7 ms·

Podman Desktop: Same functionality as Docker Desktop but open source

123 points by twelvenmonkeys 4y ago

KyeRussell 4y ago
Not really. I wouldn’t even say I’m doing anything hugely fancy with Docker (hell, I’m not even using containers in production) and podman desktop as it stands is unfortunately not a drop-in replacement. I pray for the day.
dboreham 4y ago
Still no compose support?
- rwbhn 4y ago
  Looks like there is compose support - https://podman-desktop.io/docs/compose/podman-compose https://podman-desktop.io/docs/compose/podman-compose
  - hypothesis 4y ago
    Ok, this one is “interesting”: podman-compose have a dev brach that has some lots of things addressed, but they don’t have any recent tags and it’s not clear if they are going too. There is an issue somewhere, alluding that development is stalled because k8s is the way or similar thing. Debian recently packaged 1.0.3 that is also old.
    - 3np 4y ago
      See sibling comment. You can use docker-compose directly with podman.
  - crazysim 4y ago
    Hmm, this is the one that's closer to the Python docker-compose and not "docker compose" that's built into docker right now right?
    - KyeRussell 4y ago
      Yes. The language change coincides with a slew of new features.
  - 3np 4y ago
    FWIW podman (sans desktop) works perfectly fine as a native back end for docker-compose as of podman v3, you just need to set the DOCKER_HOST env var. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Podman#Docker_Compose https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Podman#Docker_Compose podman-compose is less interesting since.
  - jacooper 4y ago
    Podman compose doesn't cover the whole compose spec, so no, it doesn't support it.
  - sph 4y ago
    I'm not sure why the docs mention podman-compose, which is buggy and unmaintained. The podman way is to write a k8s manifest and start it with `podman play kube`. Also handles configMaps and persistentVolumes. If you really need docker-compose, podman is API-compatible with docker, so you can use the real thing on top of the podman socket. Just do not use podman-compose.
- jillesvangurp 4y ago
  Looks like it. Last time I tried it, I wasn't able to use it because of this. I don't use or need kubernetes. I do use docker and docker-compose. A lot. On basically all my projects. It's not optional for me. So, sadly, Podman is not a usable docker desktop replacement for me. I used qemu for a while on my old macbook with a linux vm that had ssh installed. You can actually make docker use a remote machine via ssh and with some environment variable magic you can actually make things like docker-compose work that way. A bit tricky with mounting volumes and forwarding ports of course but you can make that work as well. You can use ssh to forward local ports to a remote machine and you can setup qemu to share directories to the vm. It is a bit tedious to manage but I used this for several months with some scripts to set this up. So, having done this manually, that raises the question why Podman can't do this? I reverted back to using docker desktop when I got my M1 macbook last year. It's just easier. But it would be nice to have some alternative if the need ever arises. If Podman improves their docker-compose support I might give it another try.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
Nezteb 4y ago
How does this compare to [Rancher Desktop](https://rancherdesktop.io/ https://rancherdesktop.io/)? (Disclaimer: I’ve tried neither but would like to eventually evaluate both)
- banku_brougham 4y ago
  Ive used rancher desktop on macos, works great to replace docker desktop. I dont to complex things, eg. build a container to run a trino db client indtead of installing java locally.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ashconnor 4y ago
The Podman in Action ebook by Manning is currently free courtesy of RedHat: https://developers.redhat.com/e-books/podman-action https://developers.redhat.com/e-books/podman-action
- basilgohar 4y ago
  Requires an account to download the PDF.
  - EdwardDiego 4y ago
    The account is free, but this link will work for the next 4 hours. https://access.cdn.redhat.com/developers/Podman-in-Action-ebook-FINAL-Red-Hat-Developer.pdf?_auth_=1679716319_5a64838e09468ad3a882cf194f1526c7 https://access.cdn.redhat.com/developers/Podman-in-Action-eb...
    - seaal 4y ago
      Seems to not be working already.
      - EdwardDiego 4y ago
        Huh, try this: https://mega.nz/file/UQlTgKIa#Hp_V0MQ_YSqjoVYU1SO78SEe70exUNsWRPahwM9arBc https://mega.nz/file/UQlTgKIa#Hp_V0MQ_YSqjoVYU1SO78SEe70exUN...
  - tauwauwau 4y ago
    https://bugmenot.com/view/developers.redhat.com https://bugmenot.com/view/developers.redhat.com
bakugo 4y ago
I'll try this to see if it's more stable on Windows than Docker Desktop, which has been giving me constant issues lately. Or maybe it's WSL's fault, who knows.
