbox with the desired options and command to execute within the container:

weakbox [options] command ...

By default command is executed, if command is omitted current shell or /bin/bash is executed.

Options

• -h: Display usage information.
• -s: Run the specified command within the container as root.
• -v: Enable verbose mode for debugging purposes.
• -r path: Set the root path of the container to path. By default the container lays at $WEAKBOX.
• -b source[:target]: Bind mount the specified source directory to the target directory within the container. Target is relative to root.
• -B source: Remove a default bind mount from the container.
• -u uid[:uid]: Map user IDs inside the container.
• -g gid[:gid]: Map group IDs inside the container.

Default Mounts

• /dev: directory containing all devices
• /home: home directories of users
• /proc: directories containing information about processes
• /sys: system directories for various devices
• /tmp: temporary directory
• /run: temporary directory for daemons and long-running programs
• /etc/resolv.conf: nameserver-resolution configuration
• /etc/passwd: file containing information about users
• /etc/group: file containing information about groups

Examples

1. Run a program within the container:

weakbox -s /path/to/program

2. Create a container with custom root path and bind mount directories:

weakbox -r /custom/root -b /host/dir:/dir /path/to/program

3. Map user and group IDs inside the container:

weakbox -u 1000:1000 -g 1000:1000 /path/to/program

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit bug reports, feature requests, or pull requests through GitHub issues and pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the zlib-license. See the LICENSE file for details.