Compose: "Can't find a suitable configuration file" on Ubuntu 18.04.1

[boldt]

I am running a fresh Ubuntu 18.04:

$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS \n \l

I added the APT apt-repositries as described here. I have docker 18.09.0 and docker-compose 1.22.0:

root@srv:/docker# docker version
Client:
 Version:           18.09.0
 API version:       1.39
 Go version:        go1.10.4
 Git commit:        4d60db4
 Built:             Wed Nov  7 00:49:01 2018
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Experimental:      false

Server: Docker Engine - Community
 Engine:
  Version:          18.09.0
  API version:      1.39 (minimum version 1.12)
  Go version:       go1.10.4
  Git commit:       4d60db4
  Built:            Wed Nov  7 00:16:44 2018
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
root@srv:/docker# docker-compose version
docker-compose version 1.22.0, build unknown
docker-py version: 3.5.0
CPython version: 2.7.12
OpenSSL version: OpenSSL 1.0.2g  1 Mar 2016
root@srv:/docker#

I want to use docker-compose in a folder called /docker:

root@srv:/docker# ls -l
total 4
-rwxr-xr-x 1 administrator docker 458 Nov 22 13:44 docker-compose.yml

If I hit docker-compose up, I get the following error:

ERROR:
        Can't find a suitable configuration file in this directory or any
        parent. Are you in the right directory?

        Supported filenames: docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml

Any idea? How can I debug that issue?

[boldt]

My workaround:

I assume, docker-compose was installed automatically, when I installed the docker-ce package. Since I wasn't able to stop containers, I disabled Appmour. It seems, that this removed docker-compose as well. Thus, I installed docker-compose manually. Now, docker-compose works for me.

[shin-]

The original issue was probably a permissions problem, but I'm glad you could solve it regardless.

[xy2z]

I ran into the same problem with a fresh Ubuntu 18.04 install, where I selected Docker from install options.

The permissions was not the problem. But when I followed the "Install Compose" steps on https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/#install-compose it worked right away.

[boldt]

Since I am not the only one, I'll try to create a MWE.

@xy2z I assume, you just overwrote the docker-compose Binary, which was installed by docker.

[prvak]

I ran into the same problem with a fresh Ubuntu 18.04 install, where I selected Docker from install options.

I had the exactly same issue. After some digging I found out that the docker-compose was installed as a "snap" package. Applications from snap packages are running in a sandbox and they do not see the /tmp directory where I happened to have my docker-compose.yml file. Solution:

sudo snap remove docker
sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose

[pream-totaram]

I also had issues with apt's docker-compose

This documentation from docker worked well for me.

[chuongtrh]

Same issue. Any solution to fix it? Thanks

docker-compose version 1.24.1, build 4667896b
docker-py version: 3.7.3
CPython version: 3.6.8
OpenSSL version: OpenSSL 1.1.0j  20 Nov 2018

[nxasana]

You need to run your command in the same folder as your doocker-compose.yml file

[austenwho]

@prvak's solution worked for me. Muchas gracias!

[caugner]

I ran into the same issue and found an explanation in the docker/docker-snap README:

All files that docker needs access to should live within your $HOME folder.

If the docker-compose.yml is outside of the $HOME folder, docker-snap won't see it.

Solution: Move the docker-compose.yml (and accompanying files) inside your $HOME directory.

[SigiSang]

I ran into the same problem with a fresh Ubuntu 18.04 install, where I selected Docker from install options.

I had the exactly same issue. After some digging I found out that the docker-compose was installed as a "snap" package. Applications from snap packages are running in a sandbox and they do not see the /tmp directory where I happened to have my docker-compose.yml file. Solution:

sudo snap remove docker
sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose

I had the same issue as well (Ubuntu fresh install + selected docker during installation). However, executing the above commands didn't quite fix it, I got this error:

-bash: /snap/bin/docker-compose: No such file or directory

I downloaded the binary (per instructions from the documentation) and had to remove the old snap script:

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.25.4/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo rm /usr/bin/docker-compose

After that docker-compose works fine, but it seems snap remove didn't clean up very well.

[artem-shestakov]

Ran command and get error:

~$ docker-compose ps
ERROR:
Can't find a suitable configuration file in this directory or any
parent. Are you in the right directory?

    Supported filenames: docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml

but --version work correct,
~$ docker-compose --version
docker-compose version 1.25.5, build 8a1c60f6

[caugner]

~$ docker-compose ps

There is no docker-compose.yml in your home directory. Please cd into the directory with that file first.

[caugner]

~$ docker-compose ps

There is no docker-compose.yml in your home directory. Please cd into the directory with that file first.

[slimcdk]

Same issue on fresh install with Ubuntu Server 20.04.1 LTS. Also selected docker from the recommended packages during install.
docker-compose version 1.25.5, build unknown
Docker version 19.03.11, build dd360c7

ubuntu@main:/auto$ ll
total 48
drwxr-xr-x  6 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jul 29 16:54 ./
drwxr-xr-x 21 root   root   4096 Jul 29 16:24 ../
drwxrwxr-x  9 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jul 29 16:40 .git/
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu   59 Jul 29 16:24 .gitattributes
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu    8 Jul 29 16:46 .gitignore
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu   83 Jul 29 16:24 .gitmodules
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  819 Jul 29 16:24 README.md
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 6913 Jul 29 16:43 docker-compose.yaml
drwxrwxr-x  2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jul 29 16:24 media/
drwxrwxr-x  2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jul 29 16:40 secrets/
drwxrwxr-x 14 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jul 29 16:39 services/
ubuntu@main:/auto$ docker-compose pull
ERROR: 
        Can't find a suitable configuration file in this directory or any
        parent. Are you in the right directory?

        Supported filenames: docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml

ubuntu@main:/auto$ 

[seekwhencer]

yes. the same on on a fresh ubuntu 20.

[alexhe]

sudo -i helped me

[seekwhencer]

Installed manually... that works.

[emexelem]

Same issue as well on a fresh Ubuntu 20.04. Solved by sudo snap remove docker && sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose as mentioned by prvak.
This difference between the behavior of snap and apt packages is really misleading.