kyriakos 4y ago
Last time I tested it on wsl2 it didn't mount volumes in the main Linux distribution but only inside it's own Linux distro which kinda defeats the purpose since i couldn't use the storage accessible by the Linux distro that had all my tools setup. Not sure if that changed, but docker desktop has this functionality and works quite well.
- photonbucket 4y ago
  I'm curious about what sort of work requires both windows and docker
  - kyriakos 4y ago
    If you work in a corporate environment the OS you use is dictated by IT policy.
  - cjk 4y ago
    In a previous life, I built and maintained a Dockerized CI pipeline (using Windows containers) for Bluetooth headphone firmware. Qualcomm only provides tools for e.g. CSR8675 platforms for Windows. What’s worse is in some cases the source code has to be commingled with the SDK itself, so building projects can mean copying your source code and modifications over top of the installed SDK in order to produce a build. Docker’s ephemeral disks are a lifesaver in stupid situations like this.
  - jdboyd 4y ago
    Building windows client applications that need to talk to a containerized service. The service could run on a remote server, but for development it is convenient to run it on the same Windows laptop that I'm doing the Windows development on. I've already switched to podman on Windows, and I'm evaluating switching to podman on Linux for the sake of being a lighter weight, and looking like a good way to run pods on a single node.
dang 4y ago
Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33536978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33536978 - Nov 2022 (191 comments) Podman Desktop Companion GUI – Parity on All Major Operating Systems - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31055475 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31055475 - April 2022 (113 comments)
wseqyrku 4y ago
Sounds like containers could be OS built-in for non-cli applications? Any app can be containerized so that adds a level of isolation and security. I actually use containers whenever I can so I don't worry about left over garbage.
- mmh0000 4y ago
  You’ve just described flatpak. https://www.flatpak.org/ https://www.flatpak.org/
- npteljes 4y ago
  Definitely! Projects like Qubes OS prove that this is feasible on PC, and that it adds security. https://www.qubes-os.org/ https://www.qubes-os.org/
revelio 4y ago
What's Red Hat's business model here? They seem hell bent on destroying Docker as a company but what's the end game there for them?
- 28304283409234 4y ago
  First: it is ibm. Second: what is wrong with Canonical that they seem hellbent on destroying IBM? What is wrong with Torvalds that he seems hellbent on destroying Sun Microsystems, and IBM?
  - revelio 4y ago
    Torvalds wanted a UNIX that ran on his 386 PC and Sun wasn't going to ever offer that. Canonical doesn't want to destroy IBM/Red Hat they want to compete with the same business model by selling support contracts. Red Hat doesn't seem to want to compete with Docker using the same business model, just give it all away for free and then ... what?
    - quesera 4y ago
      > Torvalds wanted a UNIX that ran on his 386 PC and Sun wasn't going to ever offer that. Sun did end up releasing Solaris for x86 in 1993, a couple years after Linus' first post to comp.os.minix. Solaris x86 was a paid product though. Linus apparently did not know about BSD, which goes back to ~1989.
- mmh0000 4y ago
  I think it is fair to say that Red Hat devs hate Docker devs. Early in the Docker days, Red Hat submitted multiple patches to Docker that fixed legitimate issues. Docker rejected[0] most of them. After that, Red Had basically said, "screw you guys, I'm going to build my own container engine with blackjack and hookers!" and Podman, Skopeo, Buildah, etc. popped up. [0] https://projectatomic.io/docs/docker_patches/ https://projectatomic.io/docs/docker_patches/ — Specifically if you're looking for nerd-drama, read through the rejected PRs.
- nunez 4y ago
cassianoleal 4y ago
After opening it, the first thing it does is to offer to opt-out of telemetry. That's good enough. That said, after I denied it, when I go to Settings it says Telemetry: Enabled, even though the checkbox to enable it is unchecked. I have no idea which reflects my current settings. Furthermore, after I selected to "Initialize Podman", the switcher is still in the "off" position. If I click it again, it says the VM already exists. I'm not sure how to stop it, or if it's even actually running. I'll stick with colima [0] for now as it's simple, easy, with not telemetry, and I always know what's its state. [0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima https://github.com/abiosoft/colima

