AFNI Docker V1 (docker_v1)

This repository serves as a streamlined, direct approach to building or launching containerized versions of AFNI (Analysis of Functional NeuroImages). It aims to reduce dependency conflicts and installation overhead, making it easier to deploy AFNI in a Docker on different operating systems (various Linux distributions and macOS) and on different CPU architectures (Intel/x86, Apple Silicon, ARM). Windows is not yet supported.

Repository Structure

• afni_docker_universal/: Contains the foundational Dockerfile configuration and setup scripts needed to assemble a universal AFNI container environment.
• launch_afni_docker.sh: A dedicated shell script wrapper engineered to automate volume mounting, user permission management, and GUI/X11 rendering parameters.

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Prerequisites

Before running the container or utilizing the launcher script, ensure your host computer satisfies these system requirements:

1. Docker: Ensure Docker Desktop and/or Docker Engine is installed and actively running.
   • Docker Desktop on some Linux variants may block connections necessary for X11 windows.
     Use the Docker Engine if possible.
2. X11 Display Server (Required for interactive GUI elements like the AFNI/SUMA viewer):
   • macOS: Download and install XQuartz.
   • Linux: Standard X11 utilities are usually pre-packaged.

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Using the Launching Script

1. Executing launch_afni_docker.sh with no arguments will configure and launch the afni docker.
   • See launch_afni_docker.sh -help for more info.
2. On Linux, the user needs to be in the docker group to run this script. If you are not in the docker group, the script will exit with an error. You need administrative privileges to create the docker group and add yourself to the group. You can create the docker group with the following command: sudo groupadd docker. You can add yourself to the docker group with the following command: sudo usermod -aG docker $USER. You need to restart your computer or log out and log back in for the group changes to take effect. Running the script with sudo will not fix this issue.
3. The afni docker will be launched with the current user's home directory mounted to /home/external in the docker container. This allows you to access your files from within the docker container. The Docker program may give you a warning about this, but it is safe to ignore.
4. The docker container will be launched with the current user's UID and GID. This allows you to create and access files in your home directory from within the docker container without permission issues.
5. On some Linux variants, the Docker Desktop may block X11 forwarding. If this happens, you can try the -display option to set a different display environment variable. However, this may not work and the using Docker engine instead of the the Docker Desktop may be the only way to fix this issue. Please see the Docker documentation for more information.
6. To exit the docker container, type 'exit' or 'Ctrl+d' TWICE in the terminal. Once to get out user shell and once to exit the docker container. If you only type 'exit' or 'Ctrl+d' ONCE, you will be returned to the root shell in the docker container.

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Building and Running the Container Locally

If you want to construct the image directly using the localized source files under the afni_docker_universal directory, execute:

git clone https://github.com/afni/docker_v1.git
cd docker_v1/afni_docker_universal
docker build -t afni_universal .

To run the container on macOS, use:

docker run -ti --rm \
       -u root \
       -v "${HOME}:/home/external" \
       -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
       --env DISPLAY="host.docker.internal:0" \
       --env USERID="`id -u`" \
       --env GRPID="`id -g`" \
       --env GRPNAME="`id -gn`" \
       --env USERNAME="`id -u -n`" \
       afni_universal

To run the container on Linux, use:

docker run -ti --rm \
       -u root \
       -v "${HOME}:/home/external" \
       -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
       --env DISPLAY="${DISPLAY}" \
       --env USERID="`id -u`" \
       --env GRPID="`id -g`" \
       --env GRPNAME="`id -gn`" \
       --env USERNAME="`id -u -n`" \
       afni_universal

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