docker desktop installs kubectl and overwrites existing even though kubernetes integrations are disabled

[zswanson]

• I have tried with the latest version of Docker Desktop
• I have tried disabling enabled experimental features
• I have uploaded Diagnostics
• Diagnostics ID:

Expected behavior

Installing docker desktop for mac, either through the official dmg image or homebrew install docker should install docker desktop, with kubernetes integrations disabled initially (which is the current default behavior) and not install kubectl

Actual behavior

The docker desktop installer installs its own kubectl and creates 2 soft link targets in /usr/local/bin for kubectl and kubectl.docker. Kubernetes integrations in docker desktop are still disabled when inspected immediately after installation. Due to #6327 this version of kubectl doesn't work with corporate vpn and we have to manually remove the soft links. In some cases after either a) a docker desktop update; b) restarting docker desktop, I have also observed that Docker Desktop will re-create the softlinks, leading to the same problem.

Information

• macOS Version:
• Intel chip or Apple chip:
• Docker Desktop Version:

Output of /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose check

Note: I have already removed the kubectl softlinks due to the issue mentioned in #6327

[PASS] DD0027: is there available disk space on the host?
[PASS] DD0028: is there available VM disk space?
[PASS] DD0031: does the Docker API work?
[PASS] DD0004: is the Docker engine running?
[PASS] DD0011: are the LinuxKit services running?
[PASS] DD0016: is the LinuxKit VM running?
[PASS] DD0001: is the application running?
[PASS] DD0018: does the host support virtualization?
[PASS] DD0017: can a VM be started?
[FAIL] DD0015: are the binary symlinks installed? looking for /usr/local/bin/kubectl: lstat /usr/local/bin/kubectl: no such file or directory
[PASS] DD0003: is the Docker CLI working?
[PASS] DD0013: is the $PATH ok?
[PASS] DD0007: is the backend responding?
[PASS] DD0014: are the backend processes running?
[PASS] DD0008: is the native API responding?
[PASS] DD0009: is the vpnkit API responding?
[PASS] DD0010: is the Docker API proxy responding?
[FAIL] DD0012: is the VM networking working? network checks failed: failed to ping host: exit status 1
[2022-05-27T18:14:11.697727000Z][com.docker.diagnose][I] ipc.NewClient: d1f4489b-diagnose-network -> <HOME>/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/diagnosticd.sock diagnosticsd
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.runIsVMNetworkingOK()
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/network.go:34 +0xd4
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.(*test).GetResult(0x102ec80e0)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/test.go:46 +0x44
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.Run.func1(0x102ec80e0)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:17 +0x44
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.walkOnce.func1(0x2?, 0x102ec80e0)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:140 +0x84
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.walkDepthFirst(0x1, 0x102ec80e0, 0x140007c1728)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:146 +0x3c
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.walkDepthFirst(0x0, 0x20?, 0x140007c1728)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:149 +0x78
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.walkOnce(0x1029ac0a0?, 0x1400036f890)
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:135 +0x8c
[common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose.Run(0x102ec8260, 0x10227bfa0?, {0x1400036fb08, 0x1, 0x1})
[	common/pkg/diagkit/gather/diagnose/run.go:16 +0x178
[main.checkCmd({0x140001b6010?, 0x6?, 0x4?}, {0x0, 0x0})
[	common/cmd/com.docker.diagnose/main.go:132 +0xe0
[main.main()
[	common/cmd/com.docker.diagnose/main.go:98 +0x308
[2022-05-27T18:14:11.697828000Z][com.docker.diagnose][I] (5f03f93e) d1f4489b-diagnose-network C->S diagnosticsd POST /check-network-connectivity: {"ips":["192.168.86.23","10.188.128.51"]}
[2022-05-27T18:14:12.254140000Z][com.docker.diagnose][W] (5f03f93e) d1f4489b-diagnose-network C<-S 93d63d94-diagnosticsd POST /check-network-connectivity (556.286041ms): failed to ping host: exit status 1

[PASS] DD0032: do Docker networks overlap with host IPs?
[SKIP] DD0030: is the image access management authorized?
[PASS] DD0019: is the com.docker.vmnetd process responding?
[PASS] DD0033: does the host have Internet access?

Please investigate the following 2 issues:

1 : The test: is the VM networking working?
    Failed with: network checks failed: failed to ping host: exit status 1

VM seems to have a network connectivity issue. Please check your host firewall and anti-virus settings in case they are blocking the VM.

2 : The test: are the binary symlinks installed?
    Failed with: looking for /usr/local/bin/kubectl: lstat /usr/local/bin/kubectl: no such file or directory

The symlinks to the docker CLI etc are needed for docker commands to work.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Install kubectl with homebrew install kubernetes-cli
2. Install docker desktop
3. Inspect that soft links to kubectl for docker now exist in /usr/local/bin, and that $(which kubectl) points to that instead of the homebew installed client

[laurazard]

Hi @zswanson, thanks for the report! I've created an internal ticket so we can address this.

[docker-robott]

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/lifecycle stale

[zswanson]

/remove-lifecycle stale

[zswanson]

@laurazard any update on whether this will be addressed? We deal with a lot of confusion with this on a regular basis from our developer teams. Or if #6327 was resolved it would be less of an issue.

[juliettepaul]

We are running into this as well. My asdf shim for kubectl keeps getting overwritten giving me version discrepancies when I accidentally use docker's installed version

[nicks]

My understanding of the current state of things:

• If you don't have kubectl installed in /usr/bin/local, Docker will install it for you on startup. I don't think there are any plans to change this.
• We've heard reports of Docker Desktop overwriting an existing kubectl shim, but no one who works at Docker has been able to reproduce this problem. I tried with both brew install kubernetes-cli and asdf, and confirmed that DD preserved the existing symlink. If you can repro this problem, detailed repro steps and/or a diagnostic ID would help. (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/troubleshoot/overview/#diagnose)

[juliettepaul]

Thanks for the response! My shim was actually not in /usr/local/bin, but I am now linking it there and and that seems to help with startup. The error came because I was relying on it later in the path, so I can either move my local bin folder earlier in the path or link it to /usr/local/bin. I will make sure it doesn't overwrite it on version upgrade/re-install as well.

[zswanson]

Its been noted that my original description of 'overwrite' is inaccurate, as the homebrew installed kubectl doesn't exist in /usr/bin/local/, but rather that the Docker installed binary is jumping precedence.

[nicks]

Thank you both for confirming!

I'm going to mark this as working as intended. I believe most tool managers (like asdf) should set their PATH precedence of their shims higher than /usr/local/bin. You can also set PATH to make sure your kubectl binary gets loaded first.

Happy to re-open if DD is overwriting preferences in some way that's not intended.