macOS host system configuration

Automatic installation using `install.py`

The install.py script will attempt to guide you through the installation of Docker and Docker Compose if they are not present. If that works for you, you can skip ahead to Configure docker daemon option in this section.

Install Homebrew

The easiest way to install and maintain docker on Mac is using the Homebrew cask. Execute the following in a terminal.

$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
$ brew install cask
$ brew tap homebrew/cask-versions

Install docker-edge

$ brew install --cask docker-edge

This will install the latest version of docker. It can be upgraded later using brew as well:

$ brew upgrade --cask --no-quarantine docker-edge

You can now run Docker from the Applications folder.

Install docker-compose

$ brew install docker-compose

This will install the latest version of the docker-compose plugin. It can be upgraded later using brew as well:

$ brew upgrade --no-quarantine docker-compose

You can now run docker-compose (at /usr/local/opt/docker-compose/bin/docker-compose) from from the command-line

Configure docker daemon option

Some changes should be made for performance (this link gives a good succinct overview).

Resource allocation - For a good experience, you likely need at least a quad-core MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and an SSD. I have run Malcolm on an older 2013 MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM, but the more the better. Go in your system tray and select Docker → Preferences → Advanced. Set the resources available to docker to at least 4 CPUs and 8GB of RAM (>= 16GB is preferable).
Volume mount performance - You can speed up performance of volume mounts by removing unused paths from Docker → Preferences → File Sharing. For example, if you’re only going to be mounting volumes under your home directory, you could share /Users but remove other paths.

After making these changes, right click on the Docker 🐋 icon in the system tray and select Restart.