Accessing Bluetooth dongle from inside Docker?

Question

Is it possible to use a bluetooth (BLE in my case) dongle inside of a docker container?

On my host machine:

$ hcitool dev
    Devices:
       hci0   5C:F         


        

Answer 1

I can confirm that what OlivierM wrote is working on me. Spent some time on Raspberry Pi 3B+ and its built-in bluetooth.

Dockerfile:

FROM python:3.7

RUN apt-get update

RUN apt-get install -y bluez bluetooth

ENTRYPOINT sh docker_entrypoint.sh

and entrypoint:

#!/bin/bash

service dbus start
bluetoothd &

/bin/bash

sudo killall -9 bluetoothd is needed on host machine before before starting the container:

docker run --rm --net=host --privileged -it myimage:mytag

Answer 2

Try this:

sudo docker run --net=host --privileged -i -t ubuntu /bin/bash

Answer 3

If you want to run bluez from a docker (and not only expose hci adapter) you need:

• To start your docker with sudo docker run --privileged -i -t your_image_name /bin/bash
• Make sure bluez is not running on your host. In my case I add to kill bluez (killall -9 bluetoothd) (and not stopped it properly as it will power down my bluetooth adapter and will not exposed it into the docker)
• In your docker entrypoint, you will need to start dbus (/etc/init.d/dbus start) and bluez (/usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd --debug &)

Answer 4

With help from Docker Community, I have Successfully Started DBus/Bluetooth Services inside docker container and scan bluetooth devices by adding --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN, --cap-add=NET_ADMIN and --net=host flags/permission

docker run --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --net=host -it debian:jessie

Now just looking to start bluetooth service by "Not sharing the Host Networking Namespace" (customising --net=host to private network)

If somebody got any Clue, that would be helpful. Thanks.