X server and Wayland Options

Choice of X server or Wayland compositor

If no X server option is specified, x11docker will automatically choose the best matching one depending on given or missing options --desktop, --gpu and --wayland. As default it assumes you want to run a single seamless application. The automatically chosen option will be shown in terminal output.

X and Wayland side by side

To run X and Wayland applications side by side, you can use:

• On X or Wayland or console: --weston=x or --weston=X
• On Wayland: A combination of --hostwayland and an X server like --satellite or --xpra

Dependencies

For a base of recommended dependencies and their package names see Dependencies - Recommended base.

Image x11docker/xserver

Instead of installing dependencies on host you can provide image x11docker/xserver that contains all recommended packages except Xorg.

• Please install recommended tools xauth xclip xrandr xdpyinfo on host nonetheless.

Recommended base

	Dependencies on host	Available options
Minimal base	Xorg (probably already installed)	--hostdisplay --xorg
Recommended base	xpra Xephyr or nxagent	--xpra --xephyr --nxagent
Recommended base for --gpu (except for proprietary NVIDIA driver <470.x)	xpra weston Xwayland xdotool	--xpra-xwayland --weston-xwayland --weston --xwayland --wayland
Recommended tools (used in background)	xauth xclip xrandr xdpyinfo
Image providing all X servers and many other dependencies	Image x11docker/xserver docker or podman	--xpra --xpra2 --xpra2-xwayland --nxagent --xephyr --weston-xwayland --weston --xwayland --xvfb --satellite --xorg

Dependencies of all X server and Wayland options

For package names in several distributions look at Dependencies - Table of all packages.

X server or Wayland option	Dependencies on host	Runs on X	Runs on Wayland	Runs on console
--xpra	xpra	√	√ (xpra>v3.0)	-
--xpra2	xpra	√	√ (xpra>v3.0)	-
--xephyr	Xephyr	√	-	-
--nxagent	nxagent	√	-	-
--hostdisplay	-	√	-	-
--xorg	Xorg	(√)	(√)	√
--xpra-xwayland	xpra weston Xwayland xdotool	√	√ (xpra>v3.0)	-
--xpra2-xwayland	xpra xdotool	√	√ (xpra>v3.0)	-
--weston-xwayland	weston Xwayland	√	√	√
--xwayland	Xwayland	-	√	-
--satellite	Xwayland-satellite	-	√	-
--xvfb	Xvfb	√	√	√
--weston	weston	√	√	√
--hostwayland	-	-	√	-
--runx	runx (MS Windows only)	-	-	-
--xwin	xinit, xwininfo and xauth in Cygwin (MS Windows only)	-	-	-

Description

Attributes of X server and Wayland options

Option	Supports seamless mode	Supports --desktop mode	Supports --gpu	Supported by proprietary NVIDIA driver
--xpra	√	√	-	√
--xpra2	√	√	-	√
--xephyr	-	√	-	√
--nxagent	√	√	-	√
--hostdisplay	√	-	√	√
--xorg	-	√	√	√
--xpra-xwayland	√	√	√	>=470.x
--xpra2-xwayland	√	√	√	>=470.x
--weston-xwayland	-	√	√	>=470.x
--xwayland	-	√	√	>=470.x
--satellite	√	-	√	>=470.x
--xvfb	-	√	-	√
--weston	-	√	√	>=470.x
--hostwayland	√	-	√	>=470.x
--runx	√	√	√	√ (with XWin)
--xwin	√	√	√	√

Description of X server options

X server options	Description
--auto (default)	Automatically chooses an X server depending on installed dependencies and on given or missing options --desktop, --gpu and --wayland.
--xpra	Seamless integration of application windows on host display. Best --clipboard support, picture clips are possible. Seamless scaling (0,5x, 1.5x, 3x ...) with option --scale. (Supports option --desktop, too, but --xephyr is more performant in desktop mode.) With option --gpu x11docker will use --xpra-xwayland.
--xpra2	Like --xpra, but provides a bit more performance combining image x11docker/xserver with xpra on host.
--xephyr	Nested X server for --desktop mode. Desktop appears in a window on host display. Quite fast and stable, but not resizeable.
--nxagent	Fast and resizeable alternative to --xpra and --xephyr, but some compositing applications may fail.
--hostdisplay	Shares host display :0 instead of running second X server. Attention: Low security, quite bad container isolation! Some x11docker security restrictions to avoid keylogging and remote host control may cause some applications to fail. Options --clipboard and --gpu remove these restrictions. If security is not a concern, get a quite fast setup with --hostdisplay --gpu.
--xorg	Core Xorg server. Switch between displays with keys [CTRL][ALT][F1]...[F12]. To run --xorg within X look at setup for option --xorg.
--xpra-xwayland	Like --xpra, additionally supporting option --gpu. Uses Weston and Xwayland in background. Supports option --desktop, too, but --weston-xwayland is more performant in desktop mode.
--xpra2-xwayland	Like --xpra-xwayland, but provides a bit more performance combining image x11docker/xserver with xpra on host.
--weston-xwayland	All-rounder: can run nested on X or Wayland in a window or on its own from console. Supports GPU acceleration, scaling (2x, 3x, 4x ...) and display rotation (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°, flipped, flipped-90°, ...).
--xwayland	Rootful Xwayland for desktop environments. Needs a Wayland environment to run in.
--satellite	Rootless Xwayland for seamless windows. Needs a Wayland environment to run in.
--xvfb	Invisible X server for custom access e.g. with SSH or HTML5. Output of environment variables with --printenv.
--runx	Runs X server XWin or VcXsrv for MS Windows.
--xwin	X server XWin for MS Windows. Can be used in Cygwin/X.
--tty	Run without X or Wayland.

Description of Wayland options

Wayland options	Description
--wayland	Automatically sets up a Wayland environment. Sets some Wayland environment variables. Regards option --desktop.
--weston	Weston Wayland compositor. Optional support of X applications, too. Scaling and rotation is possible. Runs in X, in Wayland and from console.
--hostwayland	Shares host Wayland socket to run Wayland applications. Can be used along with other X server options to run X and Waylands apps side by side. Needs a running Wayland compositor.