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.

Dependencies

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

Recommended base

	Dependencies on host	Available options
Minimal base	Xorg (probably already installed)	--hostdisplay --xorg
Recommended base	xpra Xephyr	--xpra --xephyr
Recommended base for --gpu (except for proprietary NVIDIA driver)	xpra weston Xwayland xdotool	--xpra-xwayland --weston-xwayland --weston --xwayland --wayland
Recommended tools (used in background)	xauth xclip xrandr xdpyinfo

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	X	-	-
--xephyr	Xephyr	X	-	-
--nxagent	nxagent	X	-	-
--hostdisplay	-	X	-	-
--xorg	Xorg	(X)	(X)	X
--xpra-xwayland	xpra weston Xwayland xdotool	X	-	-
--weston-xwayland	weston Xwayland	X	X	X
--kwin-xwayland	kwin_wayland Xwayland	X	X	X
--xwayland	Xwayland	-	X	-
--xvfb	Xvfb	X	X	X
--xdummy	dummy video driver	X	X	X
--weston	weston	X	X	X
--kwin	kwin_wayland	X	X	X
--hostwayland	-	-	X	-
--vcxsrv	VcXsrv (MS Windows only)	-	-	-
--xwin	xinit 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	X	X	-	X
--xephyr	-	X	-	X
--nxagent	X	X	-	X
--hostdisplay	X	-	X	X
--xorg	-	X	X	X
--xpra-xwayland	X	X	X	-
--weston-xwayland	-	X	X	-
--kwin-xwayland	-	X	X	-
--xwayland	-	X	X	-
--xvfb	-	X	(X)	X
--xdummy	-	X	(X)	X
--weston	-	X	X	-
--kwin	-	X	X	-
--hostwayland	X	-	X	-
--vcxsrv	X	X	X	X
--xwin	X	X	X	X

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.
--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.
--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°, ...).
--kwin-xwayland	Like --weston-xwayland, but uses KWin instead of Weston. Runs in X, in Wayland and from console.
--xwayland	Core Xwayland needs a Wayland environment to run in. Fullscreen display can be moved around with [META][LMB].
--xdummy --xvfb	Invisible X server for custom access e.g. with SSH or HTML5. Output of environment variables on stdout (--showenv). With option --gpu a setup with Weston, Xwayland and xdotool is used (instead of Xdummy or Xvfb) and runs on X only.
--vcxsrv	X server VcXsrv for MS Windows. Can be used for MSYS2, Cygwin and WSL.
--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 without X to run pure Wayland applications. Scaling and rotation is possible. Runs in X, in Wayland and from console.
--kwin	kwin_wayland without X to run pure Wayland applications. Runs in X, in Wayland and from console.
--hostwayland	Shares host Wayland socket without X to run pure Wayland applications. Needs a running Wayland compositor.