Get Docker for Debian

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

To get started with Docker on Debian, make sure you meet the prerequisites, then install Docker.

Prerequisites

OS requirements

To install Docker, you need the 64-bit version of one of these Debian versions:

Stretch (testing)
Jessie 8.0 (LTS)
Wheezy 7.7 (LTS)

Extra steps for Wheezy 7.7

You need at least version 3.10 of the Linux kernel. Debian Wheezy ships with version 3.2, so you may need to update the kernel. To check your kernel version:
```
$ uname -r
```
Enable the backports repository. See the Debian documentation.

Recommended extra packages

You need curl if you don’t have it.

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install curl

Install Docker

You can install Docker in different ways, depending on your needs:

Most users set up Docker’s repositories and install from them, for ease of installation and upgrade tasks. This is the recommended approach.
Some users download the DEB package and install it manually and manage upgrades completely manually.
Some users cannot use the official Docker repositories, and must rely on the version of Docker that comes with their operating system. This version of Docker may be out of date. Those users should consult their operating system documentation and not follow these procedures.

Install using the repository

Before you install Docker for the first time on a new host machine, you need to set up the Docker repository. Afterward, you can install, update, or downgrade Docker from the repository.

Set up the repository

Install packages to allow apt to use a repository over HTTPS:

Jessie or Stretch:

$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https \
                       ca-certificates \
                       software-properties-common

Wheezy:

$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https \
                       ca-certificates \
                       python-software-properties

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

$ curl -fsSL https://yum.dockerproject.org/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Note: The URL is correct, even for Linux distributions that use APT.

Verify that the key ID is 58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D.

$ apt-key fingerprint 58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D

  pub   4096R/2C52609D 2015-07-14
        Key fingerprint = 5811 8E89 F3A9 1289 7C07  0ADB F762 2157 2C52 609D
  uid                  Docker Release Tool (releasedocker) <docker@docker.com>

Use the following command to set up the stable repository. To also enable the testing repository, add the words testing after main on the last line. Do not use these unstable repositories on production systems or for non-testing workloads.
```
$ sudo add-apt-repository \
       "deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/ \
       debian-$(lsb_release -cs) \
       main"
```
To disable the testing repository, you can edit /etc/apt/sources.list and remove the word testing from the appropriate line in the file.

Install Docker

Update the apt package index.
```
$ sudo apt-get update
```
Install the latest version of Docker, or go to the next step to install a specific version. Any existing installation of Docker is replaced.

Use this command to install the latest version of Docker:
```
$ sudo apt-get -y install docker-engine
```
Warning: If you have both stable and unstable repositories enabled, updating to the latest version of Docker by not specifying a version in the apt-get install or apt-get update command will always install the highest possible version, which will almost certainly be an unstable one.
On production systems, you should install a specific version of Docker instead of always using the latest. This output is truncated. List the available versions:
```
$ apt-cache madison docker-engine
docker-engine | 1.13.0-0~stretch | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo debian-stretch/main amd64 Packages
docker-engine | 1.12.3-0~stretch | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo debian-stretch/main amd64 Packages
docker-engine | 1.12.2-0~stretch | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo debian-stretch/main amd64 Packages
docker-engine | 1.12.1-0~stretch | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo debian-stretch/main amd64 Packages
```
The contents of the list depend upon which repositories are enabled, and will be specific to your version of Debian (indicated by the stretch suffix on the version, in this example). Choose a specific version to install. The second column is the version string. The third column is the repository name, which indicates which repository the package is from and by extension its stability level. To install a specific version, append the version string to the package name and separate them by an equals sign (=):
```
$ sudo apt-get -y install docker-engine=<VERSION_STRING>
```
The Docker daemon starts automatically.
Verify that docker is installed correctly by running the hello-world image.
```
$ sudo docker run hello-world
```
This command downloads a test image and runs it in a container. When the container runs, it prints an informational message and exits.

Docker is installed and running. You need to use sudo to run Docker commands. Continue to Linux postinstall to allow non-privileged users to run Docker commands and for other optional configuration steps.

Upgrade Docker

To upgrade Docker, first run sudo apt-get update, then follow the installation instructions, choosing the new version you want to install.

Install from a package

If you cannot use Docker’s repository to install Docker, you can download the .deb file for your release and install it manually. You will need to download a new file each time you want to upgrade Docker.

Go to https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/pool/main/d/docker-engine/ and download the .deb file for the Docker version you want to install and for your version of Debian.

Note: To install a testing version, change the word main in the URL to testing. Do not use unstable versions of Docker in production or for non-testing workloads.
Install Docker, changing the path below to the path where you downloaded the Docker package.
```
$ sudo dpkg -i /path/to/package.deb
```
The Docker daemon starts automatically.
Verify that docker is installed correctly by running the hello-world image.
```
$ sudo docker run hello-world
```
This command downloads a test image and runs it in a container. When the container runs, it prints an informational message and exits.

Docker is installed and running. You need to use sudo to run Docker commands. Continue to Post-installation steps for Linux to allow non-privileged users to run Docker commands and for other optional configuration steps.

Upgrade Docker

To upgrade Docker, download the newer package file and repeat the installation procedure, pointing to the new file.

Uninstall Docker

Uninstall the Docker package:
```
$ sudo apt-get purge docker-engine
```
Images, containers, volumes, or customized configuration files on your host are not automatically removed. To delete all images, containers, and volumes:
```
$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker
```

You must delete any edited configuration files manually.

Next steps

Continue to Post-installation steps for Linux
Continue with the User Guide.

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