"Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate" in 18.04

Question

I'm following the official Docker installation guide for docker-ce on Ubuntu.

When I get to sudo apt install docker-ce I get E: Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate:

$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done

$ sudo apt-get install \
>     apt-transport-https \
>     ca-certificates \
>     curl \
>     software-properties-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
ca-certificates is already the newest version (20180409).
curl is already the newest version (7.58.0-2ubuntu3).
software-properties-common is already the newest version (0.96.24.32.1).
The following NEW packages will be installed
  apt-transport-https
0 to upgrade, 1 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 1,692 B of archives.
After this operation, 152 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
Get:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 apt-transport-https all 1.6.1 [1,692 B]
Fetched 1,692 B in 0s (65.4 kB/s)               
Selecting previously unselected package apt-transport-https.
(Reading database ... 116694 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../apt-transport-https_1.6.1_all.deb ...
Unpacking apt-transport-https (1.6.1) ...
Setting up apt-transport-https (1.6.1) ...

$ curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
OK

$ sudo apt-key fingerprint 0EBFCD88
pub   rsa4096 2017-02-22 [SCEA]
      9DC8 5822 9FC7 DD38 854A  E2D8 8D81 803C 0EBF CD88
uid           [ unknown] Docker Release (CE deb) <docker@docker.com>
sub   rsa4096 2017-02-22 [S]

$ sudo add-apt-repository \
>    "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
>    $(lsb_release -cs) \
>    stable"
Hit:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease                                                                                    
Hit:3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease                                                                                  
Get:4 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu bionic InRelease [64.4 kB]                                                       
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease                                                               
Fetched 64.4 kB in 0s (141 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

robin@xps:~/git/snapcraft.io$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease                                      
Hit:3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease                                                                                   
Hit:4 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu bionic InRelease                                                                                        
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease                                                                
Reading package lists... Done  

$ sudo apt-get install docker-ce
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package docker-ce is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate

My first thought was that Docker haven't released a package for Bionic yet (it's very new) but when I searched for "install docker-ce ubuntu 18.04" I found a guide which seems 18.04 specific, and basically just gives exactly the same instructions - suggesting that it at least worked for the author:

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-docker-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver

Does anyone have any idea why this might not be working for me?

See also your other options: a snap from Docker Inc, or a more-recent standard Ubuntu package in docker.io: askubuntu: Docker-CE or docker.io package — nealmcb, Jun 22 '18 at 15:00
Still have this problem in July 2019... sudo apt install docker.io worked for me — cowlinator, Jul 16 '19 at 22:50

score 131 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 23 '21 at 07:09

131

Run this if you want to install the docker-ce on Ubuntu 18.04:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu `lsb_release -cs` test"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce

To check if the installation ended successfuly, just run:

docker -v

should output:

Docker version 18.06.1-ce, build e68fc7a

edited Jun 23 '21 at 07:09

Trake Vital

161

answered Oct 11 '18 at 14:02

Yuval Pruss

1,433

9

Also, in case of Ubuntu 19, just change bionic in the 3rd line to disco – pkuderov Apr 20 '19 at 02:32
Btw, that url plus "bionic" plus "test" is just a path to release - you can check that url and follow the path. Seems that any valid path is viable - there're another stable/nightly/etc releases for some number of versions of Ubuntu. So for any future Ubuntu version its corresponding release can be checked there. – pkuderov Apr 20 '19 at 02:42
@pkuderov Docker ce is not in that repository, the deb is also available only to containerd.io. I don't know if bionic would work instead of disco in that case. It's so frustrating. – andras Apr 20 '19 at 07:08
@pkuderov You can edit the response accordingly – Yuval Pruss Apr 22 '19 at 15:20
2

Guys, it looks like suffixes -ce and -ee are removed since ver. 18.09.0, so there's no mistake as far as I see. Checked my installation from test build - sudo docker run hello-world works correctly. The only problem I see - 19 ver is in beta. Sorry for confusing - only 2nd week using Linux :) – pkuderov Apr 22 '19 at 17:36
1

Can we replace bionic with xenial? I've just tried it on ubuntu 16.04 and it seems to work although the ouput of lsb_release -cs was xenial. – Ibrahim.H Jul 22 '20 at 21:00
Side-note for beginners: execute each row on its own. Copying all of the code concatenates the commands and does not execute a tail of the commands. – questionto42 Dec 09 '21 at 15:24

score 44 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 14 '19 at 16:16

44

From the same guide you referenced, you can use repository for 17.10 instead at this moment:

deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu artful stable

And all docker-ce dependent packages will be resolved from the ubuntu bionic repository. Check the Docker documentation for more info. No compatibility issues to worry about :)

2018-07-19 update

Docker 18.06 has been updated to bionic repository, this workaround is not required anymore!

