Tell us about your request It would be great if Docker Desktop for Linux were available as a flatpak app that is distributed on flathub.org Apps that offer flatpaks include: podman, vs code, pychar...
This is interesting to me for my use case scenario, specifically SteamOS.
What I’m trying to do is run an emulated Everquest server (lookup EQEmu). The community there has several methods of installation of the server, Windows, Linux, and Docker. The hurdle to overcome is the immutable file system, specifically when it comes to the database (MariaDB). I think I may have found a work around via Linux brew and installing MariaDB through that (which I’ve done, I just have to make the final connection). However the Docker setup, when running it on a separate distro is stupid easy. If they make this a Flatpak, it can potentially be the solution I’m looking for.
Really the end goal is creating a Single player Everquest. I have a dual boot with it operating via Windows, but would much prefer to have it on the SteamOS side of the house.
Docker Desktop is based on KVM, which already works with Flatpak. So this is not something new. For example, GNOME Boxes is available as Flatpak and provides a way to run KVM guests in SteamOS.
Starting with version 3.5 (the current stable) SteamOS already includes Podman with the default installation. And running the daemon-y Docker Engine “bare metal” is not going to be any easier with the immutable filesystem. While Docker Desktop solves this by using KVM, it adds another layer with performance loss, vs. just running Podman containers.
So what you want is already available, and no Docker Desktop is actually needed.
But so if Docker Desktop does include Docker Engine, does that mean I wiill now be able to run Docker (with a some performance loss) simply by installing a Flatpak, i.e. I won’t even need to touch the CLI?
Yes. If you mean “CLI” as for e.g. pacman install, it is a GUI (Electron) application, so I expect will install straight from e.g. KDE Discover and then run without you touching the shell.
This is interesting to me for my use case scenario, specifically SteamOS.
What I’m trying to do is run an emulated Everquest server (lookup EQEmu). The community there has several methods of installation of the server, Windows, Linux, and Docker. The hurdle to overcome is the immutable file system, specifically when it comes to the database (MariaDB). I think I may have found a work around via Linux brew and installing MariaDB through that (which I’ve done, I just have to make the final connection). However the Docker setup, when running it on a separate distro is stupid easy. If they make this a Flatpak, it can potentially be the solution I’m looking for.
Really the end goal is creating a Single player Everquest. I have a dual boot with it operating via Windows, but would much prefer to have it on the SteamOS side of the house.
There might be several misunderstandings:
So what you want is already available, and no Docker Desktop is actually needed.
Ooh, didn’t know about podman. That’s neat.
Edit: shame they didn’t include podman-compose as well.
Installing podman-compose with the immutable filesystem is fairly straight forward, since it is just a single Python file (https://github.com/containers/podman-compose/blob/devel/podman_compose.py), which you can basically install anywhere in your path. You can also first bootstrap pip (
python3 get-pip.py --userwithget-pip.pyfrom https://github.com/pypa/get-pip) and then dopip3 install --user podman-compose.Yep. That’s what I plan to do, just a shame it isn’t already there… also that I’m travelling from tomorrow so might have to defer it for a bit XD.
But so if Docker Desktop does include Docker Engine, does that mean I wiill now be able to run Docker (with a some performance loss) simply by installing a Flatpak, i.e. I won’t even need to touch the CLI?
Yes. If you mean “CLI” as for e.g. pacman install, it is a GUI (Electron) application, so I expect will install straight from e.g. KDE Discover and then run without you touching the shell.
That is already a pretty big benefit to me, thanks for explaining!