Kontainer is a user-friendly, graphical user interface for managing Distrobox containers built as a native KDE application. This integrates itself seamlessly with my desktop environment and workflow. As a bonus, it makes container management super simple and intuitive. There is no need to remember all the particulars for setting up a Distrobox container.
For my use cases of Distrobox, see this article here: Distrobox with BoxBuddy on openSUSE
Bottom Line Up Front: Kontainer is a fantastic application that I have decided to use for managing my Distrobox containers. The look and feel of this application is slightly preferred over BoxBuddy but only slightly. I just happen to prefer the look of Qt applications over GTK and has all the same functionality, except one small, missing feature (at the time of writing). Regardless, this is now my application of choice for managing Distrobox containers.
What is Distrobox?
Distrobox is one of those tools that quietly punches way above its weight in the Linux ecosystem, especially for folks that run immutable or cloud-ready style distributions like Bazzite or run a rolling release like openSUSE Tumbleweed which is certainly cutting-edge but sometimes missing niche packages. Very often, there is a niche package that will run on Ubuntu or Debian and not built for my distribution of choice. Distrobox allows you to install these applications from other distros without compromising your host system by playing the game of package searching, downloading and compiling missing libraries or giving up and running the application in the recommended distribution in a VM. Distrobox along with Kontainer (or BoxBuddy) are like the easy button for near unlimited flexibility with the Linux distribution you want on your choice of hardware. It’s the ultimate tool in putting the personal back into personal computer!
Why Distrobox GUIs Matter
The command sets for Distrobox are not particularly complicated but remembering all it’s components and options can be quite daunting for a causal user of it. A GUI smooths over the complexity quite nicely. It is especially important in the creation of a new image. Finding an actual list of what you can install is not entirely obvious so having a Kontainer makes that process quite trivial.
Install
Although this is largely a repeat of my Distrobox with BoxBuddy on openSUSE, I’m going to go ahead and put it here too. This is going to be how I installed it on openSUSE Tumbleweed which should be identical to Leap and similar to Fedora. There are graphical ways to accomplish this but that takes far too many clicks. I’m lazy and just want to get it done so command line it is!
Here is the decision point. By default, Distrobox (at least on Tumbleweed) will pull in Docker as a dependency. If you want to use Podman instead, which does have its advantages and some disadvantages. I am personally using Docker on my laptop due to my need for Winboat and USB Pass-through, else, I would be using Podman for my Framework Laptop 13.
To install Podman (optionao) on openSUSE Tumbleweed or Leap:
sudo zypper install podmanThe next step is to install Distrobox. Whether you choose Podman or Docker, the default configuration on Tumbleweed is to automatically detect which containerization system is available.
sudo zypper install distroboxTwo additional steps are required if you have not already set up Docker on your system and choose to use Docker. First you need to add your username to the docker group:
sudo usermod -aG docker $USERNext, you will have to start and enable Docker.
sudo systemctl start dockersudo systemctl enable dockerAfter this, log out and back in again or reboot if that is how you want to roll.
The last bit of the installation process is to install Kontainer. It is a Flatpak and can be installed in the terminal or graphically. Using Discover or some other application manager, search “kontainer”.
It’s also on Flathub here:
https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.DenysMb.Kontainer
Alternatively, and more simply, in the terminal, type the following:
flatpak install flathub io.github.DenysMb.KontainerThis will create an entry in your Plasma Desktop Application Menu. If you would like to start the GUI app from the terminal, type this:
flatpak run io.github.DenysMb.KontainerFirst Impressions
Right out of the gate, I like the interface. It’s a well laid out list of the Distrobox containers currently available on my machine. My favorite unique feature of this Distrobox Container management tool is that I can see, at a glance which containers are running. Along the top there are four buttons, the Hamburger Menu as represented by three horizontal lines, +Create… , Upgrade all… and Refresh.
Create is to create a new Distrobox Container, Upgrade all, opens up a terminal to sequentially upgrade all the containers to the latest software and Refresh will refresh this window of information. We’ll get to the Hamburger menu later.
When comparing features of Kontainer to BoxBuddy, they are essentially identical, less two, but I’ll get to that in just a moment. What stands out nicely with this application is that right along the top are the buttons you are going to use most often.
Along the list of Containers you see 4 buttons, The first is the container start stop toggle. The First button shows two states: Play indicates that it is not running and the Stop looking icon indicates that it is running… it’s really not confusing but written that way sure sounds like it. That is the action of what you can do to the container If it is running, pressing it will stop it.
To the right of that, the Second Button, is the Applications Management tool. It is within this section you select what applications will appear in your desktop applications menu by selecting +Export. In my case, the reason I installed Debian13 was so that I can easily run Windows 95. Yes that may seem odd, but that is all I have in this container right now. The RPM doesn’t seem to work with the current version of Tumbleweed and rather than fight it, I use Distrobox. I do admit this brings some questions about me to the forefront, but here we are.
