https://github.com/soneji/docker-chromium

Docker container with Chromium desktop and a Web VNC client allowing you to run Chromium on any server you have
https://github.com/soneji/docker-chromium

chromium docker docker-compose docker-container docker-image dockerfile remote remote-desktop vnc vnc-docker

Last synced: about 22 hours ago
JSON representation

Docker container with Chromium desktop and a Web VNC client allowing you to run Chromium on any server you have

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/soneji/docker-chromium
• Owner: Soneji
• Created: 2020-05-18T17:27:11.000Z (over 4 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2022-09-18T00:06:33.000Z (about 2 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-07-30T17:34:18.925Z (4 months ago)
• Topics: chromium, docker, docker-compose, docker-container, docker-image, dockerfile, remote, remote-desktop, vnc, vnc-docker
• Language: Shell
• Homepage:
• Size: 146 KB
• Stars: 90
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 28
• Open Issues: 8
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
# Docker container for Chromium



This is a Docker container for Chromium.

The GUI of the application is accessed through a modern web browser (no installation or configuration needed on client side) or via any VNC client.

---

Big thanks to @jlesage. This image is based off https://github.com/jlesage/docker-firefox

___

![Chromium](https://dummyimage.com/400x110/ffffff/575757&text=Chromium)

---

## Table of Content

   * [Docker container for Chromium](#docker-container-for-chromium)

      * [Table of Content](#table-of-content)

      * [Quick Start](#quick-start)

      * [Usage](#usage)

         * [Environment Variables](#environment-variables)

         * [Data Volumes](#data-volumes)

         * [Ports](#ports)

         * [Changing Parameters of a Running Container](#changing-parameters-of-a-running-container)

      * [Docker Compose File](#docker-compose-file)

      * [Docker Image Update](#docker-image-update)

         * [Synology](#synology)

         * [unRAID](#unraid)

      * [User/Group IDs](#usergroup-ids)

      * [Accessing the GUI](#accessing-the-gui)

      * [Security](#security)

         * [SSVNC](#ssvnc)

         * [Certificates](#certificates)

         * [VNC Password](#vnc-password)

      * [Reverse Proxy](#reverse-proxy)

         * [Routing Based on Hostname](#routing-based-on-hostname)

         * [Routing Based on URL Path](#routing-based-on-url-path)

      * [Shell Access](#shell-access)

      * [Increasing Shared Memory Size](#increasing-shared-memory-size)

      * [Sound Support](#sound-support)

      * [Setting Chromium Preferences Via Environment Variables](#setting-chromium-preferences-via-environment-variables)

      * [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

         * [Crashes](#crashes)

      * [Support or Contact](#support-or-contact)

## Quick Start

**NOTE**: The Docker command provided in this quick start is given as an example

and parameters should be adjusted to your need.

Launch the Chromium docker container with the following command:

```

docker run -d \

    --name=chromium \

    -p 5800:5800 \

    -v /docker/appdata/chromium:/config:rw \

    --shm-size 2g \

    overclockedllama/docker-chromium

```

Where:

  - `/docker/appdata/chromium`: This is where the application stores its configuration, log and any files needing persistency.

Browse to `http://your-host-ip:5800` to access the Chromium GUI.

## Usage

```

docker run [-d] \

    --name=chromium \

    [-e =]... \

    [-v :[:PERMISSIONS]]... \

    [-p :]... \

    --shm-size VALUE \

    overclockedllama/docker-chromium

```

| Parameter | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| -d        | Run the container in background.  If not set, the container runs in foreground. |

| -e        | Pass an environment variable to the container.  See the [Environment Variables](#environment-variables) section for more details. |

| -v        | Set a volume mapping (allows to share a folder/file between the host and the container).  See the [Data Volumes](#data-volumes) section for more details. |

| -p        | Set a network port mapping (exposes an internal container port to the host).  See the [Ports](#ports) section for more details. |

| --shm-size | Set the size of `/dev/shm` to `VALUE`.  The format of `VALUE` is ``, where `number` must be greater than `0` and `unit` can be `b` (bytes), `k` (kilobytes), `m` (megabytes), or `g` (gigabytes).  **NOTE**: To avoid crashes, it is recommended to set this value to `2g`. |

### Environment Variables

To customize some properties of the container, the following environment

variables can be passed via the `-e` parameter (one for each variable).  Value

of this parameter has the format `=`.

