github.com/xuyutom/docker@v1.6.0/docs/sources/project/software-required.md (about) 1 page_title: Get the required software 2 page_description: Describes the software required to contribute to Docker 3 page_keywords: GitHub account, repository, Docker, Git, Go, make, 4 5 # Get the required software 6 7 Before you begin contributing you must have: 8 9 * a GitHub account 10 * `git` 11 * `make` 12 * `docker` 13 14 You'll notice that `go`, the language that Docker is written in, is not listed. 15 That's because you don't need it installed; Docker's development environment 16 provides it for you. You'll learn more about the development environment later. 17 18 ### Get a GitHub account 19 20 To contribute to the Docker project, you will need a <a 21 href="https://github.com" target="_blank">GitHub account</a>. A free account is 22 fine. All the Docker project repositories are public and visible to everyone. 23 24 You should also have some experience using both the GitHub application and `git` 25 on the command line. 26 27 ### Install git 28 29 Install `git` on your local system. You can check if `git` is on already on your 30 system and properly installed with the following command: 31 32 $ git --version 33 34 35 This documentation is written using `git` version 2.2.2. Your version may be 36 different depending on your OS. 37 38 ### Install make 39 40 Install `make`. You can check if `make` is on your system with the following 41 command: 42 43 $ make -v 44 45 This documentation is written using GNU Make 3.81. Your version may be different 46 depending on your OS. 47 48 ### Install or upgrade Docker 49 50 If you haven't already, install the Docker software using the 51 <a href="/installation" target="_blank">instructions for your operating system</a>. 52 If you have an existing installation, check your version and make sure you have 53 the latest Docker. 54 55 To check if `docker` is already installed on Linux: 56 57 $ docker --version 58 Docker version 1.5.0, build a8a31ef 59 60 On Mac OS X or Windows, you should have installed Boot2Docker which includes 61 Docker. You'll need to verify both Boot2Docker and then Docker. This 62 documentation was written on OS X using the following versions. 63 64 $ boot2docker version 65 Boot2Docker-cli version: v1.5.0 66 Git commit: ccd9032 67 68 $ docker --version 69 Docker version 1.5.0, build a8a31ef 70 71 ## Linux users and sudo 72 73 This guide assumes you have added your user to the `docker` group on your system. 74 To check, list the group's contents: 75 76 $ getent group docker 77 docker:x:999:ubuntu 78 79 If the command returns no matches, you have two choices. You can preface this 80 guide's `docker` commands with `sudo` as you work. Alternatively, you can add 81 your user to the `docker` group as follows: 82 83 $ sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu 84 85 You must log out and back in for this modification to take effect. 86 87 88 ## Where to go next 89 90 In the next section, you'll [learn how to set up and configure Git for 91 contributing to Docker](/project/set-up-git/).