Not really. I wouldn’t even say I’m doing anything hugely fancy with Docker (hell, I’m not even using containers in production) and podman desktop as it stands is unfortunately not a drop-in replacement. I pray for the day.

dboreham 4y ago

Still no compose support?

rwbhn 4y ago
Looks like there is compose support - https://podman-desktop.io/docs/compose/podman-compose https://podman-desktop.io/docs/compose/podman-compose
- hypothesis 4y ago
  Ok, this one is “interesting”: podman-compose have a dev brach that has some lots of things addressed, but they don’t have any recent tags and it’s not clear if they are going too. There is an issue somewhere, alluding that development is stalled because k8s is the way or similar thing. Debian recently packaged 1.0.3 that is also old.
  - 3np 4y ago
    See sibling comment. You can use docker-compose directly with podman.
- crazysim 4y ago
  Hmm, this is the one that's closer to the Python docker-compose and not "docker compose" that's built into docker right now right?
  - KyeRussell 4y ago
    Yes. The language change coincides with a slew of new features.
- 3np 4y ago
  FWIW podman (sans desktop) works perfectly fine as a native back end for docker-compose as of podman v3, you just need to set the DOCKER_HOST env var. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Podman#Docker_Compose https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Podman#Docker_Compose podman-compose is less interesting since.
- jacooper 4y ago
  Podman compose doesn't cover the whole compose spec, so no, it doesn't support it.
- sph 4y ago
  I'm not sure why the docs mention podman-compose, which is buggy and unmaintained. The podman way is to write a k8s manifest and start it with `podman play kube`. Also handles configMaps and persistentVolumes. If you really need docker-compose, podman is API-compatible with docker, so you can use the real thing on top of the podman socket. Just do not use podman-compose.
jillesvangurp 4y ago
Looks like it. Last time I tried it, I wasn't able to use it because of this. I don't use or need kubernetes. I do use docker and docker-compose. A lot. On basically all my projects. It's not optional for me. So, sadly, Podman is not a usable docker desktop replacement for me. I used qemu for a while on my old macbook with a linux vm that had ssh installed. You can actually make docker use a remote machine via ssh and with some environment variable magic you can actually make things like docker-compose work that way. A bit tricky with mounting volumes and forwarding ports of course but you can make that work as well. You can use ssh to forward local ports to a remote machine and you can setup qemu to share directories to the vm. It is a bit tedious to manage but I used this for several months with some scripts to set this up. So, having done this manually, that raises the question why Podman can't do this? I reverted back to using docker desktop when I got my M1 macbook last year. It's just easier. But it would be nice to have some alternative if the need ever arises. If Podman improves their docker-compose support I might give it another try.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

Nezteb 4y ago

How does this compare to [Rancher Desktop](https://rancherdesktop.io/ https://rancherdesktop.io/)? (Disclaimer: I’ve tried neither but would like to eventually evaluate both)

banku_brougham 4y ago
Ive used rancher desktop on macos, works great to replace docker desktop. I dont to complex things, eg. build a container to run a trino db client indtead of installing java locally.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ashconnor 4y ago

The Podman in Action ebook by Manning is currently free courtesy of RedHat: https://developers.redhat.com/e-books/podman-action https://developers.redhat.com/e-books/podman-action

basilgohar 4y ago
Requires an account to download the PDF.
- EdwardDiego 4y ago
  The account is free, but this link will work for the next 4 hours. https://access.cdn.redhat.com/developers/Podman-in-Action-ebook-FINAL-Red-Hat-Developer.pdf?_auth_=1679716319_5a64838e09468ad3a882cf194f1526c7 https://access.cdn.redhat.com/developers/Podman-in-Action-eb...
  - seaal 4y ago
    Seems to not be working already.
    - EdwardDiego 4y ago
      Huh, try this: https://mega.nz/file/UQlTgKIa#Hp_V0MQ_YSqjoVYU1SO78SEe70exUNsWRPahwM9arBc https://mega.nz/file/UQlTgKIa#Hp_V0MQ_YSqjoVYU1SO78SEe70exUN...
- tauwauwau 4y ago
  https://bugmenot.com/view/developers.redhat.com https://bugmenot.com/view/developers.redhat.com

bakugo 4y ago

I'll try this to see if it's more stable on Windows than Docker Desktop, which has been giving me constant issues lately. Or maybe it's WSL's fault, who knows.