| Variable       | Description                                  | Default |

|----------------|----------------------------------------------|---------|

|`USER_ID`| ID of the user the application runs as.  See [User/Group IDs](#usergroup-ids) to better understand when this should be set. | `1000` |

|`GROUP_ID`| ID of the group the application runs as.  See [User/Group IDs](#usergroup-ids) to better understand when this should be set. | `1000` |

|`SUP_GROUP_IDS`| Comma-separated list of supplementary group IDs of the application. | (unset) |

|`UMASK`| Mask that controls how file permissions are set for newly created files. The value of the mask is in octal notation.  By default, this variable is not set and the default umask of `022` is used, meaning that newly created files are readable by everyone, but only writable by the owner. See the following online umask calculator: http://wintelguy.com/umask-calc.pl | (unset) |

|`TZ`| [TimeZone] of the container.  Timezone can also be set by mapping `/etc/localtime` between the host and the container. | `Etc/UTC` |

|`KEEP_APP_RUNNING`| When set to `1`, the application will be automatically restarted if it crashes or if user quits it. | `0` |

|`APP_NICENESS`| Priority at which the application should run.  A niceness value of -20 is the highest priority and 19 is the lowest priority.  By default, niceness is not set, meaning that the default niceness of 0 is used.  **NOTE**: A negative niceness (priority increase) requires additional permissions.  In this case, the container should be run with the docker option `--cap-add=SYS_NICE`. | (unset) |

|`CLEAN_TMP_DIR`| When set to `1`, all files in the `/tmp` directory are delete during the container startup. | `1` |

|`DISPLAY_WIDTH`| Width (in pixels) of the application's window. | `1280` |

|`DISPLAY_HEIGHT`| Height (in pixels) of the application's window. | `768` |

|`SECURE_CONNECTION`| When set to `1`, an encrypted connection is used to access the application's GUI (either via web browser or VNC client).  See the [Security](#security) section for more details. | `0` |

|`VNC_PASSWORD`| Password needed to connect to the application's GUI.  See the [VNC Password](#vnc-password) section for more details. | (unset) |

|`X11VNC_EXTRA_OPTS`| Extra options to pass to the x11vnc server running in the Docker container.  **WARNING**: For advanced users. Do not use unless you know what you are doing. | (unset) |

|`ENABLE_CJK_FONT`| When set to `1`, open source computer font `WenQuanYi Zen Hei` is installed.  This font contains a large range of Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters. | `0` |

### Data Volumes

The following table describes data volumes used by the container.  The mappings

are set via the `-v` parameter.  Each mapping is specified with the following

format: `:[:PERMISSIONS]`.

| Container path  | Permissions | Description |

|-----------------|-------------|-------------|

|`/config`| rw | This is where the application stores its configuration, log and any files needing persistency. |

### Ports

Here is the list of ports used by the container.  They can be mapped to the host

via the `-p` parameter (one per port mapping).  Each mapping is defined in the

following format: `:`.  The port number inside the

container cannot be changed, but you are free to use any port on the host side.

| Port | Mapping to host | Description |

|------|-----------------|-------------|

| 5800 | Mandatory | Port used to access the application's GUI via the web interface. |

| 5900 | Optional | Port used to access the application's GUI via the VNC protocol.  Optional if no VNC client is used. |

### Changing Parameters of a Running Container

As seen, environment variables, volume mappings and port mappings are specified

while creating the container.

The following steps describe the method used to add, remove or update

parameter(s) of an existing container.  The generic idea is to destroy and

re-create the container:

  1. Stop the container (if it is running):

```

docker stop chromium

```

  2. Remove the container:

```

docker rm chromium

```

  3. Create/start the container using the `docker run` command, by adjusting

     parameters as needed.

**NOTE**: Since all application's data is saved under the `/config` container

folder, destroying and re-creating a container is not a problem: nothing is lost

and the application comes back with the same state (as long as the mapping of

the `/config` folder remains the same).

## Docker Compose File

Here is an example of a `docker-compose.yml` file that can be used with

[Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/overview/).

Make sure to adjust according to your needs.  Note that only mandatory network

ports are part of the example.

```yaml

version: '3'

services:

  chromium:

    image: overclockedllama/docker-chromium

    build: .

    ports:

      - "5800:5800"

    volumes:

      - "/docker/appdata/chromium:/config:rw"

```

## Docker Image Update

If the system on which the container runs doesn't provide a way to easily update

the Docker image, the following steps can be followed:

  1. Fetch the latest image:

```

docker pull overclockedllama/docker-chromium

```

  2. Stop the container:

```

docker stop chromium

```

  3. Remove the container:

```

docker rm chromium

```

  4. Start the container using the `docker run` command.

### Synology

For owners of a Synology NAS, the following steps can be use to update a

container image.

