Comment by prmoustache
6 months ago
I never used docker desktop and am struggling to understand what you are supposed to be doing with a gui in a docker/container context.
6 months ago
I never used docker desktop and am struggling to understand what you are supposed to be doing with a gui in a docker/container context.
GUI lets you look at logs quickly, there is buttons to click quickly open http://localhost:<port>, stop and start containers, get shell in container and bunch of other stuff that people developing or testing against containers need locally.
Or even better (and free): https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker
I am surprised a developer would not have chosen to redirect the port at run time already and would not be running the containers in the foreground in the first place.
So many developers don't learn docker. I'm Ops type person, outside FAANG, most devs are just flinging code at screen to close JIRA tickets, get the build to go green and collect a paycheck to go home. Docker, that's for us Ops people who have build that rickety pipeline that somehow manages to get your code into a container and into the Kubernetes cluster.
Dropbox copypasta goes here
10 replies →
For me, Docker Desktop is simply an easy way to launch the Docker daemon and inspect some created images and their corresponding logs. Other than that, the cli suffices.
We had to remove Docker Desktop at my job (I think they started asking for money?) and moved to Lima/Colima. If this project means one less program to configure to get my docker containers running then I'm all for it.
Docker desktop for commercial use requires a license and they don't release binaries for Mac other than desktop. Seems like their one route to monetization. I use docker for literally only one build that doesn't work on native macOS so i love the idea of switching to a simple standalone CLI
I use Rancher Desktop plus the FOSS docker CLI from Homebrew. Works well, and has no licensing issues.
The problem (as far as I can tell) is that for Windows and MacOS you can't install the docker daemon etc without installing Desktop.
I have a Mac for work and containers are a pain. I've tried Podman, UTM, colima, Docker Desktop etc and it all boils down to the same thing - run a linux VM and have the command line utils cooperate with the VM to run the containers.
It comes down to which solution has the least friction and irritations and Docker might still win there.
My current setup is UTM running a debian VM which I share my source directory with and ssh into to run docker. This is simpler for my brain to understand because the linux VM isn't a hidden component I forget to manage.
But it's not obvious how to mount the shared directory and I'm constantly running into networking problems - currently I cannot connect as myself and must sudo ssh for it to work. A reboot (of the Mac) used to fix it, but no longer does. I've given up trying to fix it and just sudo.
Imo, the GUI isn't really the most important part of things like Docker Desktop.
The nice part is that they (a) set up the Linux VM that runs the Docker daemon for you and (b) handle the socket forwarding magic that lets you communicate with it "directly" by running the Docker client on the host OS. This is likewise true for Podman Desktop, Rancher Desktop, etc.
The GUI is icing on the cake, imo.
Very few use the GUI for things other than configuring Docker engine settings like memory, etc.