Docker in Debian

It’s not easy getting Docker to work in Debian.

It’s not in stable at all:

0 jamie@turkey:~$ rmadison docker.io
docker.io  | 1.6.2~dfsg1-1~bpo8+1 | jessie-backports | source, amd64, armel, armhf, i386
docker.io  | 1.11.2~ds1-5         | unstable         | source, arm64
docker.io  | 1.11.2~ds1-5         | unstable-debug   | source
docker.io  | 1.11.2~ds1-6         | unstable         | source, armel, armhf, i386, ppc64el
docker.io  | 1.11.2~ds1-6         | unstable-debug   | source
docker.io  | 1.13.1~ds1-2         | unstable         | source, amd64
docker.io  | 1.13.1~ds1-2         | unstable-debug   | source
0 jamie@turkey:~$ 

And a problem with runc makes it really hard to get it working on Debian unstable.

These are the steps I took to get it running today (2017-10-10).

Remove runc (allow it to remove containerd and docker.io):

sudo apt-get remove runc

Install docker-runc (now in testing)

sudo apt-get install docker-runc

Fix containerd package to depend on docker-runc instead of runc:

mkdir containerd
cd containerd
apt-get download containerd 
ar x containerd_0.2.3+git20170126.85.aa8187d~ds1-2_amd64.deb
tar -xzf control.tar.gz
sed -i s/runc/docker-runc/g control
tar -c md5sums control | gzip -c > control.tar.gz
ar rcs new-containerd.deb debian-binary control.tar.gz data.tar.xz
sudo dpkg -i new-containerd.deb

Fix docker.io package to depend on docker-runc instead of runc.

mkdir docker
cd docker
apt-get download docker.io
ar x docker.io_1.13.1~ds1-2_amd64.deb
tar -xzf control.tar.gz
sed -i s/runc/docker-runc/g control
tar -c {post,pre}{inst,rm} md5sums control | gzip -c > control.tar.gz
ar rcs new-docker.io.deb debian-binary control.tar.gz data.tar.xz
sudo dpkg -i new-docker.io.deb

Symlink docker-runc => runc

sudo ln -s /usr/sbin/docker-runc /usr/sbin/runc

Keep apt-get from upgrading until this bug is fixed:

printf "# Remove when docker.io and containerd depend on docker-runc
# instead of normal runc
# https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=877329
Package: runc 
Pin: release * 
Pin-Priority: -1 

Package: containderd 
Pin: release * 
Pin-Priority: -1 

Package: docker.io
Pin: release * 
Pin-Priority: -1" | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/docker.pref

Thanks to coderwall for tips on manipulating deb files.