  1.  Open the *Docker* application.

  2.  Click on *Registry* in the left pane.

  3.  In the search bar, type the name of the container (`overclockedllama/docker-chromium`).

  4.  Select the image, click *Download* and then choose the `latest` tag.

  5.  Wait for the download to complete.  A  notification will appear once done.

  6.  Click on *Container* in the left pane.

  7.  Select your Chromium container.

  8.  Stop it by clicking *Action*->*Stop*.

  9.  Clear the container by clicking *Action*->*Clear*.  This removes the

      container while keeping its configuration.

  10. Start the container again by clicking *Action*->*Start*. **NOTE**:  The

      container may temporarily disappear from the list while it is re-created.

### unRAID

For unRAID, a container image can be updated by following these steps:

  1. Select the *Docker* tab.

  2. Click the *Check for Updates* button at the bottom of the page.

  3. Click the *update ready* link of the container to be updated.

## User/Group IDs

When using data volumes (`-v` flags), permissions issues can occur between the

host and the container.  For example, the user within the container may not

exists on the host.  This could prevent the host from properly accessing files

and folders on the shared volume.

To avoid any problem, you can specify the user the application should run as.

This is done by passing the user ID and group ID to the container via the

`USER_ID` and `GROUP_ID` environment variables.

To find the right IDs to use, issue the following command on the host, with the

user owning the data volume on the host:

    id 

Which gives an output like this one:

```

uid=1000(myuser) gid=1000(myuser) groups=1000(myuser),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),46(plugdev),113(lpadmin)

```

The value of `uid` (user ID) and `gid` (group ID) are the ones that you should

be given the container.

## Accessing the GUI

Assuming that container's ports are mapped to the same host's ports, the

graphical interface of the application can be accessed via:

  * A web browser:

```

http://:5800

```

  * Any VNC client:

```

:5900

```

## Security

By default, access to the application's GUI is done over an unencrypted

connection (HTTP or VNC).

Secure connection can be enabled via the `SECURE_CONNECTION` environment

variable.  See the [Environment Variables](#environment-variables) section for

more details on how to set an environment variable.

When enabled, application's GUI is performed over an HTTPs connection when

accessed with a browser.  All HTTP accesses are automatically redirected to

HTTPs.

When using a VNC client, the VNC connection is performed over SSL.  Note that

few VNC clients support this method.  [SSVNC] is one of them.

[SSVNC]: http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/ssvnc.html

### SSVNC

[SSVNC] is a VNC viewer that adds encryption security to VNC connections.

While the Linux version of [SSVNC] works well, the Windows version has some

issues.  At the time of writing, the latest version `1.0.30` is not functional,

as a connection fails with the following error:

```

ReadExact: Socket error while reading

```

However, for your convienence, an unoffical and working version is provided

here:

https://github.com/jlesage/docker-baseimage-gui/raw/master/tools/ssvnc_windows_only-1.0.30-r1.zip

The only difference with the offical package is that the bundled version of

`stunnel` has been upgraded to version `5.49`, which fixes the connection

problems.

### Certificates

Here are the certificate files needed by the container.  By default, when they

are missing, self-signed certificates are generated and used.  All files have

PEM encoded, x509 certificates.

| Container Path                  | Purpose                    | Content |

|---------------------------------|----------------------------|---------|

|`/config/certs/vnc-server.pem`   |VNC connection encryption.  |VNC server's private key and certificate, bundled with any root and intermediate certificates.|

|`/config/certs/web-privkey.pem`  |HTTPs connection encryption.|Web server's private key.|

|`/config/certs/web-fullchain.pem`|HTTPs connection encryption.|Web server's certificate, bundled with any root and intermediate certificates.|

**NOTE**: To prevent any certificate validity warnings/errors from the browser

or VNC client, make sure to supply your own valid certificates.

**NOTE**: Certificate files are monitored and relevant daemons are automatically

restarted when changes are detected.

### VNC Password

To restrict access to your application, a password can be specified.  This can

be done via two methods:

  * By using the `VNC_PASSWORD` environment variable.

