So I’m looking at trying am Immutable Linux Desktop (uBlue Aurora probably). One thing I’m not clear on is how to run GUI apps during development. From what I understand I should create a container with distrobox, install my toolchains in it and start developing. I’m used to containers for CLI and server work, but I’m not sure how it applies to the GUI (Wayland / KDE).
If I do a cargo run inside distrobox for a Rust GUI project will it just work?
I saw that I can ‘export’ apps, but that is for already built executables whereas I will be building and rebuilding them.
I’ve used Bluefin and Aurora for some light web development. I created a container with toolbox (I assume things would be similar with distrobox) and did what I needed. When I needed, I could run npm start and it was as if I had developed locally.
You should be able to run any executable you like in your home directory. No need for any containers. Try it out with a Hello World app.
In my experience it Just Works ™️. I spin up a distro/toolbox, compile some software (e.g. Emacs) then run the executable inside the container, and up pops the GUI window.
If you use distrobox, you can even distrobox-export desktop files, at which point a containerised gui application is practically indistinguishable from one installed on the host system
Distrobox supports GUI Apps (XServer and Wayland)
