Purpose

Run GUI application inside a docker container using X11Forwarding.

source from github.

Create a container

DockerFile

FROM ubuntu
RUN apt update \
    && apt install -y firefox \
                      openssh-server \
                      xauth \
                      emacs \
    && mkdir /var/run/sshd \
    && mkdir /root/.ssh \
    && chmod 700 /root/.ssh \
    && ssh-keygen -A \
    && sed -i "s/^.*PasswordAuthentication.*$/PasswordAuthentication no/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config \
    && sed -i "s/^.*X11Forwarding.*$/X11Forwarding yes/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config \
    && sed -i "s/^.*X11UseLocalhost.*$/X11UseLocalhost no/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config \
    && grep "^X11UseLocalhost" /etc/ssh/sshd_config || echo "X11UseLocalhost no" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config

RUN echo "CONTENT_OF_ID_RSA_PUB_KEY_HERE" >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Build it

docker build -t benit/ubuntu-x11 . --build-arg http_proxy=$http_proxy

Run Container

docker run --name ubuntu-x11 --rm -d -p 2150:22 benit/ubuntu-x11

SSH client configuration

Edit ~/.ssh/config on the client, here my workstation is named lxdev:

Host ubuntuX11
     Hostname lxdev
     Port 2150
     user root
     ForwardX11 yes
     ForwardX11Trusted yes

Use it!

ssh -X ubuntu-x11 emacs     

Enjoy!