toolbox-init-container

Initialize a running toolbox

$ toolbox init-container --gid [gid] --home [home] --home-link --media-link --mnt-link --monitor-host --shell [shell] --uid [uid] --user [user]

toolbox-init-container [options]

--skip-user
    Skips setting up the user account inside the container, including uid/gid matching and home directory creation.

--skip-setup-bash
    Prevents the command from configuring Bash, such as setting up shell profiles and aliases for the user.

--skip-setup-ssh
    Disables the setup of SSH, which typically involves configuring SSH agent forwarding from the host into the container.

--skip-setup-env-vars
    Omits the process of setting up essential environment variables within the container's shell environment.

--setup-gpg-agent-forwarding
    Explicitly enables the setup of GPG agent forwarding, allowing GPG operations inside the container to use the host's GPG agent.

--distro-name <name>
    Specifies the name of the Linux distribution within the container, used for distribution-specific configurations.

--distro-version <version>
    Specifies the version of the Linux distribution within the container, complementing --distro-name for specific setups.

--home-path <path>
    Specifies the absolute path to the user's home directory inside the container, overriding the default.

toolbox-init-container is an internal helper command crucial for setting up and configuring new or rebased toolbox containers. It runs automatically inside the container when it's first created or after certain operations by the toolbox utility. Its main purpose is to prepare the user's environment, ensuring the container is ready for development. This includes creating and configuring the user account to match the host, setting up essential shell environments like Bash, configuring SSH for seamless forwarding, managing environment variables, and optionally enabling GPG agent forwarding. This command is not intended for direct manual execution by users; rather, it's an essential component of the toolbox ecosystem, abstracting away the complexities of container environment setup.

This command is an internal helper and is not intended for direct manual invocation by users. It is automatically executed by the toolbox utility.
Misusing or manually running this command with incorrect parameters can lead to an improperly configured or broken toolbox container environment.

This command is invoked by the toolbox parent command, usually via podman run, to perform initial setup steps inside a new container instance. It ensures that the user inside the container matches the host user, and that essential development tools and configurations are in place before the user is given a shell.

A key function of toolbox-init-container is to synchronize aspects of the container's environment with the host system, such as user IDs, home directory paths, and SSH agent forwarding. This seamless integration allows developers to use their familiar tools and configurations from the host inside the container.

toolbox-init-container is an integral part of the containers/toolbox project, primarily developed for Red Hat's containerized operating systems like Fedora CoreOS and Silverblue. It was introduced early in the toolbox project's lifecycle to automate the complex and often error-prone task of setting up a consistent and usable development environment within isolated OCI containers. Its development as a Go program reflects the project's preference for robust, self-contained binaries for internal utilities.

toolbox(1), podman(1)