compose: docker login fails while docker-compose is installed on Ubuntu 18.04

I’m having the same (or a similar) issue, running docker login failing with the error message Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY. Having stumbled across https://github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers/issues/60 it seems as if golang-docker-credential-helpers causes the issue here. Temporarily uninstalling docker-compose including the package above allowed me to run docker login to authenticate with my docker registry.

Since this is a bug in the Ubuntu packaging for server it needs to be fixed there but in the meantime a work-around without having to uninstall docker-compose temporarily or having to switch to the docker repos instead you can make it use pass instead. This is what I did:

sudo apt install gnupg2 pass 
gpg2 --full-generate-key

This generates a you a gpg2 key, After that’s done you can list it with

gpg2 -k

Copy the key id (from the line labelled [uid]) and do

pass init "whatever key id you have"

After that docker login worked fine since it defaults to use pass and only tries to fallback to secretservice if it can’t find it. secretservice seems to have an X11 dependency which isn’t present on a basic server install.

Side effect is that you get a somewhat more secure credentials store or on your server instead of a base64 encoded json file.

I disagree, not a better message, when x11 is not installed we should use docker login without any error.

It’s very much an issue. Fresh install of 18.04, installed docker-compose through pip. Exact same issue.

hi, why is the issue closed? the workaround from @kiliankoe works but it is still a problem on a new ubuntu 18.04 installation.

I found that if you remove the golang-docker-credential-helpers package after switching to docker-ce and not the bundled docker package in ubuntu 18.04, this problem is resolved.

golang-docker-credential-helpers does also get installed alongside python-docker. 😑 I decided to go with this solution.

Deleting docker-compose (apt-get autoremove) is the workaround

I’m seeing this issue even when following the official instructions to install docker-compose (https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/#install-compose)

cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"

docker-compose --version
docker-compose version 1.23.0-rc3, build ea3d406e

docker --version
Docker version 17.12.1-ce, build 7390fc6

docker login -u abc -p 123
WARNING! Using --password via the CLI is insecure. Use --password-stdin.
error getting credentials - err: exit status 1, out: `Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY

Same problem is I move to:

docker --version
Docker version 18.06.1-ce, build e68fc7a

As a side note, this issue is compounded by the fact the Ubuntu packages and the “official” docker packages are disjointed. You have the docker.io packages on Ubuntu vs. the docker-ce packages from the official download. Seems to make things that more confusing as it’s not obvious which combination of packages one needs, especially when running into issues such as the above.

Follow @shin-'s advice:

Please follow the official install instructions instead: https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/

don’t do apt install docker-compose and if you did, remove it and its dependencies: apt remove docker-compose -y && apt autoremove. With the official installation the problem’s gone.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/docker-compose/+bug/1796119

I added a bug report here, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/golang-github-docker-docker-credential-helpers/+bug/1794307

Looks like a bug with the Ubuntu package, which is not owned by us. Additionally, the version the package installs (1.17.1) is no longer supported.

Please follow the official install instructions instead: https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/