The useful part of these notes isn't just that I got Docker installed. It's the setup order and the boundaries I need to remember when I'm back at a terminal wondering why something won't cooperate.
I created a Debian 13.6 VM and verified the Docker CE installation with hello-world. The reminder beside that result matters more than the milestone heading. Add the Docker package repository before running apt update. Without that repository setup, the packages showed “no installation candidate.”
That's where I want to look before treating the error as a bigger problem. Did I actually finish the prerequisite?
Check what the paste left behind
The notes warn that a partial paste can break the repository setup command. The useful check is to inspect docker.list with cat, rather than assume the command arrived intact.
Multiline shell input was already awkward when I couldn't copy and paste. I spent a lot of time fixing package-upgrade errors, but didn't leave myself the exact errors or fixes. The reminder I can use is narrower. Check what actually reached the shell and what ended up in the file. Don't reconstruct a fix from a note that never recorded it.
The minimal Debian install also lacked sudo, rsync, and curl. Remember that before assuming those tools are available.
A login change isn't a service privilege
Adding my account to the Docker group allowed Docker use without root after the next login. Enabling services still needed root or sudo.
Keep those separate. The group change wasn't immediate, and being able to use Docker didn't make plain-user service operations privileged.
Pull from the side that can connect
The migration direction came from the network constraint. In this setup, the home VM was behind NAT on shared Wi-Fi. AWS couldn't reach inward, but the VM could reach outward. I initiated the pull from the home VM with rsync over SSH instead of trying to push from AWS.
The notes record a 6.3GB application-directory transfer. That's useful progress to remember, but the entry says migration started. It doesn't record the application starting successfully.
My reminder for next time is to choose the transfer direction around the connection I actually have, and keep a successful transfer separate from a working application. Same patience as the flash-drive note: let the writing finish, then unmount before removal. Finish the step I'm on before treating the next step as done.