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dockerdocker-machinedocker-for-macdocker-desktop

How can I detect if Docker for macOS is installed?

I have some makefiles where most of the stuff should run without configuration. These makefiles have used docker-machine in the past.

Is there a way to detect in Bash if the user is using Docker Desktop for Mac instead of docker-machine?

Solution

  • The best way is to check for the existence of the DOCKER environment variables:

    • DOCKER_HOST
    • DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME
    • DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY
    • DOCKER_CERT_PATH

    All four of these are set when eval $(docker-machine env) is run and are required for use with docker-machine.

    The beta does not require any of them being set and in fact requires you to unset them in order to function properly.

    You can also do a check in the docker info command looking for "moby" (the name of the docker for mac VM):

    docker info | grep -q moby && echo "Docker for mac beta" || echo "Not docker for mac beta"

    This is going to be dependent on consistency in the docker info results, however.