How to upgrade docker-compose to latest version - docker-compose

Question

I have installed docker-compose using the command
sudo apt install docker-compose
It installed docker-compose version 1.8.0 and build unknown
I need the latest version of docker-compose or at least a version of 1.9.0
Can anyone please let me know what approach I should take to upgrade it or uninstall and re-install the latest version.
I have checked the docker website and can see that they are recommending this to install the latest version'
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
But before that, I have to uninstall the present version, which can be done using the command
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
but this can be used only when the installation was done using curl. I am not sure if the installation was done by curl as I have used
sudo apt install docker-compose
Please let me know what should I do now to uninstall and re-install the docker-compose.

Answer 1

First, remove the old version:
If installed via apt-get
sudo apt-get remove docker-compose
If installed via curl
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
If installed via pip
pip uninstall docker-compose
Then find the newest version on the release page at GitHub or by curling the API and extracting the version from the response using grep or jq (thanks to dragon788, frbl, and Saber Hayati for these improvements):
# curl + grep
VERSION=$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | grep -Po '"tag_name": "\K.*\d')
# curl + jq
VERSION=$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | jq .name -r)
Finally, download to your favorite $PATH-accessible location and set permissions:
DESTINATION=/usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/${VERSION}/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o $DESTINATION
sudo chmod 755 $DESTINATION

Answer 2

The easiest way to have a permanent and sustainable solution for the Docker Compose installation and the way to upgrade it, is to just use the package manager pip with:
pip install docker-compose
I was searching for a good solution for the ugly "how to upgrade to the latest version number"-problem, which appeared after you´ve read the official docs - and just found it occasionally - just have a look at the docker-compose pip package - it should reflect (mostly) the current number of the latest released Docker Compose version.
A package manager is always the best solution if it comes to managing software installations! So you just abstract from handling the versions on your own.

Answer 3

If you tried sudo apt-get remove docker-compose and get E: Unable to locate package docker-compose, try this method :
This command must return a result, in order to check it is installed here :
ls -l /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Remove the old version :
sudo rm -rf docker-compose
Download the last version (check official repo : docker/compose/releases) :
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.24.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
(replace 1.24.0 if needed)
Finally, apply executable permissions to the binary:
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Check version :
docker-compose -v

Answer 4

If the above methods aren't working for you, then refer to this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/40554985
curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.22.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" > ./docker-compose
sudo mv ./docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/docker-compose

Answer 5

Based on #eric-johnson's answer, I'm currently using this in a script:
#!/bin/bash
compose_version=$(curl https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | jq .name -r)
output='/usr/local/bin/docker-compose'
curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/$compose_version/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o $output
chmod +x $output
echo $(docker-compose --version)
it grabs the latest version from the GitHub api.

Answer 6

Here is another oneliner to install the latest version of docker-compose using curl and sed.
curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/`curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w %{url_effective} https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest | sed 's#.*tag/##g' && echo`/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Answer 7

Do it in three steps. (showing for apt-get installs)
Uninstall the last one. e.g. for apt-get installs
sudo apt-get remove docker-compose
Install the new one (https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/)
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
and then
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Check your version
docker-compose --version

Answer 8

Simple Solution to update docker-compose
This will remove the existing binary of docker-compose and install a new version.
sudo cd /usr/local/bin && sudo rm -rf docker-compose
sudo sudo curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.2.3/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x docker-compose
for the latest version visit https://github.com/docker/compose/releases and replace the latest one with v2.1.1

Answer 9

I was trying to install docker-compose on "Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS" but after installing it like this:
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
I was getting:
-bash: /usr/local/bin/docker-compose: Permission denied
and while I was using it with sudo I was getting:
sudo: docker-compose: command not found
So here's the steps that I took and solved my problem:
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/docker-compose

Answer 10

use this from command line: sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.22.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Write down the latest release version
Apply executable permissions to the binary:
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Then test version:
$ docker-compose --version

Answer 11

If you installed with pip, to upgrade you can just use:
pip install --upgrade docker-compose
or as Mariyo states with pip3 explicitly:
pip3 install --upgrade docker-compose

Answer 12

Using latest flag in url will redirect you to the latest release of the repo
As OS name is lower case in github's filename, you should convert uname -s to lower case using sed -e 's/\(.*\)/\L\1/'.
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s|sed -e 's/\(.*\)/\L\1/')-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Answer 13

On mac (also working on ubuntu):
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/<release-version>/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
NOTE: write the as here:
https://github.com/docker/compose/releases

Answer 14

Use,
$ sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.24.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
$ docker-compose -v

Answer 15

Docker Engine and Docker Compose Plugin
Since Microsoft took over Docker they worked on porting docker-compose to their Docker Engine CLI plugins. For future support and updates I would recommend using docker compose plugin (Notice the missing dash) which can be install via the docker-compose-plugin package. The following instructions assume that you are using Ubuntu as Distro or any Distro thats using apt as package manager.
Installation Preparations
Update your mirrors:
sudo apt-get update
Make sure the following packages are installed:
sudo apt-get install \
ca-certificates \
curl \
gnupg \
lsb-release
After that add the official Docker GPG Key:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
And finally add the the stable repository:
echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
Also make sure Docker Engine and other needed dependencies are installed:
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
Installation of docker compose plugin
sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin
Any future updates of the plugin are easily applied via apt.
For further reference take a look at the official installation instructions of Docker Engine and Docker Compose.

