How to install Docker on 32bit machine having Ubuntu 12.04?

Question

I have followed the docker installation doc for installing it on my machine which is a 32 bit machine running Ubuntu 12.04

The step

$ sudo apt-get install docker-engine

fails saying

E: Unable to locate package docker-engine

It should have been installed, right?

Also I came to know that, Docker currently only supports 64bit platforms.

$ wget -qO- https://get.docker.io/ | sh
Error: you are not using a 64bit platform.
Docker currently only supports 64bit platforms.

Is there a way to I install it and make it work on 32bit machine?

Answer 1

This is possible these days, with just a simple script. You could use https://gitlab.com/docker-32bit/ubuntu.

Works perfectly on my Ubuntu 16.04 32-bit system. I used it to install the office server Collabora Online for my Nextcloud:

wget https://gitlab.com/docker-32bit/ubuntu/raw/master/build-image.sh
# for Debian, use one of:
# wget https://gitlab.com/docker-32bit/debian/raw/armhf/build-image.sh
# wget https://gitlab.com/docker-32bit/debian/raw/i386/build-image.sh

sudo bash build-image.sh
docker -v
# Docker version 1.13.1, build 092cba3
    
sudo docker pull collabora/code
sudo docker run -t -d -p 127.0.0.1:9980:9980 -e 'domain=my\\.domain\\.com' --restart always --cap-add MKNOD collabora/code

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Update December 2020

It seems that sudo apt install -y docker.io might just work on Debian 10 Buster and would install a 32-bit compatible Docker version. Didn't test it myself, but John Smith confirmed this.

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Answer 2

As per the prerequisites:

Docker requires a 64-bit installation regardless of your Ubuntu version. Additionally, your kernel must be 3.10 at minimum. The latest 3.10 minor version or a newer maintained version are also acceptable.

You will not be able to install Docker onto a 32bit platform.

UPDATE:

It is possible. See answer from MS Berends in this same thread