Volume Management, Compose v2, Skipping Updates, and more in Docker Desktop 3.4 – Docker Blog

We are excited to announce the release of Docker Desktop 3.4.

This release includes several improvements to Docker Desktop, including our new Volume Management interface, the Compose v2 roll-out, and changes to how to Skip an update to Docker Desktop based on your feedback.

Volume Management

Have you wanted a way to more easily manage and explore your volumes?

In this release we’re introducing a new capability in Docker Desktop that helps you to create and delete volumes from Desktop’s Dashboard as well as to see which ones are In Use.

For developers with Pro and Team Docker subscriptions, we’ll be bringing a richer experience to managing your volumes. 

You’ll be able to explore the contents of the volumes so that you can more easily get an understanding of what’s taking up space within the volume.

You’ll also be able to easily see which specific containers are using any particular volume.

We’re also looking to add additional capabilities in the future, such as being able to easily download files from the volume, read-only view for text files, and more. We’d love to hear more about what you’d like to see us prioritize and focus on in improving the way you can manage your volumes.  Please chime in with your use cases on our public roadmap if this is an area you’d like us to continue focusing on improving.

Compose V2 Roll out begins

We are very excited to launch the beta of Compose V2, which supports the compose command as part of the Docker CLI, and which we have affectionately promoted into the ‘first-class citizen in the Docker CLI’.  Compose V2 seamlessly integrates the compose functions into the Docker CLI, while still supporting most of the previous docker-compose features and flags.  Compose V2 includes two new options – 

docker compose ls, to list all your compose apps

docker compose cp, to copy files/folders between your service container and your local filesystem

The simplest way to test this new functionality is to run the docker compose command, instead of docker-compose, and see what happens.  

10% of compose users are already using docker compose, and we are hearing all sorts of good things.

But we want to make it even simpler, and launch Compose v2 as a drop-in replacement, so that you do not need to change any of your scripts, to take advantage of this new functionality.  

Beginning with Docker Desktop 3.4, you will be able to explicitly opt-in to run Compose v2 with docker-compose,by running docker-compose enable-v2 command.  Or you can opt into Compose v2 by updating your Docker Desktop’s Experimental Features settings.  

With the release of 3.4, we’ll also start to change the docker-compose command to run as Compose V2, without the explicit opt-in.  We’ll roll this out gradually, to a small percentage of users at a time.  If we upgrade your docker-compose, we will notify you that you are running the compose upgrade.  

If you do run into any issues using Compose V2, simply run docker-compose disable-v2 command, or via Docker Desktop’s Experimental Features, to revert to the initial docker-compose functionality.  And please help us resolve your problems by submitting an issue here.  

Skipping Docker Desktop Updates

We’ve heard your feedback regarding how the “Skip this update” behavior introduced in Docker Desktop 3.3 was confusing and missed the mark.  

It was trying to provide additional flexibility for Pro/Team users who needed to stay on an older version of Docker Desktop by allowing them to dismiss additional reminders about a particular update. 

There were many folks who took this to mean that you needed to be a Pro/Team subscriber to not have to update their version of Docker Desktop, which was not the case.

Based on your feedback, in Docker Desktop 3.4, we will be removing the requirement to be a Pro/Team subscriber to skip reminder notifications about individual Docker Desktop releases. 

To summarize what the experience will be like once you’ve upgraded to Docker Desktop 3.4:

When a new update becomes available, the whale icon will change to indicate that there’s an update available and you’ll be able to choose when to download and install the update.

Two weeks after an update first becomes available, a reminder notification, like below, will appear.

If you click on “Skip this update”, you won’t get any additional reminders for this particular update.

If you click on “Snooze” or dismiss the dialog, you’ll get a reminder to update on the following day.

For developers in larger organizations, who don’t have administrative access to install updates to Docker Desktop, or are only allowed to upgrade to IT-approved versions, there continues to be an option in the Settings menu to opt out of notifications altogether for Docker Desktop updates if your Docker ID is part of a Team subscription.

It’s your positive feedback that helps us continue to improve the Docker experience. We truly appreciate it. Please keep that feedback coming by raising tickets on our Public Roadmap.

See the release notes for Docker Desktop for Mac and Docker Desktop for Windows for the complete set of changes in Docker Desktop 3.4.
Interested in learning more about what else is included with a Pro or Team subscription? Check out our pricing page for a detailed breakdown.