Docker created .bash_profile even with CLI configuration set to System

[xeron]

Bug report

After updating to 4.89.0 Docker automatically creates ~/.bash_profile on restart, even with CLI configuration set to "System":

$ cat ~/.bash_profile
# The following lines were added by Docker Desktop to add commands to your PATH.
export PATH="$PATH:/Users/xeron/.docker/bin"
# End of Docker Desktop section.

this file took precedence over my existing ~/.profile and broke my bash environment.

I did not press the button to install "shell completions" (I configured it manually long time ago).

In Advanced configuration "Choose how to configure the installation of Docker's CLI tools" is set to "System" so everything is installed under "/usr/local/bin".

Platform

macOS

Version information

Client:
 Version:           29.7.2
 API version:       1.55
 Go version:        go1.26.5
 Git commit:        a7dcaa6
 Built:             Wed Aug  5 18:27:50 2026
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.89.0 (238018)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.7.2
  API version:      1.55 (minimum version 1.40)
  Go version:       go1.26.5
  Git commit:       6a43e3d
  Built:            Wed Aug  5 18:28:35 2026
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.3.3
  GitCommit:        aad11006b869517fcd3009450b6f82da282e1a9b
 runc:
  Version:          1.4.3
  GitCommit:        v1.4.3-0-gbb14dabe
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0
Client:
 Version:    29.7.2
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  agent: Docker AI Agent Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.127.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-agent
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.30.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.36.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.5.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.47
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.4.3
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  dhi: CLI for managing Docker Hardened Images (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.7
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-dhi
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.43.3
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.2.6
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.6.13
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.2
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-pass
  sandbox: "docker sandbox" is deprecated, use Docker Sandboxes instead (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.13.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sandbox
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.24.0
    Path:     /Users/xeron/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 2
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 2
 Images: 10
 Server Version: 29.7.2
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: aad11006b869517fcd3009450b6f82da282e1a9b
 runc version: v1.4.3-0-gbb14dabe
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 7.0.12-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 10
 Total Memory: 7.748GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 269e2d0a-0ee8-453f-8816-adb97957c190
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=unix:///Users/xeron/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

32A8EAF1-FD11-464B-A824-5EB62FB3ADB8/20260901193000

[mbentley]

Besides the fact that it is creating and/or modifying the files .bash_profile and .profile on every startup, it's also adding in hard coded paths vs using a variable like $HOME. The conflict in my use case is that I have a dotfiles repo and this edits my configs. I don't hard code values because I have different users on different hosts and my dotfiles are used across macOS and Linux. Sure I could use a git filter for this to change it per host I used my dotfiles on but I shouldn't have to because I never wanted this directory, which doesn't even existing my system in the first place, added to my PATH.

*edit: it's a hack and I'd have to unset the flag on the files when pulling changes but I can at least block Docker Desktop from modifying the files by setting the user immutable flag on macOS using:

chflags uchg "${HOME}"/{.profile,.bash_profile}

And unset it:

chflags nouchg "${HOME}"/{.profile,.bash_profile}

[karlicoss]

Another workaround to at least prevent broken session due to missing .profile is to append . "$HOME/.profile" to .bash_profile