“cannot find module providing for package” in go

Question

Im trying to install the official go docker client by importing

"github.com/docker/docker/client"

But i get the following error

cannot load github.com/docker/distribution/reference: cannot find module providing package github.com/docker/distribution/reference

My go version is 1.12 and my project is outside $GOPATH/src. My go.mod file looks like this.

module app

go 1.12

require (
  github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.4.14 // indirect
  github.com/docker/docker v1.13.1
  github.com/docker/go-connections v0.4.0 // indirect
  github.com/docker/go-units v0.4.0 // indirect
  golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20190827160401-ba9fcec4b297 // indirect
)

Answer 1

Based on docker documentation , it says that you have to execute go get github.com/docker/docker/client command to download it. Once library is retrieved it should compile.

Answer 2

I remember that I had similar problems as you 1.5-2 monthes ago.

My observations :

• there are a lot of versions of docker API
• it's hard to tell which version described in "official" documentation
• API itself flawed
• source code - quite easy to understand

I did not found answers for "what actually describes official documentation?" or "where actually docker API repo?"

I gave up on attempts to solve in "official way" and found that more practical to use "unofficial"

"Unofficial way" :

• use docker/docker-ce (note that examples from official documentation will not work without modification)
• instead of official documentation - just search code in docker-ce repo.
• best example of docker/client usage I found here: components/engine/integration/internal/container/exec.go (note that it resides in internal and is impossible to be used as package)
• I grabbed code that I needed into my package and solved the problem I had

Maybe it's "incorrect" solution but it worked for me.

I suppose it could be more practical for you to not rely on docker documentation too.

Good luck!