Here is one area that Kontainer lacks over BoxBuddy, there isn’t an option to just run the application from this window. It’s not a huge deal but it would be a handy addition.
The Third Button from the left is the terminal button, this will open up a terminal to the selected container. Open the terminal, run fastfetch and the results are a somewhat interesting.
Aside from the “glitched” line about “kde_output_device_mode_v2”, there are some interesting details, Debian Linux 13 with kernel 6.19.6-2-default. Clearly not what ships with Debian 13.
The last button is the “More Options” button which has several useful options.
Install Package allows you to install a local package to the distrobox. Select that option, using the file picker dialog, choose the package and it will automatically go through the installation process. Super easy. It’s worked for all the distributions I have installed so far.
Reboot Container does what you think it would do, reboot it. Something you might do after upgrading or making some changes to the container.
Upgrade Container is a one-click upgrade of the application packages on that container.
Clone Container makes an identical copy of that container. This is very useful if you are building and testing a thing where you want to preserve the original.
Remove Container, does just that. Erases it from existence, like it never even happened and that is the real beauty of this whole Distrobox, containerized distribution deployment system. I can build, test, use and eliminate without affecting my core system.
The hamburger menu in the top left corner opens up some additional options that may be of interest.
Create Container, does the exact same thing as the the Create Container does on the main window,
Create Distrobox Shortcut is a neat one because it will create a menu entry to hop right into a terminal of that container. This is super handy on many levels.
Show Container Icons does just that, next to the entries for each Distrobox is an icon of the distribution.
Clone Container is another way to go about cloning a container.
Open Distrobox Documentation will take you here
https://distrobox.it/#distrobox
Open Distrobox Useful Tips takes you to the project github
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/useful_tips.md
And the last item, About Kontainer will open up the typical Plasma about window with various ways to interact with the project.
Core usage
The way I like to use Distrobox and by extension, Kontainer or BoxBuddy is maximum flexibility in how I choose to use my computer. Reaching back to the start of this blathering and one of my core reasons for using Linux is putting personal back into personal computing. I much prefer the way Tumbleweed manages my computer, how software is deployed and how I can continue to roll with the latest, cutting edge but reasonably checked for quality packages. The downside of Tumbleweed is that it just isn’t the most popular platform to deploy software. Largely, Flatpak, Snaps and AppImage have solved this but not everybody is making those universal packages.
Whether I like it or not, Debian based systems are where most software ends up first, I am able to now take that .deb file and run it on the version of Debian I have installed. I can then export that application and it lives on my host system like any other application installed.
Pictured below is the application Marklite, on the left is the Debian version running in the Debian13 Distrobox, on the right is the RPM version running on the host Tumbleweed system. Pretty neat!
What I Like
Without question, this is a great looking application. Not to take away from BoxBuddy, but the layout of this feels like it was designed by a user of Distrobox and what controls were best suited for their locations. The Qt/Kirigami toolkit makes this application feel like it fits right in with my desktop.
The main window of Kontainer provides the status of each Distrobox, running or stopped and that is real handy, mostly a nice to see but I really appreciate it. The direct, four button interactions per container is also incredibly intuitive.
Linking the Distrobox documentation and useful tips in the menu is a great add to the application. I have a lot of Distrobox related notes in my Obsidian notebook which I started to put together before I met BoxBuddy. For someone new to this method of deploying a container, this is invaluable.
Wish List
I have but two items that I wish Kontainer had. The first is the ability to run an application from the Applications Management window. This is a feature I’ve used many times on BoxBuddy. I can, just as well just put them in the menu and launch it from there. Not a deal breaker at all, just a wish item.
Secondly, it would be neat if there was some indicator of resource utilization. BoxBuddy is laid out quite differently, so below the last button of Delete Box, is the current usage of that container.
It is trivial to get this information by using docker stats or podman stats. To get a specific container, say Debian13 here, I would simply type docker stats Debian13. I do think it’s a neat feature that BoxBuddy has. Looking at the interface for Kontainer, I’m not sure how you would utilize it.
Final Thoughts
If you’re in KDE Plasma land, Kontainer might feel like a snappier, more integrated interface to manage your Distrobox containers. It is certainly worth trying alongside BoxBuddy to see which one you like better. BoxBuddy is a mature application but Kontainer isn’t far behind. They both do the same job but in their own, unique way.
I will keep both of these tools on my system for the time being. I have been perfectly happy running BoxBuddy for the last couple years but there is something about that integrated feel that Kontainer provides that just edges it out over BoxBuddy for me. Time will tell if that more modern window dressing is enough or if BoxBuddy has some feature that I somehow missed that I just can’t live without.
Open Source is really rad. I really appreciate all the work these developers do to keep your systems personal and really fun to use while also being super productive. This is yet another reason that without this sort of fun, I don’t think I would even care to use a computer.
References
Kontainer on Flathub
Kontainer Project Page
Distrobox with BoxBuddy on openSUSE
Seamless Windows Apps on openSUSE with WinBoat
Obsidian | The Quest for the Perfect Note-Taking Application
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