docker.errors.DockerException: Error while fetching server API version

I want to install this module but there is something wrong when I try the step docker-compose build ...

I tried to update the docker version and restart docker many times... But it didn't work.

git clone https://github.com/uhh-lt/158.git
cd 158
docker-compose build

File "/home/ming/.local/bin/docker-compose", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/main.py", line 67, in main
    command()
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/main.py", line 123, in perform_command
    project = project_from_options('.', options)
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/command.py", line 60, in project_from_options
    return get_project(
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/command.py", line 131, in get_project
    client = get_client(
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/docker_client.py", line 41, in get_client
    client = docker_client(
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/compose/cli/docker_client.py", line 170, in docker_client
    client = APIClient(**kwargs)
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/docker/api/client.py", line 188, in __init__
    self._version = self._retrieve_server_version()
  File "/home/ming/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/docker/api/client.py", line 212, in _retrieve_server_version
    raise DockerException(
docker.errors.DockerException: Error while fetching server API version: ('Connection aborted.', FileNotFoundError(2, 'No such file or directory'))

2020.11.23

Thanks for two of you helping me with the error! I tried the commend but can't connect to my docker...

ming@KITM-7664:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/docker start
[sudo] password for ming:
 * Starting Docker: docker                                                                                       [ OK ]
ming@KITM-7664:~$ which docker
/usr/bin/docker
ming@KITM-7664:~$ docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           19.03.13
 API version:       1.40
 Go version:        go1.13.15
 Git commit:        4484c46d9d
 Built:             Wed Sep 16 17:02:52 2020
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Experimental:      false
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
ming@KITM-7664:~$ systemctl status docker
System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down
ming@KITM-7664:~$ systemctl start docker
System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down
ming@KITM-7664:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/docker start
 * Starting Docker: docker                                                                                       [ OK ]
ming@KITM-7664:~$ docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           19.03.13
 API version:       1.40
 Go version:        go1.13.15
 Git commit:        4484c46d9d
 Built:             Wed Sep 16 17:02:52 2020
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Experimental:      false
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

Are you sure docker is running on your system? You can get that error when compose is not able to connect to docker via docker socket (if any other way for connection is not defined).

If you are running on linux, usually you can run systemctl status docker to check if docker daemon is running and systemctl start docker to start it.

It would help to tell what OS and docker version are you using.

set the permission like this,

sudo chmod 666 /var/run/docker.sock

When used WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) need to enable 'WSL Integration' for required distro in Windows Docker Desktop (Settings -> Resources-> WSL Integration -> Enable integration with required distros).

sudo service docker start or
sudo service docker restart

Just had the same issue after updating Windows Docker desktop to it's latest version (20.10.2, build 2291f61). It happened that this update disabled the WSL2 integration with my virtual Ubuntu 18.04, which I use to run most projects.

I solved it this way:

1. Open Docker Desktop
2. Go to Settings > Resources > WSL Integration
3. Make sure that your distribution is enabled
4. Restart Docker
5. Without the need of restarting WSL2, docker should work again