  * By creating a `.vncpass_clear` file at the root of the `/config` volume.

    This file should contains the password in clear-text.  During the container

    startup, content of the file is obfuscated and moved to `.vncpass`.

The level of security provided by the VNC password depends on two things:

  * The type of communication channel (encrypted/unencrypted).

  * How secure access to the host is.

When using a VNC password, it is highly desirable to enable the secure

connection to prevent sending the password in clear over an unencrypted channel.

**ATTENTION**: Password is limited to 8 characters.  This limitation comes from

the Remote Framebuffer Protocol [RFC](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6143) (see

section [7.2.2](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6143#section-7.2.2)).  Any

characters beyhond the limit are ignored.

## Reverse Proxy

The following sections contains NGINX configuration that need to be added in

order to reverse proxy to this container.

A reverse proxy server can route HTTP requests based on the hostname or the URL

path.

### Routing Based on Hostname

In this scenario, each hostname is routed to a different application/container.

For example, let's say the reverse proxy server is running on the same machine

as this container.  The server would proxy all HTTP requests sent to

`chromium.domain.tld` to the container at `127.0.0.1:5800`.

Here are the relevant configuration elements that would be added to the NGINX

configuration:

```

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {

	default upgrade;

	''      close;

}

upstream docker-chromium {

	# If the reverse proxy server is not running on the same machine as the

	# Docker container, use the IP of the Docker host here.

	# Make sure to adjust the port according to how port 5800 of the

	# container has been mapped on the host.

	server 127.0.0.1:5800;

}

server {

	[...]

	server_name chromium.domain.tld;

	location / {

	        proxy_pass http://docker-chromium;

	}

	location /websockify {

		proxy_pass http://docker-chromium;

		proxy_http_version 1.1;

		proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

		proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

		proxy_read_timeout 86400;

	}

}

```

### Routing Based on URL Path

In this scenario, the hostname is the same, but different URL paths are used to

route to different applications/containers.

For example, let's say the reverse proxy server is running on the same machine

as this container.  The server would proxy all HTTP requests for

`server.domain.tld/chromium` to the container at `127.0.0.1:5800`.

Here are the relevant configuration elements that would be added to the NGINX

configuration:

```

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {

	default upgrade;

	''      close;

}

upstream docker-chromium {

	# If the reverse proxy server is not running on the same machine as the

	# Docker container, use the IP of the Docker host here.

	# Make sure to adjust the port according to how port 5800 of the

	# container has been mapped on the host.

	server 127.0.0.1:5800;

}

server {

	[...]

	location = /chromium {return 301 $scheme://$http_host/chromium/;}

	location /chromium/ {

		proxy_pass http://docker-chromium/;

		location /chromium/websockify {

			proxy_pass http://docker-chromium/websockify/;

			proxy_http_version 1.1;

			proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

			proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

			proxy_read_timeout 86400;

		}

	}

}

```

## Shell Access

To get shell access to a the running container, execute the following command:

```

docker exec -it CONTAINER sh

```

Where `CONTAINER` is the ID or the name of the container used during its

creation (e.g. `crashplan-pro`).

## Increasing Shared Memory Size

To prevent crashes from happening when running Chromium

inside a Docker container, the size of the shared memory located at `/dev/shm`

must be increased.  The issue is documented [here].

By default, the size is 64MB, which is not enough.  It is recommended to use a

size of 2GB.  This value is arbitrary, but known to work well.  Setting the

size of `/dev/shm` can be done via two method:

  - By adding the `--shm-size 2g` parameter to the `docker run` command.  See

    the [Usage](#usage) section for more details.

  - By using shared memory of the host, by mapping `/dev/shm` via the parameter

    `-v /dev/shm:/dev/shm` of the `docker run` command.

## Sound Support

For Chromium to be able to use the audio device available on

the host, `/dev/snd` must be exposed to the container by adding the

`--device /dev/snd` parameter to the `docker run` command.

## Troubleshooting

### Crashes

If Chromium is crashing frequently, make sure the size of

the shared memory located at `/dev/shm` has been increased.  See

[Increasing Shared Memory Size](#increasing-shared-memory-size) section for more

details.

## Support or Contact

Having troubles with the container or have questions?  Please

[create a new issue].

For other great Dockerized applications, see https://jlesage.github.io/docker-apps.

[create a new issue]: https://github.com/overclockedllama/docker-chromium/issues