kyriakos 4y ago

Last time I tested it on wsl2 it didn't mount volumes in the main Linux distribution but only inside it's own Linux distro which kinda defeats the purpose since i couldn't use the storage accessible by the Linux distro that had all my tools setup. Not sure if that changed, but docker desktop has this functionality and works quite well.

photonbucket 4y ago
I'm curious about what sort of work requires both windows and docker
- kyriakos 4y ago
  If you work in a corporate environment the OS you use is dictated by IT policy.
- cjk 4y ago
  In a previous life, I built and maintained a Dockerized CI pipeline (using Windows containers) for Bluetooth headphone firmware. Qualcomm only provides tools for e.g. CSR8675 platforms for Windows. What’s worse is in some cases the source code has to be commingled with the SDK itself, so building projects can mean copying your source code and modifications over top of the installed SDK in order to produce a build. Docker’s ephemeral disks are a lifesaver in stupid situations like this.
- jdboyd 4y ago
  Building windows client applications that need to talk to a containerized service. The service could run on a remote server, but for development it is convenient to run it on the same Windows laptop that I'm doing the Windows development on. I've already switched to podman on Windows, and I'm evaluating switching to podman on Linux for the sake of being a lighter weight, and looking like a good way to run pods on a single node.

dang 4y ago

Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33536978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33536978 - Nov 2022 (191 comments) Podman Desktop Companion GUI – Parity on All Major Operating Systems - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31055475 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31055475 - April 2022 (113 comments)

wseqyrku 4y ago

Sounds like containers could be OS built-in for non-cli applications? Any app can be containerized so that adds a level of isolation and security. I actually use containers whenever I can so I don't worry about left over garbage.

mmh0000 4y ago
You’ve just described flatpak. https://www.flatpak.org/ https://www.flatpak.org/
npteljes 4y ago
Definitely! Projects like Qubes OS prove that this is feasible on PC, and that it adds security. https://www.qubes-os.org/ https://www.qubes-os.org/

revelio 4y ago

What's Red Hat's business model here? They seem hell bent on destroying Docker as a company but what's the end game there for them?

28304283409234 4y ago
First: it is ibm. Second: what is wrong with Canonical that they seem hellbent on destroying IBM? What is wrong with Torvalds that he seems hellbent on destroying Sun Microsystems, and IBM?
- revelio 4y ago
  Torvalds wanted a UNIX that ran on his 386 PC and Sun wasn't going to ever offer that. Canonical doesn't want to destroy IBM/Red Hat they want to compete with the same business model by selling support contracts. Red Hat doesn't seem to want to compete with Docker using the same business model, just give it all away for free and then ... what?
  - quesera 4y ago
    > Torvalds wanted a UNIX that ran on his 386 PC and Sun wasn't going to ever offer that. Sun did end up releasing Solaris for x86 in 1993, a couple years after Linus' first post to comp.os.minix. Solaris x86 was a paid product though. Linus apparently did not know about BSD, which goes back to ~1989.
mmh0000 4y ago
I think it is fair to say that Red Hat devs hate Docker devs. Early in the Docker days, Red Hat submitted multiple patches to Docker that fixed legitimate issues. Docker rejected[0] most of them. After that, Red Had basically said, "screw you guys, I'm going to build my own container engine with blackjack and hookers!" and Podman, Skopeo, Buildah, etc. popped up. [0] https://projectatomic.io/docs/docker_patches/ https://projectatomic.io/docs/docker_patches/ — Specifically if you're looking for nerd-drama, read through the rejected PRs.
nunez 4y ago

cassianoleal 4y ago

After opening it, the first thing it does is to offer to opt-out of telemetry. That's good enough. That said, after I denied it, when I go to Settings it says Telemetry: Enabled, even though the checkbox to enable it is unchecked. I have no idea which reflects my current settings. Furthermore, after I selected to "Initialize Podman", the switcher is still in the "off" position. If I click it again, it says the VM already exists. I'm not sure how to stop it, or if it's even actually running. I'll stick with colima [0] for now as it's simple, easy, with not telemetry, and I always know what's its state. [0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima https://github.com/abiosoft/colima