Install Docker in Debian Linux

Before you install Docker Engine for the first time on a new host machine, you need to set up the Docker repository. Afterward, you can install and update Docker from the repository.

Set up the repository

sudo nala install ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

# Add the repository to apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo nala update

Install the Docker packages

sudo nala install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Start and Enable Docker Service

sudo systemctl start docker

sudo systemctl enable docker

sudo systemctl status docker

Verify that the installation is successful by running the hello-world image

sudo docker run hello-world

This command downloads a test image and runs it in a container. When the container runs, it prints a confirmation message and exits.

Post install

To create the docker group and add your user:

sudo groupadd docker

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and log back in so that your group membership is re-evaluated.

Verify that you can run docker commands without sudo.

docker run hello-world

Docker Compose

Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With Compose, you use a YAML file to configure your application's services. Then, with a single command, you create and start all the services from your configuration.