How I install and configure Docker for my Mac via Homebrew

This is the best way I can come up with to install Docker on my Mac. I never liked manually downloading the “.dmg” file and then moving it to the Applications directory. I will be sharing in this post how I installed it via Homebrew while also configuring bash completion for Docker.

Steps to install and configure Docker:

1. Install Homebrew and Cask
2. Install Docker
3. Setup Bash auto completion

Install Homebrew and Cask

Homebrew is a package manager for Mac and has always been my preferred way to install my tools because I can integrate it with my setup scripts. To install it execute

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

then install Homebrew Cask which is an extension of Homebrew. It makes the installation of large binaries and graphical applications simpler.

brew tap caskroom/versions

Install Docker

To install Docker via Homebrew run

brew cask install docker

then after installation run

docker --version

to confirm its installation.

Setup Bash auto completion

Install bash completion via Homebrew.

brew install bash-completion

Create symlinks for Docker’s completion on Bash.

etc=/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/etc
ln -s $etc/docker.bash-completion $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d/docker
ln -s $etc/docker-machine.bash-completion $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d/docker-machine
ln -s $etc/docker-compose.bash-completion $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d/docker-compose

Add this line to your ~/.bash_profile.

[ -f /usr/local/etc/bash_completion ] && . /usr/local/etc/bash_completion

Apply the changes by running

source ~/.bash_profile

Thats it! Now you have installed Docker while also enabling completion for Bash. If you know a better way to install it please don’t hesitate to comment below.