docker / docker/cli

Remove hardcoded `docker` CLI command name for SSH hosts

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#5,626 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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kind/feature status/0-triage
Dominant language
Go
Stars
6.1k
Forks
2.2k
Avg merge
1d 15h
Merged PRs (30d)
43

Description

Description

Currently, when connecting to a remote SSH host, the docker binary name is hard-coded.. This means that if the remote host doesn't have a binary named docker in the path, remote SSH support doesn't work.

There are two specific use-cases this makes difficult:

  • Systems where docker isn't in the path for the SSH connection, and
  • Systems where the docker binary has another name.

If this hard-coded default could be overridden, these use-cases could be supported.

Proposal

Introduce the DOCKER_SSH_REMOTE_BINARY environment variable, which will be used in place of the bare docker binary if set. I'll raise a PR for this change then link to it.

Associated PR: https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/5627

Related

Would resolve https://github.com/docker/cli/issues/3045

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The affected entry point is cli/connhelper/connhelper.go around line 52; start there and inspect the existing SSH command construction. Done means the DOCKER_SSH_REMOTE_BINARY override is honored while the current docker default remains, with behavior checked against associated PR #5627.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, go
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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