Loading GTK Applications in a GUI-enabled Incus Container
Recently, I have been working on running everything, including GUI applications, with incus containers.
For examples, I managed to work with all the following features with incus containers:
Hardware: GPU, Sound, Microphone, Camera
GUI Applications: X11 apps, Qt-based GUI apps, GTK-based apps, Snap apps, System-tray apps
Input method: ibus
Nested container: docker
AI Tools: Llama.cpp, Ollama, Perplexica
If you are interested about the container setup, you may read:
Running GUI Apps via Incus on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Running GUI Apps via Incus on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
During the setup and testings, two issues had troubled me for a while. The first one is how to work out display for sanp applications, which was finally resolved, as integrated with the setup just mentioned. The second one concerns GTK-based applications, with which I encountered the following two issues. I would like to share my solutions below. Anyone is welcome to suggest better alternatives.
Testing GTK-based applications
For testing purpose, install and run gnome-text-editor
sudo apt install gnome-text-editor
gnome-text-editor
Issue 1 - Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”
This issue is minor, and easy to fix.
Solution:
sudo apt install -y xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
Issue 2 - Extremely slow to start
GTK gui applications are extremely slow to be loaded for display.
Solution:
sudo apt purge xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
sudo apt purge xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
Final Tips
I believe you are smart enought to spot that the first solution is sudo apt install -y xdg-desktop-portal-gnome whereas the second solution is sudo apt purge xdg-desktop-portal-gnome. To solve both issues, implement the first solution once, before running the second solution.
Hope this may help those who had the same puzzles.