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page_title: Installation from Binaries page_description: This instruction set is meant for hackers who want to try out Docker on a variety of environments. page_keywords: binaries, installation, docker, documentation, linux
Binaries
Note
: Docker is still under heavy development! We don’t recommend using it in production yet, but we’re getting closer with each release. Please see our blog post, Getting to Docker 1.0
This instruction set is meant for hackers who want to try out Docker on a variety of environments.
Before following these directions, you should really check if a packaged version of Docker is already available for your distribution. We have packages for many distributions, and more keep showing up all the time!
Check runtime dependencies
To run properly, docker needs the following software to be installed at runtime:
- iptables version 1.4 or later
- Git version 1.7 or later
- procps (or similar provider of a "ps" executable)
- XZ Utils 4.9 or later
- a properly mounted cgroupfs hierarchy (having a single, all-encompassing "cgroup" mount point is not sufficient)
Check kernel dependencies
Docker in daemon mode has specific kernel requirements. For details, check your distribution in Installation.
In general, a 3.8 Linux kernel (or higher) is preferred, as some of the prior versions have known issues that are triggered by Docker.
Note that Docker also has a client mode, which can run on virtually any Linux kernel (it even builds on OSX!).
Get the docker binary:
wget https://get.docker.io/builds/Linux/x86_64/docker-latest -O docker
chmod +x docker
Note
: If you have trouble downloading the binary, you can also get the smaller compressed release file: https://get.docker.io/builds/Linux/x86_64/docker-latest.tgz
Run the docker daemon
# start the docker in daemon mode from the directory you unpacked
sudo ./docker -d &
Giving non-root access
The docker daemon always runs as the root user,
and since Docker version 0.5.2, the docker daemon
binds to a Unix socket instead of a TCP port. By default that Unix
socket is owned by the user root, and so, by default, you can access
it with sudo.
Starting in version 0.5.3, if you (or your Docker installer) create a
Unix group called docker and add users to it, then the
docker daemon will make the ownership of the Unix
socket read/writable by the docker group when the daemon starts. The
docker daemon must always run as the root user,
but if you run the docker client as a user in the
docker group then you don’t need to add sudo to
all the client commands.
Warning
: The docker group (or the group specified with
-G) is root-equivalent; see Docker Daemon Attack Surface details.
Upgrades
To upgrade your manual installation of Docker, first kill the docker daemon:
killall docker
Then follow the regular installation steps.
Run your first container!
# check your docker version
sudo ./docker version
# run a container and open an interactive shell in the container
sudo ./docker run -i -t ubuntu /bin/bash
Continue with the Hello World example.