Can i install and run programs from inside chroot directory?

[emil_21]

It's not just firefox, but any program that i want to have with different setup.

In that case, I think you may be interested in this: https://nixos.org/nix/

Also, it will be great if you can create portable apps like that - everything run from one folder and saves data in that folder.

If you want to keep the data separate, you can do that using Firejail.

For example:

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mkdir -p ~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old  <=== You only need to do this once.
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old /path/to/old/firefox -no-remote

mkdir -p ~/Firejail_home/Firefox_new  <=== You only need to do this once.
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_new /path/to/new/firefox -no-remote

Phil

I haven't heard of nix, i have to check it.

I have heard of fairjail but haven't test it extensively. Do you mean i can use firejail for any application and set the folder in which the application saves its data?

[emil_21]

it will be great if you can create portable apps like that - everything run from one folder and saves data in that folder

How about https://docs.appimage.org/packaging-guide/index.html? Or perhaps https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/first-build.html

And there's also nix (as pcalvert notes), GUIX and NetBSD's pkgsrc.

AppImage and Flatpak are good but they do not save the data in the same folder. For example, if i want to use Kodi 17 and Kodi 18 i can't, because they both will save they data in ~/.kodi.

[pcalvert]

Do you mean i can use firejail for any application and set the folder in which the application saves its data?

Yes, by giving each program its own home directory. Normally, programs run by a normal user “think” that "~/" is the home directory (because it is). Using Firejail, you can fool a program into “thinking” that a different directory is the home directory. For example, you could fool Kodi 17 into “thinking” that "~/Kodi_17" is the home directory, and you could fool Kodi 18 into “thinking” that "~/Kodi_18" is the home directory. This is done using the "--private=" option.

Phil

[emil_21]

It will be great if i can do that with Kodi using firejail. But what is the best way to install kodi 17 and kodi 18? I can't use .deb files and install them both system wide. Kodi is not available as appimage, and as flatpak only kodi 18 is available.

That is why i wanted to install kodi 17 and kodi 18 in separate chroot directory and run them from them, which probably is still possible, but as i understand running application in gui mode from chroot environment is not that easy.

[emil_21]

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mkdir -p ~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old  <=== You only need to do this once.
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old /path/to/old/firefox -no-remote

mkdir -p ~/Firejail_home/Firefox_new  <=== You only need to do this once.
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_new /path/to/new/firefox -no-remote

Phil

Is '/path/to/old/firefox' this directory ~/.mozilla? Because if i run:

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firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old ~/.mozilla/ -no-remote

i get this error:

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Error: invalid command name

[Chrisdb]

Is '/path/to/old/firefox' this directory ~/.mozilla? Because if i run:

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firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/Firefox_old ~/.mozilla/ -no-remote

i get this error:

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Error: invalid command name

replace:

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-no-remote

with:

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--no-remote

[emil_21]

Tried '--no-remore' but got the same error.

But i need to use this command? Isn't this way more simple:

I created three folders:

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~/Firejail_home/firefox1
~/Firejail_home/firefox2
~/Firejail_home/firefox3

And if i want to run any of the three firefox profiles i use these commands:

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firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/firefox1 firefox
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/firefox2 firefox
firejail --private=~/Firejail_home/firefox3 firefox

[Chrisdb]

The 'no-remote' option is used to avoid connecting to a running instance
Something like:

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firejail --private=~/Firefox_old firefox --no-remote

should work..

[emil_21]

Yes, this worked.
I tested firefjail --private option with kodi 17, which is in the debian repository, and it worked too.

[pcalvert]

It will be great if i can do that with Kodi using firejail. But what is the best way to install kodi 17 and kodi 18? I can't use .deb files and install them both system wide. Kodi is not available as appimage, and as flatpak only kodi 18 is available.

Here is a potential solution: https://bedrocklinux.org/

I've never used it, but I believe that it can provide you with the capability that you are seeking. However, the Nix package manager I told you about earlier seems like a much simpler solution.

Phil

[Chrisdb]

However, the Nix package manager I told you about earlier seems like a much simpler solution.

Indeed, it looks really interesting.

@pcalvert, any personal experience ?

[emil_21]

@pcalvert, i installed Nix package manager but it doesn't seem to work. If i type

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sudo nix-env --install firefox 

i get

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sudo: nix-env: command not found

[pcalvert]

@pcalvert, i installed Nix package manager but it doesn't seem to work. If i type

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sudo nix-env --install firefox 

i get

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sudo: nix-env: command not found

This is from the end of the install script:

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Installation finished!  To ensure that the necessary environment
variables are set, please add the line

  . $p

to your shell profile (e.g. ~/.profile).
EOF
else
    cat >&2 <<EOF

Installation finished!  To ensure that the necessary environment
variables are set, either log in again, or type

  . $p

in your shell.
EOF
fi

After installing nix, did you do what the installer script told you to do?

I just found something that may be helpful: Nix tutorial

It appears to be rather thorough. There is also the manual: https://nixos.org/nix/manual/

Phil

[emil_21]

I got this at the end of the installation:

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Installation finished!  To ensure that the necessary environment
variables are set, either log in again, or type

  . /home/user/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh

I execute the command but still get 'command not found' when i try to execute nix-env. This is my .profile file:

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# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.

# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
#umask 022

# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
	. "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi
if [ -e /home/user/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh ]; then . /home/user/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh; fi # added by Nix installer

[stevepusser]

Is the search function broken in these forums? I posted a way to install my buster backport of Kodi 18.5 only a day or so ago!

[pcalvert]

I execute the command but still get 'command not found' when i try to execute nix-env.

Did you try logging out after you installed it?

If that doesn't help, what is the output of these commands?:

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ls -al ~/.nix-profile
ls -al /nix

Phil

[emil_21]

This is the output:

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lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 42 фев 13 10:39 /home/user/.nix-profile -> /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/user/profile

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drwxr-xr-x  4 user  root 4096 фев 13 10:39 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 фев 13 10:39 ..
drwxr-xr-x 35 user  user  4096 фев 13 10:39 store
drwxr-xr-x  4 user  user  4096 фев 13 10:39 var

[pcalvert]

I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's possible that Nix doesn't properly install itself on Debian. Or maybe the installation instructions are incomplete.

I found a possible clue, though:

At this stage, nix is properly installed on your system, but some extra configuration is required, especially to activate the “profiles” feature.

I found that here: Working with profiles : create several user environments


Phil