Install Docker on Debian

Here are two snippets I regularly use to install Docker with Docker Compose on my Debian systems, whether I have sudo or I’m root. Because I often need to search-and-replace sudo when I’m root, I’m posting them here – mostly for myself.
But if they’re helpful for you too, enjoy!

This is based on the official installation instructions here.

Install with sudo

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl -y
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

sudo systemctl status docker

Install as root (no sudo)

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
apt update
apt install ca-certificates curl -y
install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
apt update

apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

systemctl status docker

Checking if Docker is running

Using `systemctl status docker`, you should see a status message like this one, telling you everything is `active (running)`.