sudo: docker-compose: command not found - linux

Question

I am trying to run docker-compose using sudo.
I have both docker and docker-compose installed on Ubuntu 16.01.
Due to an error while trying to download compose using curl, I ended up installing it using pip.
Docker version 1.12.0, build 8eab29e
docker-compose version 1.8.0, build 94f7016
Yet, when I try to run docker-compose with sudo I get the following (using sudo with docker is fine)
sudo: docker-compose: command not found
I suppose there are differing definitions of what 'installed' means. I have been using docker-compose on the same computer that claims it is not installed.
$ dpkg -s docker-compose
dpkg-query: package 'docker-compose' is not installed and no information is available
Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,
and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.
$ whereis docker-compose
docker-compose: /home/user/.local/bin/docker-compose
$ pip show --files docker-compose
---
Metadata-Version: 2.0
Name: docker-compose
Version: 1.8.0
Summary: Multi-container orchestration for Docker
Home-page: https://www.docker.com/
Author: Docker, Inc.
Author-email: UNKNOWN
Installer: pip
License: Apache License 2.0
Location: /home/anton/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
Requires: six, jsonschema, enum34, cached-property, websocket-client, docker-py, requests, docopt, dockerpty, PyYAML, texttable
Classifiers:
Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
Environment :: Console
Intended Audience :: Developers
License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License
Programming Language :: Python :: 2
Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7
Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4
Files:
../../../bin/docker-compose
compose/GITSHA
compose/__init__.py
compose/__init__.pyc
compose/__main__.py
compose/__main__.pyc
compose/bundle.py
compose/bundle.pyc
compose/cli/__init__.py
compose/cli/__init__.pyc
compose/cli/colors.py
compose/cli/colors.pyc
compose/cli/command.py
compose/cli/command.pyc
compose/cli/docker_client.py
compose/cli/docker_client.pyc
compose/cli/docopt_command.py
compose/cli/docopt_command.pyc
compose/cli/errors.py
compose/cli/errors.pyc
compose/cli/formatter.py
compose/cli/formatter.pyc
compose/cli/log_printer.py
compose/cli/log_printer.pyc
compose/cli/main.py
compose/cli/main.pyc
compose/cli/signals.py
compose/cli/signals.pyc
compose/cli/utils.py
compose/cli/utils.pyc
compose/cli/verbose_proxy.py
compose/cli/verbose_proxy.pyc
compose/config/__init__.py
compose/config/__init__.pyc
compose/config/config.py
compose/config/config.pyc
compose/config/config_schema_v1.json
compose/config/config_schema_v2.0.json
compose/config/environment.py
compose/config/environment.pyc
compose/config/errors.py
compose/config/errors.pyc
compose/config/interpolation.py
compose/config/interpolation.pyc
compose/config/serialize.py
compose/config/serialize.pyc
compose/config/sort_services.py
compose/config/sort_services.pyc
compose/config/types.py
compose/config/types.pyc
compose/config/validation.py
compose/config/validation.pyc
compose/const.py
compose/const.pyc
compose/container.py
compose/container.pyc
compose/errors.py
compose/errors.pyc
compose/network.py
compose/network.pyc
compose/parallel.py
compose/parallel.pyc
compose/progress_stream.py
compose/progress_stream.pyc
compose/project.py
compose/project.pyc
compose/service.py
compose/service.pyc
compose/state.py
compose/state.pyc
compose/utils.py
compose/utils.pyc
compose/volume.py
compose/volume.pyc
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/DESCRIPTION.rst
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/INSTALLER
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/METADATA
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/RECORD
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/WHEEL
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/entry_points.txt
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/metadata.json
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/pbr.json
docker_compose-1.8.0.dist-info/top_level.txt
Entry-points:
[console_scripts]
docker-compose=compose.cli.main:main
I have tried the following - but still get the same error:
$ chmod +x /home/username/.local/bin/docker-compose
$ chmod +x /home/username/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages

Answer 1

On Ubuntu 16.04
Here's how I fixed this issue: Refer Docker Compose documentation
sudo curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.21.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
After you do the curl command , it'll put docker-compose into the
/usr/local/bin
which is not on the PATH.
To fix it, create a symbolic link:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
And now if you do:
docker-compose --version
You'll see that docker-compose is now on the PATH

Answer 2

The output of dpkg -s ... demonstrates that docker-compose is not installed from a package. Without more information from you there are at least two possibilities:
docker-compose simply isn't installed at all, and you need to install it.
The solution here is simple: install docker-compose.
docker-compose is installed in your $HOME directory (or other location not on root's $PATH).
There are several solution in this case. The easiest is probably to replace:
sudo docker-compose ...
With:
sudo `which docker-compose` ...
This will call sudo with the full path to docker-compose.
You could alternatively install docker-compose into a system-wide directory, such as /usr/local/bin.

