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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

#81
post #43

Quoted post unavailable.

If Docker didn't want this to happen, they should not have given everything away for free and then started charging money for it years later.

Also keep in mind that Linux containers are based on open source kernel technology and Docker was just a friendly layer on top. Anyone else has always been free to build their own friendly layer on top. All that's changed is that those alternatives are now more compelling.

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

#82

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…

I experienced issues on Fedora because back then Docker did not support cgroups v2.

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

#84

The problem with podman at the moment (IMO) is version drift. RHEL/Fedora and friends get the latest and greatest (4), Debian/Ubuntu are stuck on 3.x. This isn't a problem with Docker, which has tight control over what is deployed. This means how you use Podman directly or indirectly via tools and plugins may change.

a workaround to get the latest and greatest podman on debian/ubuntu is to use opensuse's kubic repo - it's even mentioned on the podman installation page [0]. but they don't recommend it for production use (though i haven't noticed any issues so far on ubuntu 22.04 and 22.10).

[0] https://podman.io/getting-started/installation

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

#85
post #79
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Appreciate your comment lmarcos!

Yes, the above instruction runs on macos too as long as you have docker-desktop installed.

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

#86

Recently I started using colima[0], a drop in replacement for Docker Desktop on Mac, and have seen an increase in performance and battery life. You can use all the normal docker and docker compose commands. It does not have a GUI but you can use the Docker extension on VS Code to have an overview of running containers. [0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima

Thanks for sharing. I missed something like that. Docker is too enterprisy to my taste. I'm using VPS with docker right now which works good enough, but no volume mounts is not very nice.

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

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

All LTS versions are using 20.10.12. That's less than one year old. I don't see how horribly out of date this is.

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

#88
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-…

Running in a VM is there for very good reasons. If you look at where things are going to be installed on the base system, how you can reset the environment, how you deal with variations with other things installed on the host, and more. It's difficult to do this all well outside of a VM.

Also, there are many people who want that VM boundary. We found this when designing for Linux in Rancher Desktop and talking with people about it.

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

#89
post #68
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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-…

On windows, docker desktop can use Hyper-V, but it also supports WSL2 as a backend.

The WSL2 backend is pretty broken from my experience, it will often lock up using 100% CPU after I put my laptop into sleep/hibernation, and the only reliable way to bring it back seems to be killing the VM in task manager and restarting. Dunno if this is Windows' fault or Docker's though.

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

#90

The problem with podman at the moment (IMO) is version drift. RHEL/Fedora and friends get the latest and greatest (4), Debian/Ubuntu are stuck on 3.x. This isn't a problem with Docker, which has tight control over what is deployed. This means how you use Podman directly or indirectly via tools and plugins may change.

> This isn't a problem with Docker, which has tight control over what is deployed.

That contention is heavily dependent upon how Docker was installed. Docker desktop, yes. Command line Docker on Linux? That used to be much more complicated and depended on if you had an OS vendor provided version or had a Docker provided repo install.

RHEL’s repo version always seemed particularly out of date to me.

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