I want to have Docker for Mac start on boot, not on login. How do I do this? I'd like to create a LaunchDaemon, I just don't know what program to start.
All the examples I see seem to use docker-machine
to define a VM, but the documentation now says that docker-machine
is now not the way to go if you want to use the default VM created when Docker is installed, as Docker for Mac doesn't use docker-machine
to create the VM.
The reason is that I want to start Docker to run Jenkins and Nexus containers on boot, as the server is going to be used as a CI server. The Docker GUI has the preference option of starting on login, which is not the same thing as on boot.
I am running OSX Sierra.
On MacOS go to the whale in the taskbar > Preferences > Daemon > Advanced. You can also start the Docker daemon manually and configure it using flags. This can be useful for troubleshooting problems. Many specific configuration options are discussed throughout the Docker documentation.
Checking With Systemctl Check what's displayed under “Active.” If you see active (running) in green, the Docker daemon is running and your containers should be up. An active state of inactive indicates the service has stopped. Try to bring it up by running sudo systemctl start docker .
TL;DR Running Docker for Mac as a standalone service is not supported.
Instead run Docker in a VirtualBox VM, either by creating a plain VM or using docker-machine
. Then set the Virtualbox VM up to run at boot
The Docker for Mac application creates a launchd service:
○→ launchctl list | grep -i docker - 0 com.docker.helper 78105 0 com.docker.docker.52512
The service has the following details:
○→ launchctl list com.docker.docker.52512 { "LimitLoadToSessionType" = "Aqua"; "Label" = "com.docker.docker.52512"; "TimeOut" = 30; "OnDemand" = true; "LastExitStatus" = 0; "PID" = 78105; "Program" = "/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/Docker"; "ProgramArguments" = ( "/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/Docker"; ); "PerJobMachServices" = { "com.apple.tsm.portname" = mach-port-object; "com.apple.CFPasteboardClient" = mach-port-object; "com.apple.coredrag" = mach-port-object; "com.apple.axserver" = mach-port-object; }; };
And has the following process tree:
○→ pstree -p 78105 -+= 00001 root /sbin/launchd \-+= 78105 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/Docker \-+= 78118 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux -watchdog fd:0 -max-restarts 5 -restart-seconds 30 |--- 78119 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux -watchdog fd:0 -max-restarts 5 -restart-seconds 30 |--= 78120 matt com.docker.db --url fd://3 --git /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/database |--= 78121 matt com.docker.osxfs --address fd:3 --connect /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/@connect --control fd:4 --volume-control |--= 78122 matt com.docker.slirp --db /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/s40 --ethernet fd:3 --port fd:4 --introspection fd:5 --diagn |-+= 78123 matt com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux | \--- 78125 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux \-+= 78124 matt com.docker.driver.amd64-linux -db /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/s40 -osxfs-volume /Users/matt/Library/Containers |--- 78126 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.driver.amd64-linux -db /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/s40 -o \--- 78130 matt /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.hyperkit -A -m 2048M -c 3 -u -s 0:0,hostbridge -s 31,lpc -s 2:0,virtio-vpnkit,uuid=
The first problem is /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/Docker
is the GUI app that sits in your tray rather than the VM, so that's going to be hard to run at boot time. The first descendant /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux
looks more like something that manages the VM so we'll start there.
Get the full command of the hyperkit process
○→ ps -fp 78105 UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD 501 78105 82644 0 2:08am ?? 0:00.03 /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux -watchdog fd:0 -max-restarts 5 -restart-seconds 30
Get the working directory of the process
○→ sudo lsof -p 78105 | grep cwd com.docke 78105 matt cwd DIR 1,4 748 63186601 /Users/matt/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data
Create a launchd plist file /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.you.docker.plist
containing the details
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>com.you.docker</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.osx.hyperkit.linux</string> <string>-watchdog</string> <string>fd:0</string> <string>-max-restarts</string> <string>5</string> <string>-restart-seconds</string> <string>30</string> </array> <key>UserName</key> <string>youruser</string> <key>WorkingDirectory</key> <string>/Users/youruser/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data</string> <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/> </dict> </plist>
Which you can load with
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.you.docker.plist
Then... nothing. Check the logs
○→ tail /var/log/system.log Mar 7 02:23:26 mac Docker[87728]: Acquired task manager lock Mar 7 02:23:26 mac Docker[87728]: Maximum number of file descriptors is 10240 Mar 7 02:23:26 mac Docker[87728]: Failed to read watchdog handshake Mar 7 02:23:26 mac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.you.docker[87728]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
You'll notice the command we are running specifies an option -watchdog fd:0
which will be the stdin
of the hyperkit process so there is probably something missing.
If I run Docker normally again and look at what FD 0 is for the hyperkit process when it's working
○→ sudo lsof -p 88360 COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME com.docke 88360 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51
Then looking at PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91
across the system you'll see the main Docker process has the pipe open for many processes.
○→ sudo lsof | grep 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME Docker 88349 matt 13 PIPE 0xff80ce5776aa8d51 16384 ->0xff80ce577ca2ed91 com.docke 88360 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51 com.docke 88362 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51 com.docke 88363 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51 com.docke 88364 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51 com.docke 88365 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51 com.docke 88366 matt 0 PIPE 0xff80ce577ca2ed91 16384 ->0xff80ce5776aa8d51
Trying to load the service again without the -watchdog fd:0
options results in the same error.
So it looks like the main Docker app does some setup that is required to run the VM. I haven't been able to find the source code for whatever deals with the watchdog
option so not sure what it expects.
Maybe raise an issue or feature request on https://github.com/docker/for-mac to get the details of running the VM standalone from the App.
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