diff --git a/alpine/packages/docker/etc/init.d/docker b/alpine/packages/docker/etc/init.d/docker
index c093b7203..fb15f44b7 100755
--- a/alpine/packages/docker/etc/init.d/docker
+++ b/alpine/packages/docker/etc/init.d/docker
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ pidfile="/run/docker.pid"
 # future change this to use a hypervisor socket.
 DOCKER_OPTS="${DOCKER_OPTS} -H tcp://0.0.0.0:2375 -H unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
 
+# set debug mode
+DOCKER_OPTS="${DOCKER_OPTS} --debug"
+
 if cat /proc/cmdline | grep -q 'com.docker.driverDir'
 then
 	DRIVER="$(cat /proc/cmdline | sed -e 's/.*com.docker.driverDir="//' -e 's/".*//')"