Installation¶

dXon runs on Linux only. It uses systemd-nspawn under the hood, which is not available on macOS or Windows.

Install script (recommended)¶

The fastest way to install dXon is the one-liner install script. It detects your architecture, downloads the latest release binary from GitHub, and places it in /usr/local/bin:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/install.sh | sh

Or with wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/install.sh | sh

To install a specific version:

DXON_VERSION=v0.2.0 curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/install.sh | sh

To install to a custom directory (e.g. ~/.local/bin):

DXON_INSTALL_DIR=~/.local/bin curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/install.sh | sh

Verify the installation:

dxon --version

Prebuilt binaries¶

Prebuilt binaries for Linux (x86_64 and aarch64) are available on the GitHub releases page. Download the binary for your architecture, make it executable, and move it somewhere on your PATH:

# x86_64
curl -sSfL -o dxon https://github.com/P8labs/dxon/releases/latest/download/dxon-linux-x86_64

# aarch64 / ARM64
curl -sSfL -o dxon https://github.com/P8labs/dxon/releases/latest/download/dxon-linux-aarch64

chmod +x dxon
sudo mv dxon /usr/local/bin/

Install from source¶

dXon is written in Rust. You'll need Cargo installed.

git clone https://github.com/P8labs/dxon.git
cd dxon
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/dxon /usr/local/bin/

Distribution-specific setup¶

After installing the dxon binary, you need systemd-nspawn plus the bootstrap tools for whichever base distros you plan to use. Instructions are grouped by the distribution you are running dXon on (your host).

Arch Linux (host)¶

# systemd-nspawn is part of systemd — already present on a standard Arch install
# Bootstrap tools for each container distro you want:
sudo pacman -S arch-install-scripts   # to create Arch containers
sudo pacman -S debootstrap            # to create Debian/Ubuntu containers
sudo pacman -S wget curl              # to create Alpine containers (rootfs download)

Debian / Ubuntu (host)¶

Install systemd-container to get systemd-nspawn:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install systemd-container

Bootstrap tools:

sudo apt install debootstrap          # to create Debian/Ubuntu containers
sudo apt install wget curl            # to create Alpine containers

To create Arch Linux containers on a Debian/Ubuntu host, install arch-install-scripts:

sudo apt install arch-install-scripts

Note: arch-install-scripts may not be available in older Debian/Ubuntu repositories. You can build it from source or use a Debian Sid/Ubuntu 22.04+ mirror.

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS Stream (host)¶

sudo dnf install systemd-container    # provides systemd-nspawn
sudo dnf install debootstrap          # to create Debian/Ubuntu containers
sudo dnf install wget curl            # to create Alpine containers

For Arch Linux containers, pacstrap is not packaged in Fedora repos. Install it manually via the arch-install-scripts AUR tarball or use a containerised build.

openSUSE Leap / Tumbleweed (host)¶

sudo zypper install systemd-container
sudo zypper install debootstrap
sudo zypper install wget curl

Alpine Linux (host)¶

Warning: systemd-nspawn is not available on Alpine Linux (musl libc, OpenRC). dXon cannot run on an Alpine host.

NixOS (host)¶

Add systemd to your system packages (it is typically present). Bootstrap tools can be added to your configuration:

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
  debootstrap
  arch-install-scripts
  wget
  curl
];

Or install them into a temporary shell:

nix-shell -p debootstrap arch-install-scripts wget curl

Dependencies summary¶

Tool	Required for	Installed by
`systemd-nspawn`	Running any container	`systemd-container` package
`pacstrap`	Creating Arch Linux containers	`arch-install-scripts`
`debootstrap`	Creating Debian / Ubuntu containers	`debootstrap` package
`wget` or `curl`	Creating Alpine containers	`wget` / `curl` packages

dXon will print a clear error if a required tool is missing when you try to create a container.

Updating¶

Use the upgrade script to update dXon to the latest release:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/upgrade.sh | sh

Or with wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/P8labs/dxon/master/upgrade.sh | sh

The script checks your currently installed version and only downloads a new binary if a newer release is available.

To update dXon installed from source, pull the latest changes and rebuild:

cd dxon
git pull
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/dxon /usr/local/bin/