Answer 16

After a lot of looking at ways to perform this I ended up using jq, and hopefully I can expand it to handle other repos beyond Docker-Compose without too much work.
# If you have jq installed this will automatically find the latest release binary for your architecture and download it
curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest" | jq --arg PLATFORM_ARCH "$(echo `uname -s`-`uname -m`)" -r '.assets[] | select(.name | endswith($PLATFORM_ARCH)).browser_download_url' | xargs sudo curl -L -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose --url

Answer 17

On ubuntu desktop 18.04.2, I have the 'local' removed from the path when using the curl command to install the package and it works for me. See above answer by Kshitij.

Answer 18

In my case, using Windows + WSL2 with Ubuntu 20.04, was necessary only this:
sudo apt update
and then:
sudo apt upgrade

Answer 19

Centos/RHEL
Follow my answer below if you're using Centos7 with an x86-64 architecture. This answer is also available in my github.
Stop Your Docker Containers
I noticed other answers did not talk about stopping your docker containers/images instances before attempting to upgrade gracefully. Assumptions are inevitable but can be costly. Onward we go!
Options to update Docker-Compose
There are 2 options to upgrade docker-compose if you first downloaded and installed docker-compose using the Curl command.
Using Curl, jq package, and Github's direct URL to the docker-compose repository.
Using Curl, Sed, and Github's direct URL to the docker-compose repository.
Note: some of the commands below require "sudo" privileges.
Demonstration
The script below was saved to a file called "update_docker_compose.sh". You need to give this file executable permissions.
Like so:
chmod +x update_docker_compose.sh
"docker_docker_compose.sh" file content:
#!/bin/bash
# author: fullarray (stackoverflow user)
# Contribution shared on: stackoverflow.com
# Contribution also available on: github.com
# date: 06112022
# Stop current docker container running
docker stop containerID
# Remove current docker network running
docker rm containerID
# Remove image of target application(s)
docker image rm imageID
# Delete either dangling (unatagged images) docker containers or images or network
docker system prune -f
# This step depends on the jq package.
# Uncomment jq package installation command below if using Centos7 x86-64.
# sudo yum install jq
# Declare variable to get latest version of docker-compose from github repository
compose_version=$(curl https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | jq .name -r)
# Declare variable to target installation directory
target_install_dir='/usr/local/bin/docker-compose'
# Get OS and build (assumes Linux Centos7 and x86_64)
get_local_os_build=$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)
# Execute curl command to carry download and installation operation
curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/$compose_version/docker-compose-$get_local_os_build -o $target_install_dir
# Use chmod to modify permissions to target installation directory (to make it executable)
chmod +x $target_install_dir
# Print docker-compose version to terminal to verify upgrade
$(docker-compose --version)
Edit the script with variables specific to your environment
The script above has a few variables you need to edit with values specific to your docker environment. For instance, you need to replace container ID and image ID with the values that the following commands output.
docker ps
and
docker images output
Once you finalize creating the file (including the edits). Switch to the directory that contains the file. For example, if you created the file in /home/username/script/update_docker_compose.sh
cd /home/username/script
Last, run the script by executing the following
./update_docker_compose.sh
Option 2
Create a script file name "update_docker_compose.sh"
Edit the file and add the following content:
#!/bin/bash
# author: fullarray (stackoverflow user)
# Contribution shared on: stackoverflow.com
# Contribution also available on: github.com
# date: 06112022
# Stop current docker container running
docker stop containerID
# Remove current docker network running
docker rm containerID
# Remove image of target application(s)
docker image rm imageID
# Delete either dangling (unatagged images) docker containers or images or network
docker system prune -f
# Declare variable to target installation directory
target_install_dir='/usr/local/bin/docker-compose'
# Get OS and build (assumes Linux Centos7 and x86_64)
get_local_os_build=$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)
# Execute curl and sed command to carry out download and installation operation
# compose_latest_version=$(curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/`curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w %{url_effective} https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest | sed 's#.*tag/##g' && echo`/docker-compose-$get_local_os_build") -o $target_install_dir
# Use chmod to modify permissions to target installation directory (to make it executable)
chmod +x $target_install_dir
# Print docker-compose version to terminal to verify upgrade
$(docker-compose --version)
Edit the script with variables specific to your environment
The script above also has a few variables you need to edit with values specific to your docker environment. For instance, you need to replace container ID and image ID with the values that the following commands output.
docker ps
and
docker images output
Once you finalize creating the file (including the edits). Switch to the directory that contains the file. For example, if you created the file in /home/username/script/update_docker_compose.sh
cd /home/username/script
Last, run the script by executing the following
./update_docker_compose.sh

Answer 20

This is the method of installing docker compose version 2.12.x
Update debian package manager
# apt-get update
# apt-get install docker-compose-plugin
Then install the plugin manualy
DOCKER_CONFIG=${DOCKER_CONFIG:-$HOME/.docker}
mkdir -p $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins
curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.12.2/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose
Give permisson of execution of file
chmod +x $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose
Last test the installation
docker compose version
// Docker Composer Version v2.12.2

Answer 21

If you have homebrew you can also install via brew
$ brew install docker-compose
This is a good way to install on a Mac OS system

Answer 22

Most of these solutions are outdated or make you install old version.
To install the latest
sudo apt install jq
DOCKER_COMPOSE_VERSION=$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | jq .name -r)
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/$DOCKER_COMPOSE_VERSION/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Answer 23

Well, my case was pretty weird. I am using wsl2, and Docker Desktop (Windows 11). I stop getting this error after rename the folder "docker" to "config-dev-server" and update de Dockerfile like this this:
COPY ./docker/apache/apache2.conf /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
to
COPY ./config-dev-server/apache/apache2.conf /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Answer 24

With a newer Docker Desktop for Mac 3.3.0, you don't need to install Docker Compose as a seperate package. Docker Compose comes as a first class citizen installed with Docker by default. Check out the below CLI:
docker compose version
Docker Compose version 2.0.0-beta.1%