Install WeChat in Docker(DoChat) in Ubuntu

Posted on 2023-12-31 In Linux

WeChat is a useful software to communicate with others. Unfortunately, WeChat Official does not provide Linux version. DoChat is a great alternative.

Introduction

Some methods to use WeChat in Linux are here:

Use windows virtual machine (See Install Windows 11 virtual machine on Ubuntu. This method is quite heavy).
Use WeChat for Ubuntu Kylin. (The UI is quite ugly and few functionalities are supported)
Use docker + wine + wechat on windows.

And the project DoChat provides the third method with painless installation scripts.

Usage

1. Install docker

See This tutorial to install docker engine. For my Ubuntu, I can use

1 2	$ curl -fsSL https://test.docker.com -o test-docker.sh $ sudo sh test-docker.sh

Note: If you have installed docker desktop before, remember to uninstall it. See Docker offical doc to uninstall. Pay particular attention to the modification of $HOME/.docker/config.json!

2. Use the DoChat

Refer to DoChat git repository, use

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

to run the DoChat.

3. Some improvement

The output of the program is quite annoying. What I prefer is to create a script for this, for example, ~/Program/wechat:

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2
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#!/usr/bin/env bash

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huan/docker-wechat/master/dochat.sh | bash 2>/dev/null >/dev/null &

And after add $HOME/Program to $PATH, simply using wechat command could open the wechat clearly.

4. Transferring files.

We can use $HOME/DoChat/WeChat Files/ as a intermediary of the host and the guest. Binding a soft link to $HOME/DoChat/WeChat Files/[WXID]/FileStorage/File/ is a good idea.