Docker Desktop System Logs

An overview of where Docker Desktop logs are stored and how long they are retained

Docker Desktop Logging:

Docker Desktop logs are comprised of 3 components:

1. Docker Engine
2. Electron
3. Docker Desktop

Docker Engine Logging

• Docker Engine logs are configurable

• The defaults for Docker Engine logging are as follows:

  • Max file size of 20MiB
  • Maxmium retained files of 5
  • Compressed rotated log files is enabled

---

Changing Docker Engine Defaults

• Example change to daemon.json to deviate from default retention. For more options see logging driver options and daemon.json configuration

  {
      "log-driver": "local",
      "log-opts": {
          "max-size": "10m"
      }
  }

• Windows daemon.json path

  %ProgramData%\docker\config\daemon.json

• macOS daemon.json path

  /System/Volumes/Data/Users/kiener/.docker/daemon.json
  

Location of Log Files

• Windows

  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Docker\log\vm\
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Docker\log\host\
  

• macOS

  ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/vm/
  ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/host/
  
  

Docker Desktop Logging

• Docker Desktop logging is currently non-configurable

• The defaults for Docker Desktop logging are as follows

  • Maximum single log file size of 1MiB per component
  • Maximum log file space per component of 10MiB
  • There are fifteen components in Docker Desktop

Electron

• Electron logging is currently non-configurable

• The defaults for Electron logging are as follows

  • Maximum of 14 days of log files
  • Maximum single log file size of 20MiB

Space Utilization in Aggregate

• Theoritical Maximum of 750MiB
• Real-world power users generally see 150MiB as a high water mark

Citations and Helpful Files

• Local Log File Driver
• Daemon Logs