brew servcies start colima does NOT create the colima Docker context

[outsinre]

Description

brew servcies start colima does NOT create the colima Docker context.

Version

$ colima version && limactl --version && qemu-img --version
colima version 0.8.1
git commit: 96598cc5b64e5e9e1e64891642b91edc8ac49d16

runtime: docker
arch: aarch64

limactl version 1.0.3
-bash: qemu-img: command not found

Operating System

• macOS Intel <= 13 (Ventura)
• macOS Intel >= 14 (Sonoma)
• Apple Silicon <= 13 (Ventura)
• Apple Silicon >= 14 (Sonoma)
• Linux

Output of colima status

~ $ colima status -p default
INFO[0000] colima is running using macOS Virtualization.Framework
INFO[0000] arch: aarch64
INFO[0000] runtime: docker
INFO[0000] mountType: sshfs
INFO[0000] socket: unix:///Users/jim/.colima/default/docker.sock

Reproduction Steps

1. Start colima

   ~ $ brew services start colima
   

2. colima status

   ~ $ colima status -p default
   INFO[0000] colima is running using macOS Virtualization.Framework
   INFO[0000] arch: aarch64
   INFO[0000] runtime: docker
   INFO[0000] mountType: sshfs
   INFO[0000] socket: unix:///Users/jim/.colima/default/docker.sock
   

3. Docker context

   ~ $ docker context ls
   NAME        DESCRIPTION                               DOCKER ENDPOINT               ERROR
   default *   Current DOCKER_HOST based configuration   unix:///var/run/docker.sock
   

Expected behaviour

If start colima manually with colima start -p default, then it can successfully creates the Docker context.

By the way, how to specify a profile when using brew services start colima?

Additional context

No response

[olamilekan000]

can you share the content of the logs at /opt/homebrew/var/log/colima.log

[olamilekan000]

I actually ran into a similar error when I installed with brew.

the PATH env in the property list is missing /usr/local/bin which is where my docker is installed. so I get the error below

  ~ cat  /opt/homebrew/var/log/colima.log
time="2025-01-05T03:47:02+01:00" level=info msg="starting colima"
time="2025-01-05T03:47:02+01:00" level=info msg="runtime: docker"
time="2025-01-05T03:47:02+01:00" level=fatal msg="dependency check failed for docker: docker not found, run 'brew install docker' to install"
panic: $HOME is not defined

This is what the Propertylist looks like.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
	<dict>
		<key>PATH</key>
		<string>/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
	</dict>
	<key>KeepAlive</key>
	<dict>
		<key>SuccessfulExit</key>
		<true/>
	</dict>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>homebrew.mxcl.colima</string>
	<key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
	<array>
		<string>Aqua</string>
		<string>Background</string>
		<string>LoginWindow</string>
		<string>StandardIO</string>
		<string>System</string>
	</array>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/opt/homebrew/opt/colima/bin/colima</string>
		<string>start</string>
		<string>-f</string>
	</array>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
	<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
	<string>/opt/homebrew/var/log/colima.log</string>
	<key>StandardOutPath</key>
	<string>/opt/homebrew/var/log/colima.log</string>
	<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
	<string>/Users/olalekan</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Updating the PATH env to the below snippet seems to get rid of the error.
ps: /usr/local/bin is where my docker binary is located.

<dict>
	<key>PATH</key>
	<string>/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
</dict>

However, I get another error:

github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/must.Must[...](...)
	/private/tmp/lima-20250105-21784-d25phh/lima-1.0.3/pkg/must/must.go:5
github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/limayaml.init()
	/private/tmp/lima-20250105-21784-d25phh/lima-1.0.3/pkg/limayaml/defaults.go:53 +0x11c
time="2025-01-05T12:24:41+01:00" level=fatal msg="lima compatibility error: error checking Lima version: exit status 2"

I am not sure why I am getting a compatibility issue because I don't get the same behaviour when I run lima directly from source. Everything works fine. It uses same limactl version 1.0.3.

➜  ~ which limactl
/opt/homebrew/bin/limactl
➜  ~ /opt/homebrew/bin/limactl --version
limactl version 1.0.3

Another behaviour i discovered is that, when I run the colima binary directly, everything works fine.

➜  ~ /opt/homebrew/opt/colima/bin/colima start -f
INFO[0000] starting colima
INFO[0000] runtime: docker
INFO[0002] creating and starting ...                     context=vm
INFO[0015] provisioning ...                              context=docker
INFO[0016] starting ...                                  context=docker
INFO[0017] done
INFO[0017] keeping Colima in the foreground, press ctrl+c to exit...

➜  ~ colima status
INFO[0000] colima is running using QEMU
INFO[0000] arch: aarch64
INFO[0000] runtime: docker
INFO[0000] mountType: sshfs
INFO[0000] socket: unix:///Users/olalekan/.colima/default/docker.sock

My guess is that, the Properly list might be the problem here.

[outsinre]

@olamilekan000 I have switched to colima start without brew services.

I agree with you that it is related the Properly list.