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Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

podman-desktop.io

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Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#72
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you on Windows? I believe it is using Hyper-V and running containers in a VM. The loading time is probably how long it takes to start the VM.

"Docker Desktop" uses a VM for container execution on all supported OSes - Windows, macOS and Linux - default installs are not running "docker" natively at your local CLI if you are using "Docker Desktop" to run docker, even on Linux. > https://www.docker.com/blog/the-magic-behind-the-scenes-of-d... > https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/linux-install/ > https://docs.docker.com/desktop/faqs/linuxfaqs/#what-is-the-…

Interesting. What are they using to run the VM on Linux? QEMU? I looked through the article but didn't see that part explained.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please help me understanding: Why is `brew install docker` not sufficient, why do you also need Colima or Docker Desktop? Is it so that there is a docker _daemon_ installed which `docker` doesn't ship with?

I assume `brew install docker` just installs the docker CLI/etc, which can run on non-Linux OSes. However the docker daemon can only run on Linux, so something needs to setup a VM for it.

Homebrew handles this kinda poorly, so people are often confused. `brew install docker` installs the Docker CLI. `brew install --cask docker` installs Docker Desktop, and if you've permanently tapped homebrew-cask you'll get that instead of the Docker CLI.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#74
post #26
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For personal use I found it great and lighter than Docker Desktop. I don't know what Docker Desktop is doing but on a top end i9 with 128gb of ram it still takes 60 seconds to start and the UI takes forever to do anything it makes Teams look responsive

I user Rancher Desktop on an i9 with 32gb of RAM. Starts in less than a minute. I also have Teams and slack. Sometimes I have over 200 browser tabs open (yes, I have a problem). The UI is responsive pretty quickly. A lot of delays has to do with starting VMs. You need this for Linux on Mac/Windows. Disclaimer: I started Rancher Desktop. I might be biased.

Starting a WHPX-accelerated VM with QEMU on Windows takes less than 15 seconds with a minimal init. Is Hyper-V really that much slower?

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#75
post #38

Talking about containers: is there an easy way to run “system” containers? This is, containers that run systemd and everything else you would expect to be running on a normal Linux OS. I rely heavily on VMs to simulate cloud environments, but I would love to use lightweight containers instead. Also, these “system” containers should be able to run containers inside them as well (docker in docker?). I saw something on…

systemd-nspawn, LXC, and podman should all be able to do that (though doing recursive containers can be kind of weird). In theory https://github.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker should as well, it runs very lightweight VMs.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#76
post #38

Talking about containers: is there an easy way to run “system” containers? This is, containers that run systemd and everything else you would expect to be running on a normal Linux OS. I rely heavily on VMs to simulate cloud environments, but I would love to use lightweight containers instead. Also, these “system” containers should be able to run containers inside them as well (docker in docker?). I saw something on…

You are probably referring to Sysbox (https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox), which I believe will meet your requirements (systemd, inner containers, security, etc).

Btw, Sysbox is already supported in Docker-Desktop (business tier only), so you can easily do what you want with this instruction:

$ docker run -it --rm -e SYSBOX_SYSCONT_MODE=TRUE ghcr.io/nestybox/ubuntu-focal-systemd-docker:latest bash

Disclaimer: I'm Sysbox's co-creator and currently working for Docker.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me the main reason to use Podman over Docker is rootless containers. Another one is also that Docker is really not pleasant to install on Linux.

> Another one is also that Docker is really not pleasant to install on Linux. I'm curious on which Linux did you encounter issues while installing Docker? I cannot comment on the (to me somewhat pointless) Docker Desktop GUI installation on Linux, but I can confidently report that installing and using docker engine on Ubuntu, at least, is quite trivial and clearly documented[0] on the website. [0] https://docs.docker…

Not them, but my employer makes it a major PITA to add non-standard repositories on the corporate Ubuntu image because of the weird and non-standard way Apt is configured. The "docker.io" package available in the official Ubuntu repository is typically horribly out of date.

Additionally, (and admittedly this isn't really Docker's fault), the default IP range for Docker's network happens to conflict with my employer's internal network, which is great fun to debug if you forget to change it.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#78
post #33

I’m using (as individual, so for free) Docker Desktop on my M1 Apple silicon. It works great. Could someone tell me the benefits of switching to Podman? I like that Podman is open source, though. Edit: I’m using it for free.

Docker started charging for business users, so most people are just switching to the free alternatives

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#79
post #76
post #38

Talking about containers: is there an easy way to run “system” containers? This is, containers that run systemd and everything else you would expect to be running on a normal Linux OS. I rely heavily on VMs to simulate cloud environments, but I would love to use lightweight containers instead. Also, these “system” containers should be able to run containers inside them as well (docker in docker?). I saw something on…

You are probably referring to Sysbox ( https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox ), which I believe will meet your requirements (systemd, inner containers, security, etc). Btw, Sysbox is already supported in Docker-Desktop (business tier only), so you can easily do what you want with this instruction: $ docker run -it --rm -e SYSBOX_SYSCONT_MODE=TRUE ghcr.io/nestybox/ubuntu-focal-systemd-docker:latest bash Disclaimer: I'm S…

Sysbox works great! Amazing job.

But OP is looking for something that works for macos I believe.

Re: Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker Desktop

#80
post #58

I'd just love to know if Docker is ever going to fix the issue where my computer kernel panics when going into hibernation if my macbook is unplugged and docker is running. Had an open, reproducible issue for a quite while that has affected lots of other folks too, but no real recognition from Docker.

huh, so that's what's happening to me. I was wondering what the likely cause of the kernel panic issue might be. This might be the impetus I needed to try one of these Mac docker alternatives.
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