#854: Fix Rancher Desktop path

CHANGELOG.adoc

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ Release with new features and bugfixes:
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/2114[#2114]: Fix false "Cygwin is not supported" warning in Git Bash
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/865[#865]: az not working on Mac
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/2026[#2026]: Create UvRepository and UvBasedCommandlet
+* https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/854[#854]: Fix Rancher Desktop path
 
 The full list of changes for this release can be found in https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/milestone/46?closed=1[milestone 2026.07.001].
 

cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/docker/Docker.java

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.docker;
 
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -8,13 +10,16 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.cli.CliException;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.common.Tag;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeContext;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.os.SystemArchitecture;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.os.WindowsHelper;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.GlobalToolCommandlet;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.NativePackageManager;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.PackageManagerCommand;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.ToolInstallRequest;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.ToolInstallation;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.repository.ToolRepository;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.version.VersionIdentifier;
 
@@ -29,7 +34,7 @@ public class Docker extends GlobalToolCommandlet {
 
   private static final String PODMAN = "podman";
 
-  private static final Pattern RDCTL_CLIENT_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("client version:\\s*v([\\d.]+)", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+  private static final Pattern RDCTL_CLIENT_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("client version:\\s*v?([\\d.]+)", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
 
   private static final Pattern DOCKER_DESKTOP_LINUX_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^([0-9]+(?:\\.[0-9]+){1,2})");
 
@@ -49,23 +54,46 @@ public String getBinaryName() {
   }
 
   private boolean isDockerInstalled() {
-    return isCommandAvailable("docker");
+    return resolveRancherDesktopCommand("docker") != null;
   }
 
   private boolean isRancherDesktopInstalled() {
-    return isCommandAvailable("rdctl");
+    return resolveRancherDesktopCommand("rdctl") != null;
   }
 
   private String detectContainerRuntime() {
-    if (isCommandAvailable(this.tool)) {
-      return this.tool;
+    String docker = resolveRancherDesktopCommand(this.tool);
+    if (docker != null) {
+      return docker;
     } else if (isCommandAvailable(PODMAN)) {
       return PODMAN;
     } else {
       return this.tool;
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Rancher Desktop links its CLI tools (docker, kubectl, rdctl) into the fixed {@code ~/.rd/bin} directory, which it creates on its first launch.
+   * Depending on the user's path management strategy this directory may not be on the PATH, so we look it up there explicitly as a fallback.
+   *
+   * @param command the name of the Rancher Desktop CLI to resolve.
+   * @return the {@code command} unchanged if available on PATH, otherwise its absolute path inside {@code ~/.rd/bin} or {@code null} if not found.
+   */
+  private String resolveRancherDesktopCommand(String command) {
+    if (isCommandAvailable(command)) {
+      return command;
+    }
+    Path rancherDesktopBinary = getRancherDesktopBinDir().resolve(command);
+    if (Files.exists(rancherDesktopBinary)) {
+      return rancherDesktopBinary.toString();
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  private Path getRancherDesktopBinDir() {
+    return this.context.getUserHome().resolve(".rd").resolve("bin");
+  }
+
   @Override
   public boolean isExtract() {
 
@@ -76,6 +104,17 @@ public boolean isExtract() {
     };
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected ToolInstallation doInstall(ToolInstallRequest request) {
+
+    ToolInstallation installation = super.doInstall(request);
+    if (this.context.getSystemInfo().isLinux() && !Files.isDirectory(getRancherDesktopBinDir())) {
+      throw new CliException("Rancher Desktop has been installed but not launched yet. Please start Rancher Desktop once so that it sets up its "
+          + "command-line tools (docker, kubectl, ...) in ~/.rd/bin, then re-run your command.", 2);
+    }
+    return installation;
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected List<PackageManagerCommand> getInstallPackageManagerCommands() {
 
@@ -139,7 +178,8 @@ private VersionIdentifier getDockerDesktopVersionLinux() {
 
   private VersionIdentifier getRancherDesktopClientVersion() {
 
-    String output = this.context.newProcess().runAndGetSingleOutput("rdctl", "version");
+    String rdctl = resolveRancherDesktopCommand("rdctl");
+    String output = this.context.newProcess().runAndGetSingleOutput(rdctl, "version");
     return super.resolveVersionWithPattern(output, RDCTL_CLIENT_VERSION_PATTERN);
   }
 

cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/kubectl/KubeCtl.java

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.kubectl;
 
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
@@ -27,6 +29,19 @@ public KubeCtl(IdeContext context) {
     super(context, "kubectl", Set.of(Tag.KUBERNETES), Docker.class);
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected String getBinaryName() {
+
+    if (isCommandAvailable(this.tool)) {
+      return this.tool;
+    }
+    Path rancherDesktopBinary = this.context.getUserHome().resolve(".rd").resolve("bin").resolve(this.tool);
+    if (Files.exists(rancherDesktopBinary)) {
+      return rancherDesktopBinary.toString();
+    }
+    return this.tool;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public VersionIdentifier getInstalledVersion() {