This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : Running gnash on Ubuntu 20.04 (in Docker with X11 forwarding)
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 05-07-2020
URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Running_gnash_on_Ubuntu_20.04.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---
As you might have noticed, I'm slowly updating servers and workstations to
Ubuntu 20.04, and as always with major upgrades, things break or are removed.
Earlier this week I [fixed up pygopherd][1] and today I'll get gnash running
again. Gnash is not updated since 2011 and therefore, finally, [removed from
the Ubuntu 20.04 repositories][3].
Compiling gnash from source proved to be a lot of effort due to gstreamer
dependencies and after a few hours I thought, why not just spin up a Ubuntu
18.04 Docker container, install gnash and forward X11. That took just about 10
minutes and now I'm happily running gnash again. In this tutorial I'll show you
how to setup gnash in a docker container with x11 forwarding and host
networking.
### Why run gnash?
Some of my $dayjob work depends on gnash, although it's actively being
replaced with QT. Gnash is a linux flash player, in our case runs on the
framebuffer of an embedded device.
For development I sometimes need to run gnash on my workstation with an SSH
port forward to a development board. I can then locally interact with the UI.
Also, the development board does not require a screen, which saves time and
space in development setup.
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Here is a picture of gnash running on Ubuntu 20.04, via a local docker
container:
![gnash in docker][2]
Here is gnash running on my Ubuntu 18.04 workstation, as you can see the window
manager theme and styling is missing in Docker, but I can live with that. I do
miss my CDE window border though:
![gnash][4]
Both screenshots are showing the user interface for one of the coffee machines
we develop software for at $dayjob. One shows the user facing menu and one shows
the service menu, where a machine operator in this case can view all sorts of
counters (beverage, user defined, components).
### Gnash in Docker
Lets get started. I assume you have docker installed already. Most of the
[X11 forwarding][5] is taken from the article by [Fabio Rehm][5].
Create a folder for your new docker image:
mkdir gnash-docker
cd gnash-docker
Create a Dockerfile:
vim Dockerfile
Paste the following in it:
FROM ubuntu:18.04
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y sudo
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y gnash
RUN export uid=1000 gid=1000 && \
mkdir -p /home/developer && \
echo "developer:x:${uid}:${gid}:Developer,,,:/home/developer:/bin/bash" >> /etc/passwd && \
echo "developer:x:${uid}:" >> /etc/group && \
echo "developer ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/developer && \
chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/developer && \
chown ${uid}:${gid} -R /home/developer
COPY coffee.swf /home/developer/coffee.swf
USER developer
ENV HOME /home/developer
CMD /usr/bin/gnash /home/developer/coffee.swf
You must replace `uid=1000/gid=1000` with your user / group id, which you can find
via the `id` command, example output:
$ id
uid=1000(remy) gid=1000(remy) groups=1000(remy)
In my case, I have a `.swf` file I need to run, which is included in the Docker
image via the `COPY` step and provided to gnash with the `CMD` step.
The base container image is the default Ubuntu 18.04 image, in which gnash is
installed, as well as sudo. Sudo and the user creation are required for x11
forwarding.
Build the docker container:
docker build -t gnash .
When it's finished building, you can run it with the following command:
docker run -ti --rm -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY --net=host -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix gnash
`-e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY` and `-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix` share your local
x11 socket and display with the container, required for x11 forwarding.
`--net=host` is required for me due to the software automatically connecting to
a port on `localhost` (which I forward via SSH to an actual development board).
You could omit that if your use case is different.
If you need a specific `/etc/gnashrc` file in your container, you must add the
file to this folder (with the `Dockerfile`) and add a copy step in the `Dockerfile`:
COPY gnashrc /etc/gnashrc
If you make changes to the `Dockerfile`, you must build the container again:
docker build -t gnash .
That's all there is to it to run 9 year old software on a recent version of
Ubuntu.
[1]: /s/tutorials/Installing_PyGopherd_on_Ubuntu_20.04.html
[2]: /s/inc/img/gnash1.png
[3]: http://web.archive.org/web/20200704121743/https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnash/+question/689469
[4]: /s/inc/img/gnash2.png
[5]: http://web.archive.org/web/20200704121710/http://fabiorehm.com/blog/2014/09/11/running-gui-apps-with-docker/
---
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