run apps using audio in a docker container

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it took me some time until i found out what is needed. (Ubuntu)

we start with the docker run command docker run -ti --rm myContainer sh -c "echo run something"

ALSA:
we need /dev/snd and some hardware access as it looks like.
when we put this together we have

docker run -ti --rm \
    -v /dev/snd:/dev/snd \
    --lxc-conf="lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 116:* rwm" \
    myContainer sh -c "echo run something"`

In new docker versions without lxc flags you shoud use this:

docker run -ti --rm \
    -v /dev/snd:/dev/snd \
     --privileged \
    myContainer sh -c "echo run something"`

PULSEAUDIO:
update: it may be enought to mount the pulseaudio socket within the container using -v option. this depends on your version and prefered access method. see other answers for the socket method.

Here we need basically /dev/shm, /etc/machine-id and /run/user/$uid/pulse. But that is not all (maybe because of Ubuntu and how they did it in the past). The envirorment variable XDG_RUNTIME_DIR has to be the same in the host system and in your docker container. You may also need /var/lib/dbus because some apps are accessing the machine id from here (may only containing a symbolic link to the ‘real’ machine id). And at least you may need the hidden home folder ~/.pulse for some temp data (i am not sure about this).

docker run -ti --rm \
    -v /dev/shm:/dev/shm \
    -v /etc/machine-id:/etc/machine-id \
    -v /run/user/$uid/pulse:/run/user/$uid/pulse \
    -v /var/lib/dbus:/var/lib/dbus \
    -v ~/.pulse:/home/$dockerUsername/.pulse \
    myContainer sh -c "echo run something"

In new docker versions you might need to add --privileged.
Of course you can combine both together and use it together with xServer ui forwarding like here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/28971413/2835523

Just to mention:

  • you can handle most of this (all without the used id) in the dockerfile
  • using uid=$(id -u) to get the user id and gid with id -g
  • creating a docker user with this id

create user script:

mkdir -p /home/$dockerUsername && \
echo "$dockerUsername:x:${uid}:${gid}:$dockerUsername,,,:/home/$dockerUsername:/bin/bash" >> /etc/passwd && \
echo "$dockerUsername:x:${uid}:" >> /etc/group && \
mkdir /etc/sudoers.d && \
echo "$dockerUsername ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/$dockerUsername && \
chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/$dockerUsername && \
chown ${uid}:${gid} -R /home/$dockerUsername

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