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Podman docker alternative

Build container without Docker (Mac (AMD/ARM))

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Podman is an opensource tool to manage all your container needs without requiring Docker or Docker desktop. It has same command sets as Docker and it does not require Daemon.

- Opensource
- Fast and light
- Secure : Rootless container allow to contain privileges
- Compatible : Supports OCI compliant containers including Docker

Install Podman

brew install podman
# On Mac, each Podman machine is backed by a virtual machine
# After installing, you need to create and start your first Podman machine
podman machine init
podman machine start
podman info

Simple Flask app

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route('/')
def hello():
    return "My flask container"
if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run()

Prepare Docker file

You can use most Docker commands with podman. 

FROM python:3.10-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY . /app
RUN pip install --trusted-host pypi.python.org Flask
EXPOSE 5000
CMD ["flask", "run", "--host=0.0.0.0"]

Build and run pod

# Build image from FLask App
podman build -t myflask:latest .
# Check your images
podman images
# Run your container
podman run -p 5000:5000 localhost/myflask:latest 
# Verify the site
curl http://localhost:5000/
# Check running containers
podman ps (-a to list all including stopped)

Push image to GHCR

podman login ghcr.io
podman  push localhost/myflask ghcr.io/vettom/flask_app:latest

Start minikube with podman

minikube It’s recommended to run minikube with the podman driver and CRI-O container runtime (except when using Rootless Podman) 

minikube start --driver=podman --container-runtime=cri-o
# To make podman as default driver
minikube config set driver podman
** Rootless Podman ** By default, minikube executes Podman with sudo. To use Podman without sudo (i.e., Rootless Podman), set the rootless property to true: 
minikube config set rootless true
minikube start --driver=podman --container-runtime=containerd

Command references

Commands Descreption
podman ps -a List all containers including stopped
podman run -p 5000:5000 -d Run container in Daemon mode and port forward
podman image tag newtag:version Create new Tag for image
podman image prune -a Delete al the images
podman inspect Inspect a container image
podman container rm -f $(podman container list -aq) Remove all pods including stopped
podman image rm -f $(podman image ls -q) Remove all images from the system