edited Jan 14 '19 at 16:16

pyjavo

103
1
4

answered May 03 '18 at 09:48

tan9

556

16

Still does not work on 18.04.
I still get

E: Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate
– R J Jun 04 '18 at 12:58
@RJ It does work for me on 18.04. It is now a few days later; maybe there have been a few updates to the repositories. I noticed that some of the packages were downloaded from bionic and other ones from artful. – NZD Jun 07 '18 at 03:36
https://github.com/docker/for-linux/issues/290#issuecomment-393605253 – mafrosis Jun 08 '18 at 22:30
I can confirm that this is working, just installed it on 18.04 ➜ ~ docker -v Docker version 18.03.1-ce, build 9ee9f40 – copser Jun 13 '18 at 12:47
2

FYI, since June 21, it can be installed with: curl -fsSL get.docker.com | CHANNEL=stable sh – Juha Untinen Aug 27 '18 at 12:55
try this one https://stackoverflow.com/a/55012230/1396526 – Teymur Mardaliyer Lennon Mar 05 '19 at 21:59
thanks, as in documentation, prior installing from the repo are necessary to carry out multiple steps – FantomX1 Nov 13 '20 at 07:42

score 14 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 14 '19 at 17:09

14

I had the same issue, here is how I fixed it:

$ sudo snap install docker

$docker -v

Docker version 18.06.1-ce, build e68fc7a


$sudo docker version


Client:
 Version:           18.06.1-ce
 API version:       1.38
 Go version:        go1.10.4
 Git commit:        e68fc7a
 Built:             Tue May  7 18:01:43 2019
 OS/Arch:           linux/386
 Experimental:      false

Server:
 Engine:
  Version:          18.06.1-ce
  API version:      1.38 (minimum version 1.12)
  Go version:       go1.10.4
  Git commit:       e68fc7a
  Built:            Tue May  7 18:01:44 2019
  OS/Arch:          linux/386

edited Jun 14 '19 at 17:09

ThunderBird

1,955

answered Jun 14 '19 at 11:37

mixture mind

141

That's the easiest and most elegant solution! Just run 'sudo apt install snapd' first :) – d.popov Sep 22 '19 at 18:50
2

Except that notice it's installing docker 18 instead of 19. It's mostly useless. – James Moore Dec 23 '19 at 22:46
Thanks mate. It worked – Ramesh Ponnusamy May 20 '21 at 07:04
1

"The Docker Snap is no longer maintained by Docker, Inc. The last release version was 17.06.2. The future of the Docker Snap is unclear, but it won't be developed here going forward" https://github.com/docker-archive/docker-snap – Konrad Grzyb Aug 19 '21 at 10:20

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 01:25

10

Some of the guides jumped the gun; docker-ce is not available for Ubuntu 18.04 yet at the time of this post. You can check the list of supported versions here.

That same guide you linked to suggested installing docker.io; this is what I did. It's a workaround until docker-ce supports 18.04.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 01:25

Thomas Ward

74,764

answered Apr 30 '18 at 16:11

ajh158

209

1

From the same guide, you can use repository for 17.10 instead at this moment: deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu artful stable – tan9 Apr 30 '18 at 16:28
@tan9 that should be the accepted answer - could you post it as an answer? – Robin Winslow May 03 '18 at 09:42
2

I am running 18.04, and pointing the URL to artful did not help for me. The only thing that worked was installing docker.io. – R J Jun 04 '18 at 13:01

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited May 09 '18 at 10:57

8

Following the steps here in the Docker documentation worked for me. I just had to change stable to test in this command

sudo add-apt-repository \ 
"deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(lsb_release -cs) \
stable"

edited May 09 '18 at 10:57

Zanna

70,465

answered May 09 '18 at 10:26

xExplorer

121

why did you have to do that? What version are you using? Could you add the complete steps you used? – Zanna May 09 '18 at 10:58
This does not work for Ubuntu 18.04, which is what the question was about. – R J Jun 04 '18 at 12:57
it work absolutely fine for me – xExplorer Jun 05 '18 at 07:18
@Zanna https://github.com/docker/for-linux/issues/290#issuecomment-393605253 – mafrosis Jun 08 '18 at 22:31

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 15 '20 at 22:31

3

If you are getting the error, Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate, then use this:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable edge test"

edited Dec 15 '20 at 22:31

Nmath

12,333

answered Dec 15 '20 at 19:37

Cavorting Smackiness

31

1

Unless, of course, you're on ARM (like a Raspberry Pi) in which case you need [arch=arm64]. – msanford Jan 07 '21 at 02:29

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 07 '23 at 06:12

1

Snap package of docker will be easily install able on Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco) and it worked for me.

Check out the documentation for it here:

https://github.com/docker/docker-snap

edited Feb 07 '23 at 06:12

cocomac

3,394

answered Jul 04 '19 at 08:44

Myster-Mayur

191

1

Welcome to AU. Could you edit your answer to provide a summary of the solution you give. This way, your answer will remain valid even even the link dispappears or changes. Thank you for your efforts. – Marc Vanhoomissen Jul 04 '19 at 09:19

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 21 '21 at 14:55

1

By Executing the following commands we can install docker

 curl -fsSL get.docker.com | CHANNEL=stable sh
 sudo apt install docker-ce
 sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

answered May 21 '21 at 14:55

Ramesh Ponnusamy

421

"Package 'docker-ce' has no installation candidate" in 18.04

8 Answers8

2018-07-19 update

Linked