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bug: Show a clear warning when Docker, the Compose plugin or the Docker daemon is not available #5
fly status shows "Docker is not installed" when only the daemon is stopped.
fly status shows "Docker is running" when the Compose plugin is not installed. It does not examine Compose.
fly base stop shows "Base services stopped successfully" when Docker is not installed.
Cost
Docker stops frequently on servers. Each time, users see raw or incorrect messages.
fly status gives incorrect information about the problem. Thus, an operator can do the wrong repair.
The server-monitoring capability must know the Docker state, and it must not fail when Docker is not available. At this time, no code finds the Docker state.
Benefit of the fix
Users see one clear warning. The warning tells which part is not available.
fly status shows the correct state of each part.
The probe becomes the online/offline check of the Docker capability. Thus, the capability refactor can use this work without change.
Fix
Add a probe in internal/docker. The probe gives three different states:
The binary is installed: exec.LookPath("docker").
The Compose plugin is installed: docker compose version.
The daemon answers: docker info, with a timeout.
Before each Docker command, run the probe. If a part is not available, show one warning line that names the part.
In status, show each of the three states on a different line.
Decision necessary
Which exit code must a Docker command use when Docker is not available?
Proposal:
Action commands exit with a special code that is not 0, for example 69 (EX_UNAVAILABLE). Then, scripts can tell the difference between "Docker is not available" and "the command failed".
status shows warnings and exits with code 0.
Completion checks
Each of the three test conditions gives one clear warning. No raw exec: error shows.
changed the title [-]Show a clear warning when Docker, the Compose plugin or the Docker daemon is not available[/-][+]bug: Show a clear warning when Docker, the Compose plugin or the Docker daemon is not available[/+]on Oct 1, 2026
Activity
feat(docker): warn when Docker, Compose or the daemon is not available (
[-]Show a clear warning when Docker, the Compose plugin or the Docker daemon is not available[/-][+]bug: Show a clear warning when Docker, the Compose plugin or the Docker daemon is not available[/+]