How to set Docker's system memory?

Question

I'm using Docker 1.13.1 for Mac. The Docker client allows you to change the amount of memory provided to Docker using a simple slider interface.

How can I set this value via docker's command line utility?

For added clarity, this is not per container memory, this is the value of "Total Memory" that's returned when you run docker info.

Thank you

Answer 1

With docker (at least version 18.03.1) the settings for the VM are maintained in a special file located at:

/Users/<username>/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker/settings.json

If you close docker you can edit it directly from the command line using sed, for example the command below will replace the 2 GB limit with a 10GB limit, and create a backup file of the original settings at settings.json.bak

sed -i .bak 's/2048/10240/g' /Users/`id -un`/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker/settings.json

When docker restarts, it will now have 10 GB.