NixOS: Running Foreign Apps via Distrobox

Sometimes you need to run an app on NixOS that’s only available for Ubuntu/Debian or ships as .deb/.iso. Distrobox lets you run it in a container with host integration - like a native app. 💡 Works on any distro with Nix installed. 📦 Create container # Create container with necessary volume mounts nix shell nixpkgs#distrobox --command distrobox create \ --image ubuntu:20.04 \ --name <container-name> \ --volume "<volume_pts>:/dev/pts" \ --volume "<volume_journal>:/var/log/journal" \ --home "$HOME/<container-name>-home" Parameters: ...

18 Mar 2026 · 3 min · 518 words · Potato Energy Team, ponfertato