Install buildx

[halostatue]

It doesn’t matter much from my perspective, because I’m using buildkit (via DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1), but I’m curious how one would install buildx on macOS for use with Colima, as brew install docker does not seem to include it. I can obviously install Docker desktop, but that sort of defeats the purpose.

Those of you using it, how have you installed it? Manual plug-in installation?

[abiosoft]

ARCH=amd64 # change to 'arm64' for m1
VERSION=v0.8.2
curl -LO https://github.com/docker/buildx/releases/download/${VERSION}/buildx-${VERSION}.darwin-${ARCH}
mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
mv buildx-${VERSION}.darwin-${ARCH} ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
docker buildx version # verify installation

[jacobibanez]

Hi, thanks for this answer. I have tried these steps, though, and my terminal still says buildx is not a docker command :( I'm using NOT an m1 mac, with colima instead of docker desktop

[fullheart]

Hi together,

Thank you for this solution!

I created for my this installer Script to install with GitHub CLI the latest buildx command on my Mac with M1. This script install always the latest version of the command:

https://github.com/fullheart/my-dev-env/blob/main/osx/docker/colima/install_latest_buildx.sh

[amitds1997]

For me, this worked:

brew install docker-buildx
# Follow the caveats mentioned in the install instructions:
# mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
# ln -sfn $(which docker-buildx) ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
docker buildx install # To keep using the `docker build` install but with buildkit: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/buildx_install/

Edit 1: Updated specific location in # ln -sfn /usr/local/opt/docker-buildx/bin/docker-buildx ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx with $(which docker-buildx).

[halostatue]

This is a simpler answer if using Homebrew.

[terracota-p]

That worked for me on m1, thanks.

[peraronsson]

Following these instructions, I first got docker: 'buildx' is not a docker command. when running docker buildx install.
A small modification was required on my M1; the symlink had to be changed to
ln -sfn /opt/homebrew/bin/docker-buildx ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

[halostatue]

This could be generalized to ln -sfn $(which docker-buildx) ~/.docker/cli-plugins.

[connorads]

Following these instructions, I first got docker: 'buildx' is not a docker command. when running docker buildx install. A small modification was required on my M1; the symlink had to be changed to ln -sfn /opt/homebrew/bin/docker-buildx ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

Thanks. I had to adjust it slightly to get it to work.

mkdir ~/.docker/cli-plugins
ln -sfn $(which docker-buildx) ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

[arthurspa]

I addition to @amitds1997 answer, I had to set DOCKER_HOST to point it to Colima docker socket. E.g. in my .zshrc I added export DOCKER_HOST="unix://$HOME/.colima/docker.sock". Otherwise I'd get this error:

NAME/NODE DRIVER/ENDPOINT STATUS  BUILDKIT PLATFORMS
colima *  docker                           
  colima  colima          running 20.10.20 linux/arm64, linux/amd64
default                   error            

Cannot load builder default: Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?```

Pasted here in case someone else run in the same problem. I'm using Mac M1.

[halostatue]

This would be better to do as:

export DOCKER_HOST="$(docker context inspect --format '{{ .Endpoints.docker.Host }}')"

It’s worth noting that if you have multiple Colima contexts, you’ll probably want to have something like this Fish function that I use:

# Defined in /Users/austin/.config/fish/functions/set-docker-host.fish @ line 1
function set-docker-host
    command -sq docker
    or return 1

    set -l host (docker context inspect --format '{{ .Endpoints.docker.Host }}')
    or return 1

    set -gx DOCKER_HOST $host
end

In *sh, this would be something like (untested):

# Defined in /Users/austin/.config/fish/functions/set-docker-host.fish @ line 1
function set-docker-host() {
  command -v docker > /dev/null 2>/dev/null || return 1

  host="$(docker context inspect --format '{{ .Endpoints.docker.Host }}')" || return 1

  export DOCKER_HOST="${host}"
}

[nipunsharma12]

Docker_host would need to be updated for the newer versions of colima
export DOCKER_HOST="unix://$HOME/.colima/default/docker.sock"

[halostatue]

Not if you’re using docker contexts the way that I suggested in my reply.

[nipunsharma12]

yes, you're right.
-Thanks

[arun0009]

brew install docker-buildx
mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
ln -sfn $HOMEBREW_PREFIX/opt/docker-buildx/bin/docker-buildx ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

[jasonwang178]

My solution:

brew install docker-buildx

mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
ln -s $(which docker-buildx) ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

colima restart
docker buildx version