Installing Exegol on Arch Linux

NOTE

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Exegol is installed through two main steps:

1. Install the Python wrapper (the "brains")
2. Install at least one Exegol image (the "muscle")

1. Requirements

Git, Python3 and Pipx can be installed with the following command:

sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm && sudo pacman -S --noconfirm git python-pipx

Ensure pipx is in PATH and reload the shell

pipx ensurepath && exec $SHELL

While we always advise to refer to the official documentation, the following one-liner can be used to install Docker quickly.

sudo pacman -Syu docker

WARNING

Docker "Rootless mode" is not supported by Exegol as of yet. Don't follow that part.

Once docker is installed, it needs to be started.

# start docker
sudo systemctl start docker 

# configure docker to start at boot
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

2. Wrapper install

Install Exegol in an isolated environment using pipx, a tool that allows you to easily install and run Python applications in isolated environments, keeping them separate from your system Python and other packages.

pipx install exegol

Before using Exegol, you will need to read and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). This will be prompted on the first run of the wrapper, and until it's confirmed.

To interact with docker, the wrapper needs proper permissions. You must either run Exegol with sudo (preferred), or have your user be a member of the docker group (which dangerously allows your user to basically have root permissions all the time).

The following command shows how to do that with bash, but it can be adapted to any shell. Once the alias is set, you can apply it your current session.

Add the following alias to your ~/.bashrc file:

echo "alias exegol='sudo -E \$HOME/.local/bin/exegol'" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

3. The rest

Once the requirements are installed, the main installation documentation can be followed, from step "3. Activation".

3.1. Graphical apps

To enable graphical applications inside containers (like Firefox, BloodHound, or BurpSuite) to connect to your X11 session, you need to install xorg-xhost and grant some access.

First, install xorg-xhost:

sudo pacman -S xorg-xhost

Then, grant access to the local root user (used by Exegol or Docker)

xhost +si:localuser:root