OCI Container for Wine (or Codeweaver's Crossover) using Buildah and Podman.
Many old but useful Windows apps are probably poorly maintained or patched. Others that, while newer, are potentially buggy or have security issues. One solution is to run those apps in a container. That is the point of this project.
Fedora-based images are no longer supported. If you need that, please use the v1 branch.
This version introduces significant changes to simplify maintenance and reduce complexity:
- Debian-only base images (Fedora support removed)
- Wine source selection instead of base OS selection (e.g., Debian vs WineHQ)
- Smaller container images (~1.2GB vs ~4.2GB for Fedora)
- Simplified command-line interface
- Image size: Debian images are ~70% smaller than Fedora equivalents
- Consistency: Single base OS reduces complexity and maintenance burden
- Wine versions: WineHQ repository provides the latest Wine versions on a stable Debian base
- Performance: Smaller images mean faster downloads and less storage usage
- Use Podman (rootless) to limit breakout attacks.
- All data is written to a volume and, except the sockets for graphics and audio, the containers have no access to the underlying filesystem.
- Allow Windows apps to be orchestrated as a part of a collection of containers.
- Support Codeweaver's Crossover in addition to Wine.
Choose your Wine installation source based on your needs:
| Source | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
debian |
Debian's packaged Wine (default) | Stable, well-tested, older versions |
winehq |
Latest Wine from WineHQ repository | Newest features, latest compatibility |
crossover |
CodeWeavers Crossover (commercial) | Professional support, specific app compatibility |
Building and running are facilitated by two scripts: build_wine_container and run_wine_container. Each script offers help in the usual way, for example:
build_wine_container --help# Default: Debian Wine on latest Debian
build_wine_container -d CrappyHomeVolume -f -n CrappyWindowsApp
# Latest Wine version
build_wine_container --wine-source winehq -d CrappyHomeVolume -f -n CrappyWindowsApp
# Specific Debian version with WineHQ
build_wine_container --wine-source winehq --debian-version bookworm -d CrappyHomeVolume -n CrappyWindowsApp
# Crossover (requires DEB package)
build_wine_container --wine-source crossover --crossover-pkg /path/to/crossover.deb -d CrappyHomeVolume -n CrappyWindowsAppThen run your application:
run_wine_container -d CrappyHomeVolume -n CrappyWindowsApp -r "/path/to/crappy_app.exe"The first line above will create a volume named CrappyHomeVolume and an OCI container named CrappyWindowsApp. The second line will run the app in the new container.
You can specify which Debian version to use as the base:
# Use latest Debian (default)
build_wine_container --debian-version latest
# Use specific stable release
build_wine_container --debian-version bookworm # Debian 12
build_wine_container --debian-version bullseye # Debian 11
build_wine_container --debian-version buster # Debian 10# OLD (v1.x): Fedora with newer Wine
build_wine_container --base fedora
# NEW (v2.x): Debian with WineHQ (equivalent functionality, smaller image)
build_wine_container --wine-source winehq --debian-version latest# OLD (v1.x): Debian base
build_wine_container --base debian
# NEW (v2.x): Explicit Debian Wine (same functionality)
build_wine_container --wine-source debian --debian-version latest# OLD (v1.x): Crossover
build_wine_container --crossover /path/to/crossover.deb
# NEW (v2.x): Crossover as wine source
build_wine_container --wine-source crossover --crossover-pkg /path/to/crossover.debThe following options are deprecated and have been removed:
| Deprecated Option | Replacement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
--base fedora |
--wine-source winehq |
Provides same Wine versions, smaller image |
--base debian |
--wine-source debian --debian-version latest |
More explicit |
--crossover |
--wine-source crossover --crossover-pkg |
Unified interface |
--base <custom-uri> |
Not supported | Use --debian-version for version control |
Note: Only Crossover DEB packages are supported (RPM support removed with Fedora).
The volume is stored on the container host
in ~/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes/$HOME_VOLUME/_data. The build
script automatically makes this directory writable from the user that launched
Podman, so you can copy/rename/delete files from the host.
This project should work correctly on any recent Linux distribution. I currently use Fedora (Silverblue and Kinoite), so this is well-tested.
I would love suggestions, fixes, documentation, examples, and other contributions. See CONTRIBUTING and CODE_OF_CONDUCT for details.
See CONTRIBUTORS for a list of contributors.
Need Fedora support? Use the v1 branch which maintains the original functionality:
git clone -b v1 https://github.com/tonywalker1/wine-container.gitThe v1 branch will receive critical bug fixes but no new features.