Not Paying for Docker Desktop

published 2021-12-05

I use Docker with Compose for local development. I work on a Windows system, use VS Code, and develop in both the Windows CMD terminal and under WSL 2.

The policy

Docker now has a policy of requiring developers working in an organization with more than a certain number of employees (250) or annual revenue ($10M) to pay for a subscription.

Resistance

I work (a) in large-scale enterprise organizations, but (b) on small independent teams within those organizations. Because of (a), I don't qualify for the free Docker Desktop license in these contexts. But, because of (b), I am being put in a position to pay for my own subscription and then submit an expense report. Maybe that's what I should do, but I don't want to.

Meanwhile, I've noticed that I don't really need or use the features of Docker Desktop: The commandline client and system daemon are enough for me. So that brings me to a couple of solutions.

Solution 1: Install Docker on WSL 2 Ubuntu

Install WSL 2 - see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

tldr; Run Powershell as an administrator:
```
wsl --install
wsl --update
```

Install Ubuntu

In a CMD or Powershell terminal:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu
wsl --set-default Ubuntu
wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2

Install Docker - see https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/

tldr; Open an Ubuntu terminal:

sudo apt-get update \
sudo apt-get install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release \
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg
echo \
    "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \
        signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] \
        https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
        $(lsb_release -cs) stable" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list \
    > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

This is pretty standard for installing Docker on Linux. Digital Ocean also has a nice blog post covering the process: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-use-docker-on-ubuntu-20-04

Startup Docker automatically - see https://blog.nillsf.com/index.php/2020/06/29/how-to-automatically-start-the-docker-daemon-on-wsl2/

Since WSL 2 doesn't use systemd, the dockerd doesn't start automatically on system boot. So instead, you can just start it when you log into Ubuntu by adding the following to your ~/.bashrc file:
```
# Start Docker daemon automatically when logging in if not running.
DOCKER_RUNNING=$(ps aux | grep dockerd | grep -v grep)
if [ -z "$DOCKER_RUNNING" ]; then
    sudo dockerd > /dev/null 2>&1 &
    disown
fi
```
There might be less "hacky" ways to operate, but it works. When you log in again, you can:
```
$ docker --version
Docker version 20.10.11, build dea9396
```
(If you need to daemonize docker at the system level, you'll probably dig into creating a Windows service. I don't need that for my use case, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult for the determined: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2016/may/windows-powershell-writing-windows-services-in-powershell.)

Solution 2: Install Docker using Scoop

Install scoop: See https://scoop.sh/
Install Docker with scoop.

Open a CMD or Powershell terminal:
```
> scoop install docker
```

That's it.

Advantage: Super easy, Docker is now running in the background.
Disadvantage: The Docker version is (at this writing) somewhat out of date:
```
> docker --version
Docker version 19.03.1, build 74b1e89e8a
```

Conclusion

I've just done this on my local system, so I don't yet know how well it will work in daily use. However, since I typically have an open terminal with docker compose up running for the current app, I expect that this will work just fine with either installed versions of Docker (Windows via scoop or Ubuntu).