Docker can be installed as binary from get.docker.io as described in the docs: Get the docker binary

Linux

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wget https://get.docker.io/builds/Linux/x86_64/docker-latest -O docker
chmod +x docker

Mac

The mac binary installation is described in a different documentation page: Docker OS X Client

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curl -o docker https://get.docker.io/builds/Darwin/x86_64/docker-latest
chmod +x docker

Install a Previous Version

Sometimes I need a specific docker client version as 0.8 server is not compatible with earlier version. By playing with the url, I figured that by changing latest to a specific version number i can download earlier releases:

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# get 0.7.5
curl -O http://get.docker.io/builds/Darwin/x86_64/docker-0.7.5
chmod +x docker-0.7.5

# get 0.8.0
curl -O http://get.docker.io/builds/Darwin/x86_64/docker-0.8.0
chmod +x docker-0.8.0