DoChat /dɑɑˈtʃæt/ 盒装微信

DoChat(盒装微信) is a Dockerized WeChat(微信) PC Windows Client for Linux.

Honors

• Tweeted⁠ by Y Combinator Hacker News⁠
• Headlined⁠ by OS China⁠

Usage

WeChat PC will be started on your Linux desktop by running the following one-line command:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh | bash

Just copy/paste the above one-line command to your terminal and press Enter. Then the WeChat PC should appear in your XWindows desktop shortly.

Features

It just works out-of-the-box with one-line of shell command!

1. Input/Display Chinese characters perfectly.
2. Paste copied images to WeChat with Ctrl+V

Requirements

1. Linux Ubuntu distribution will be recommended (DoChat was developed with the Ubuntu Desktop 19.10)
   1. Debian support confirmed (#9⁠)
   2. OpenSUSE support confirmed (#16⁠)
   3. Arch support confirmed (#26⁠)
   4. Ubuntu(19.04/18.10/18.04) should be able to support
   5. Other Linux distributions: might be able to support
2. Docker (run sudo apt update && apt install docker.io to install Docker for Ubuntu users)

Environment Variables

DOCHAT_DPI

DPI Scale Factors for graphic screen resolution.

Default: 120

To enlarge the window & fonts size:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh \
  | DOCHAT_DPI=192 bash

DOCHAT_SKIP_PULL

If you do not want to pull docker image for the latest version at startup everytime, you can set DOCHAT_SKIP_PULL environment variable.

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh \
  | DOCHAT_SKIP_PULL=true bash

In case you have downloaded dochat.sh:

DOCHAT_SKIP_PULL=true ./dochat.sh

DOCHAT_DEBUG

Show more debug log messages.

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh \
  | DOCHAT_DEBUG=true bash

DOCHAT_WECHAT_VERSION

Use a specific version for WeChat.

You can get a full list of the supported versions from Docker Hub Image Tags at https://hub.docker.com/r/zixia/wechat/tags

For example:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh \
  | DOCHAT_WECHAT_VERSION=2.7.1.85 bash

For Hackers

If you want to control everything by yourself, for example, open multiple WeChat PC client on your desktop; then, you might want to inspect the dochat.sh⁠ in our repository and try the following docker command:

docker run \
  --name DoChat \
  --rm \
  -i \
  \
  -v "$HOME/DoChat/WeChat Files/":'/home/user/WeChat Files/' \
  -v "$HOME/DoChat/Applcation Data":'/home/user/.wine/drive_c/users/user/Application Data/' \
  -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
  \
  -e DISPLAY \
  \
  -e XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx \
  -e GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx \
  -e QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx \
  -e GID="$(id -g)" \
  -e UID="$(id -u)" \
  \
  --ipc=host \
  --privileged \
  \
  zixia/wechat

Modify it whatever you want to fulfill your needs.

Known Issues

• WeChat 2.8.0.x can not send big images/files (#341⁠)
  • Work around: use 2.7.1.85 instead. (DOCHAT_WECHAT_VERSION=2.7.1.85)
• In-WeChat Browser does not work (#2⁠)

To-do List

• Permanent Storage for WeChat PC Login Data Information (#3⁠)
• Automatically install WeChat PC from .EXE installer when building the Dockerfile. (Test Automation tools might be needed)
• Monitor WeChat PC version publications so that we can publish the same version number of the docker image with it.

FAQ

System Tray Icon with Gnome Desktop

Install Gnome Extension: Top Icons Plus Git⁠ by bijignome

Exit with code 5 on openSUSE Leap

When you encounter problem that the app exit with code 5 on openSUSE Leap, you need to disable X server access control to allow any user to connect to the X server before you start the app. Use below command to disable it:

$ xhost +

No main window after start up with 2 or more monitor setup

This could be caused by an old bug in wine with multiple monitor setup. Workaround is to start it up with single monitor and then switch to multiple monitors

This behavior may cause the view disappear when you use the Join Displays mode, so you need change the mode to mirrors when the app start, this script may help:

#bin/bash
xrandr --output HDMI-1-2 --same-as eDP-1-1
DOCHAT_SKIP_PULL=true /home/yuhui/App/wechat/dochat.sh &
sleep 5
xrandr --output HDMI-1-2 --right-of eDP-1-1

Change the HDMI-1-2 to your external display name and eDP-1-1 to your built in display name. Display more than two, link to this⁠.
Notice: you must drag the login dialog to built in display side when the process sleep 5, otherwise the view may stuck in the external display.

Links

• Input Method don't work when using X11Forward⁠
• Input method related environment variables⁠
• Docker GUI最佳实践⁠
• Linux 下 完美运行 wechat 微信⁠

History

master

v1.0 (Mar 12, 2020)

1. Upgrade wine from v4.0 to v5.0

v0.8 (Mar 3, 2020)

1. Add a new configuration environment variable DOCHAT_WECHAT_VERSION to select WeChat version.
2. Add WeChat v2.8.0.112
   1. 新增订阅号浏览
   2. 新增IPv6网络支持
   3. 新增看一看精选内容
   4. 新增打开聊天中小程序消息
   5. 新增在小程序中使用微信支付
   6. 新增聊天文件面板，可查看和管理所有聊天文件

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh \
  | DOCHAT_WECHAT_VERSION=2.8.0.112 bash

v0.5 (Feb 24, 2020)

1. Add environment variable DOCHAT_DPI to set DPI scale factors for graphicg screen resolution.
2. Disable auto-update.

v0.4 (Feb 21, 2020)

Got a great logo from my art friend Ruoxin SONG.

1. Fix Sound (#1⁠)
2. Fix to not exit during the upgrading progress.

v0.2 (Feb 18, 2020)

The first working version, cheers!

v0.1 (Feb 17, 2020)

Project created.

Thanks

1. WeChat Desktop on Linux⁠ - by @ferrolho⁠
2. Wine HQ App Database - WeChat⁠
3. 基于深度操作系统的微信 docker 镜像⁠ by @bestwu⁠
4. DoChat logo designed by my friend Ruoxin SONG.

Related Projects

1. DoWork /dɑɑˈwɜːk/ 盒装企业微信⁠: Dockerized WeChat Work (企业微信) PC Windows Client for Linux

Author

Huan LI⁠ (李卓桓⁠) zixia@zixia.net⁠

Copyright & License

• Code & Docs © 2020-now Huan LI <zixia@zixia.net⁠>
• Code released under the Apache-2.0 License
• Docs released under Creative Commons