Answer 3

If you have tried installing via the official docker-compose v1 page, where you need to download the binary using curl:
sudo curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.2/docker-compose-`uname -s`-`uname -m` > /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Then do not forget to add executable flag to the binary:
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
If docker-compose is installed using python-pip
sudo apt-get -y install python-pip
sudo pip install docker-compose
try using pip show --files docker-compose to see where it is installed.
If docker-compose is installed in user path, then try:
sudo "PATH=$PATH" docker-compose
As I see from your updated post, docker-compose is installed in user path /home/user/.local/bin and if this path is not in your local path $PATH, then try:
sudo "PATH=$PATH:/home/user/.local/bin" docker-compose

Answer 4

I have same issue , i solved issue :
Following installs Docker Compose v1:
step-1 : download docker-compose using following command.
1. sudo su
2. sudo curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Step-2 : Run command
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Step-3 : Check docker-compose version
docker-compose --version

Answer 5

I will leave this here as a possible fix, worked for me at least and might help others. Pretty sure this would be a linux only fix.
I decided to not go with the pip install and go with the github version (option one on the installation guide).
Instead of placing the copied docker-compose directory into /usr/local/bin/docker-compose from the curl/github command, I went with /usr/bin/docker-compose which is the location of Docker itself and will force the program to run in root. So it works in root and sudo but now won't work without sudo so the opposite effect which is what you want to run it as a user anyways.

Answer 6

If docker-compose is installed for your user but not installed for root user and if you need to run it only once and forget about it afterwords perform the next actions:
Find out path to docker-compose:
which docker-compose
Run the command specifying full path to docker-compose from the previous command, eg:
sudo /home/your-user/your-path-to-compose/docker-compose up

Answer 7

On Ubuntu just run
sudo apt install docker-compose
This worked on Ubuntu 22*

Answer 8

You might be using a deprecated code. Try writing docker compose instead of docker-compose.

Answer 9

Simple, just reinstall the docker-compose. It will fix the issue.
sudo apt install docker-compose

Answer 10

There are too many pending edits on Stack Overflow, so I'm submitting a new answer that supplements earlier answers.
I propose the answer is syntax: docker compose vs docker-compose depending on how you have it installed, which is the same proposed answer by ibrahim shazly on Sep 27, 2022 and Gaurav Kumar Verma on Sep 29, 2022.
Here is an explanation. I followed https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-docker-engine to install Docker on Ubuntu 22 LTS. Then, I attempted to run docker compose like so:
$ docker-compose up -d myserver
Command 'docker-compose' not found, but can be installed with:
...
As Gaurav Kumar Verma points out, https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/other/ has a disclaimer:
Note that Compose standalone uses the -compose syntax instead of the current standard syntax compose.
For example type docker-compose up when using Compose standalone, instead of docker compose up.
Thus, I ran:
$ docker compose up -d myserver
And it ran successfully.

Answer 11

Or, just add your binary path into the PATH. At the end of the bashrc:
...
export PATH=$PATH:/home/user/.local/bin/
save the file and run:
source .bashrc
and the command will work.

Answer 12

docker-compose is not installed. Please try to install it first from their official documentation
Whenever this type of error occurs please try to verify the installation of the apps by typing which command_name it will search for the executables and show you the location.

Answer 13

Had to delete a large log file then restart docker-compose for the space to clear up.
I used a script shell that cron runs once a day:
rm /var/log/cron/log_prodTEST.log
cd /opt/test/metrics
/usr/local/bin/docker-compose up --build --force-recreate -d -T
Apperntly by using the full path to docker-compose, I could use it inside the corn shell

Answer 14

you might try run the code by using docker compose instead of docker-compose
if it work you might want to check this link her
https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/other/

Answer 15

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.12.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo mv /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/docker-compose