Rancher Desktop 1.2.1

Rancher Desktop 1.2.1 is a security (patch) release. Rancher Desktop is an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains a bug fix where steve, an internal component of Rancher Desktop, was sometimes causing a firewall rule prompt. More detail is available in the advisory.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v1.2.0, can be found using GitHub compare and the details of the release can be found in the v1.2.1 milestone.

Rancher Desktop 1.2.0

⚠️ This release includes a security vulnerability. Please use the fixed version 1.2.1 instead! ⚠️

This is the 1.2.0 release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains some new features along with various bug fixes.

Feature Preview

This release includes 2 new features still considered experimental:

• Rancher Dashboard for kubernetes

  It can be opened from the system tray icon menu and runs in a separate window.

• Commandline access via rdctl program

  This is still a prototype with limited functionality. Examples:

  • rdctl list-settings
  • rdctl set --container-engine docker --kubernetes-version 1.21.2
  • rdctl shutdown

  Long term all functionality should be available both through the UI and the CLI.

Important Updates & Fixes

• Works with macOS 12.3
• Support for kubernetes 1.24 on docker via cri-dockerd
• DNS improvements on all platforms (work-in-progress)
• nerdctl updated to 0.17.1

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v1.1.1, can be found using GitHub compare and the details of the release can be found in the v1.2.0 milestone.

Rancher Desktop 1.1.1

⚠️ This release is not working correctly on macOS Monterey 12.3. There is a workaround and a fix should be released next week. ⚠️

This is the 1.1.1 release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains 2 bug fixes:

• DNS not working correctly in some Windows environments
• The docker-buildx symlink was incorrect

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v1.1.0, can be found using GitHub compare and the details of the release can be found in the v1.1.1 milestone.

Rancher Desktop 1.1.0

This is the 1.1.0 release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains some feature changes along with various bug fixes.

Important Updates & Fixes

• Kubernetes can be disabled to run just containerd or dockerd by itself for reduced resource consumption.
• traefik can be disabled to free up port 80 and 443 for alternate ingress configuration.
• Internal container port forwarding support has been enabled again on Linux and macOS.
• docker compose is included when docker is selected in the "Supporting Utilities".
• Improved support for DNS over VPN on Windows (tunnelling only, no split-DNS support yet).
• host.docker.internal is defined inside containers for compatibility.
• Ports bound to 127.0.0.1 are no longer exposed externally.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v1.0.1, can be found using GitHub compare and the details of the release can be found in the v1.1.0 milestone.

Rancher Desktop 1.0.1

Rancher Desktop 1.0.1 is a bug fix release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v1.0.0, can be found using GitHub compare and the details of the release can be found in the v1.0.1 milestone.

Rancher Desktop 1.0.0

This is the 1.0.0 release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains some feature changes along with various bug fixes.

Important Notes & Updates

• kim has been removed. You can build images using the nerdctl and docker command line tools.
• macOS networking has been updated to fall back to a shared mode when bridged mode is unable to get an IP address.
• On macOS the "everyone" group is used instead of the "staff" groups when permission setting is done.
• Electron and nodejs have been updated to the latest stable versions.
• Trivy, nerdctl, and other tools have been upgraded.
• New versions are now checked for hourly.
• A documented security policy and reporting mechanism has been added.
• Numerous bugs were fixed.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v0.7.1, can be found using GitHub compare.

Rancher Desktop 1.0.0-beta.1

This is a beta release of Rancher Desktop v1.0.0. Rancher Desktop is an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux.

This pre-release is meant for testing purposes. You can read more about the release timeline for 1.0.0 on the Rancher blog.

This beta release is not included in the auto-update process and needs to be manually installed.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v0.7.1, can be found using GitHub compare.

Rancher Desktop 0.7.1

This is a patch release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. This release fixes a networking bug.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v0.7.0, can be found using GitHub compare.

Rancher Desktop 0.7.0

This is a feature release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains some feature changes along with various bug fixes.

You can read the announcement post on the SUSE Community site.

Highlighted Features

• Docker CLI / Moby / dockerd: When you first run Rancher Desktop, you will have the option to pick your container runtime. Alongside containerd, you can choose moby, which provides dockerd and enables the Docker CLI and tools that communicate with the Docker socket via Rancher Desktop. You can later change the container runtime in the Kubernetes Settings. Only one container runtime will function at a time.
• Apple Silicon (M1) Support: Rancher Desktop can now be installed on Apple Silicon (M1). In the downloads, choose the aarch64 version to get Apple Silicon support. Note: this version does require Rosetta 2 as some of the components needed by Rancher Desktop don’t yet have native builds.
• Linux Repositories: Linux RPM and deb packages are now available via package repositories. These can be using for installation and updates. Rancher Desktop is also available as an AppImage.
• macOS Bridged Networking: Networking has changes on Mac to enable the IP address to the virtual machine to be routable. This occurs via a bridged network.
• nerdctl Updates: nerdctl, the CLI for use with containerd, has added many new features. Rancher Desktop ships the latest version.

Important Notes

• Switching between container runtimes will leave you with a fresh environment. Containers and images you have running under one container runtime will not show up under the other one. If you switch back to a previous runtime the images you previously had, there will still be available. If you want to remove the containers and images from your unused runtime you will need to Reset Kubernetes and the container runtime.
• Apple Silicon builds of Rancher Desktop run Kubernetes and handle containers using an aarch64 (ARM) architecture.
• AppImage Linux builds do not have a built-in update support. This is in development.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v0.6.1, can be found using GitHub compare.

Release 0.6.1

This is a patch release of Rancher Desktop, an open source desktop application to bring Kubernetes and container management to Mac, Windows, and Linux. The release contains bug fixes associated with the automated update feature.

You can connect with the developers via:

• The issue queue
• Rancher Users Slack in the #rancher-desktop channel

Changelog

The full version changelog, from v0.6.0, can be found using GitHub compare.