How to run Docker-in-Docker with Geodesic?

Problem

Using the a geodesic based toolbox, sometimes it would be helpful to be able to leverage all the commands that ship with the image together with other containers. Out-of-the-box we do not ship docker as it adds a lot of unnecessary cruft to the base image.

Solution

tip

Simply invoke the geodesic wrapper script with --with-docker or set the environment variable WITH_DOCKER=true

Debian Instructions

Here are the steps to reproduce for Debian.

First, install the geodesic shell.

info

If you’re running from an infrastructure repository, you should run make install instead, which will install the appropriate image and wrapper script.

Here’s an example of doing it more generally, simply using the geodesic base image that is publicly available.

docker run -it public.ecr.aws/cloudposse/geodesic:latest-debian -c init | bash

Start the shell, which was just installed (usually to /usr/local/bin/something). This will ensure the docker socket is mounted into the container.

Pro tip: /usr/loca/bin/geodesic is a simple shell script. Inspect it to understand how it works.

geodesic --with-docker

After running this command, you’re dropped into an interactive shell within the container.

Then install docker as you would normally.

caution

The docker package goes by many different names depending on the OS distribution.

apt-get -y install docker.io

Validate docker is working:

docker ps