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Ask HN: What's the State of Docker on Apple Silicon?

It's been a few years since the release of apple silicon. The reason why I haven't made the change yet from my trusty 2019 i7 mbp is because of all the articles I read back in the day when the new architecture was first released. Using docker on m1 processors involved using rosetta and making changes to your application dev. configuration to specify the use of x86_64. Is this still the case? People who use Apple Silicon processors as your daily drivers and make use of Docker in development. What is your experience ?

mosen 4y ago
I've tried Docker Desktop, Rancher, Colima, all with various settings (including the disk ones), and it's always very, very slow for me (M1 Macbook Pro 16). This is when developing with both a .NET 7 stack and a Node stack. I tried creating a VM and pointing my DOCKER_HOST to that, but it's still slow. The main problem is that I'm trying to work with AMD64 on an ARM64 (due to my constraints). I'm going to set up an old non-M1 box in my office and use that as my Docker host. I am also tempted to use a cheap remote instance for when I'm OOO.
- iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
  That’s very sad to hear. I was hoping that it was at least somewhat better with the release of Docker for Apple Silicon in 2021. I have very minimal use of docker most of the time but sometimes I require more use of it and I can see myself getting frustrated when I need to perform multiple builds.
- idontwantthis 4y ago
  Have you turned on VirtioFS? With that on, it's not slow for me at all. I'm using a mix of ARM and AMD images. I have my source code mounted into running containers and there is no issue.
softwaredoug 4y ago
I use docker on my m1 and have 0 issues. Docker on Mac already runs in a VM so I’m not sure why there’d be a difference once the underlying VM works?
yuppie_scum 4y ago
Podman is the path forward.
- iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
  what are the advantages of podman over the classic Docker for mac ?
adamhp 4y ago
Docker on my M1 seems fine? Haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Running a basic little 5-6 container django/celery/nextjs setup and no noticeable performance issues.
- iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
  So the same performance as an intel mac without having to change anything in the docker config ?
  - adamhp 4y ago
    I guess that depends on how you're measuring, but I don't have a side-by-side of a recent Intel mac to compare, really.

mosen 4y ago

I've tried Docker Desktop, Rancher, Colima, all with various settings (including the disk ones), and it's always very, very slow for me (M1 Macbook Pro 16). This is when developing with both a .NET 7 stack and a Node stack. I tried creating a VM and pointing my DOCKER_HOST to that, but it's still slow. The main problem is that I'm trying to work with AMD64 on an ARM64 (due to my constraints). I'm going to set up an old non-M1 box in my office and use that as my Docker host. I am also tempted to use a cheap remote instance for when I'm OOO.

iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
That’s very sad to hear. I was hoping that it was at least somewhat better with the release of Docker for Apple Silicon in 2021. I have very minimal use of docker most of the time but sometimes I require more use of it and I can see myself getting frustrated when I need to perform multiple builds.
idontwantthis 4y ago
Have you turned on VirtioFS? With that on, it's not slow for me at all. I'm using a mix of ARM and AMD images. I have my source code mounted into running containers and there is no issue.

softwaredoug 4y ago

I use docker on my m1 and have 0 issues. Docker on Mac already runs in a VM so I’m not sure why there’d be a difference once the underlying VM works?

yuppie_scum 4y ago

Podman is the path forward.

iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
what are the advantages of podman over the classic Docker for mac ?

adamhp 4y ago

Docker on my M1 seems fine? Haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Running a basic little 5-6 container django/celery/nextjs setup and no noticeable performance issues.

iwebdevfromhome 4y ago
So the same performance as an intel mac without having to change anything in the docker config ?
- adamhp 4y ago
  I guess that depends on how you're measuring, but I don't have a side-by-side of a recent Intel mac to compare, really.