Debugging Containers That Have No Shell

Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago

pploug

31 points

7 comments

docs.docker.comTechstory

calmpositive

Debate

20/100

DockerContainer DebuggingKubernetes

Key topics

Docker

Container Debugging

Kubernetes

The Docker team has released a new feature, 'docker debug', allowing users to debug containers without a shell, sparking discussion about its usefulness and comparisons to similar features in other container management tools like Podman and Kubernetes.

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Peak period

Day 9

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2.3

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Nov 4, 2025 at 8:58 AM EST
about 2 months ago
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Nov 14, 2025 at 4:20 AM EST
about 2 months ago
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Discussion (7 comments)

Showing 7 comments

benterix

about 2 months ago

1 reply

Does podman contain or plan to implement something similar? Seems very useful.

kitd

about 2 months ago

Not that I could find. There is always the option to use a sidecar container, eg:

https://matthewsanabria.dev/posts/no-shell-for-you-container...

https://iximiuz.com/en/series/mastering-container-debugging/

kunley

about 2 months ago

1 reply

Please note the analogous mechanism on kubernetes ("ephemeral containers") works only with the pod's shareProcessNamespace: true setting, which is usually off. So you won't be able to do this out of the box with your deployment already running on a typical stack

dixie_land

about 2 months ago

1 reply

this is not true, `kubectl debug` attaches to the namespace of a container of your choosing (`--target` argument). You don't have to enable process namespace sharing at the pod level

kunley

about 2 months ago

Last time I've checked, kubectl debug would not attach if namespace sharing wasn't enabled in the first place. Has it changed? What k8s version are you using?

PS. Even without checking again, it would be surprising if it changed. Even the official documentation is mentioning that this is needed

pplougAuthor

about 2 months ago

Docker Debug was previously a paid-for feature, now available for free since v4.49

pella

about 2 months ago

Only for "Docker Desktop 4.49 and later"

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ID: 45811084Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 1:32:57 PM

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