After more than five months of development, Distrobox 1.8 has finally been released, bringing improvements, bug fixes, and new features that make the tool even more versatile and user-friendly.
This much-needed update addresses numerous aspects of functionality, stability, and compatibility while also adding several new features. Here they are.
Distrobox 1.8 Highlights
One of the standout improvements in Distrobox 1.8 is how it handles shell commands when entering containers. This update significantly refines the handling of shell commands, which should help prevent potential issues related to escaping characters and command parsing in the future.
Enhancements to NVIDIA integration also ensure smoother operation for users running NVIDIA GPUs when using Distrobox with hardware acceleration. Additionally, improvements to handling XDG environment variables mean better management and compatibility across different desktop environments.
For those who rely on remote manifests, a major new feature is the ability to manage remote Distrobox assemble files. With the new command distrobox assemble create --file https://foo.com/file.ini, users can now keep their assembly files remote, streamlining configuration processes and making them more efficient.
Moreover, Distrobox 1.8 introduces support for various new container distributions, including images from uBlue and toolbx, and the new Fedora, Ubuntu, and Alpine released. These additions give users more flexibility in choosing their preferred container environments, catering to a wider range of workflows and preferences.
Furthermore, the release also focuses heavily on bug fixes and stability improvements, addressing numerous issues across the board.
Some notable fixes include ensuring environment variables are set correctly, addressing name detection issues in assemble files, and fixing compatibility issues with Docker timestamps and Active Directory usernames.
Users will also find better documentation throughout, including updates on compatibility for distributions like Alpine 3.20, improved VSCode integration, and the addition of helpful icons and corrections to various guides.
Check out the full changelog for more details and the complete list of novelties in Distrobox 1.8.
