How to install Podman on Ubuntu?. Podman (Pod Manager) is a tool used to create and maintain containers. It is part of the libpod library. The Red Hat team has been working on a set of tools for running containers without a daemon. Did you know you can’t run Docker containers without Docker Engine daemon?.
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The following set of tools work together to power the use of Containers without an all-time running daemon process.
- Buildah to facilitate building of OCI images
- Skopeo for sharing/finding container images on Docker registries, the Atomic registry, private registries, local directories and local OCI-layout directories.
- Podman for running containers without need for daemon.
Buildah’s commands replicate all of the commands that are found in a Dockerfile. Buildah containers are just created to allow content to be added back to the container image.
Podman gives you all the commands and functions required to maintain and modify OCI images, such as pulling and tagging. It also allows you create, run, and maintain
Install Podman on Ubuntu
There are two methods of instalallation:
Method 1: Install Podman from OS repositories
On Ubuntu 22.04+, you can install Podman from OS repositories.
sudo apt update && sudo apt -y install podmanCheck the version of Podman package installed.
$ podman --version
podman version 4.9.3Method 2: Using Kubic PPA repository
The podman packages are also available Kubic project repository for Ubuntu system:
Note: This doesn’t work on Ubuntu 24.04, only run on 20.04 and 22.04.
Add the repository by running the commands below.
. /etc/os-release
echo "deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/xUbuntu_${VERSION_ID}/ /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable.list
curl -L "https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/xUbuntu_${VERSION_ID}/Release.key" | sudo apt-key add -Once the repository is added, proceed to install Podman.
sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install podmanAfter the installation, you can display information pertaining to the host, current storage stats, and build of podman.
$ podman --version
podman version x.y.z
$ podman infoTest Podman by running a container
Pull Alpine docker image.
$ podman pull alpine
Resolved "alpine" as an alias (/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/shortnames.conf)
Trying to pull docker.io/library/alpine:latest...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob ec99f8b99825 done |
Copying config a606584aa9 done |
Writing manifest to image destination
a606584aa9aa875552092ec9e1d62cb98d486f51f389609914039aabd9414687List Downloaded images
$ podman images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
docker.io/library/alpine latest 5cb3aa00f899 3 days ago 8.09 MB
docker.io/library/hello-world latest fce289e99eb9 2 months ago 5.62 kBPodman’s local repository is in /var/lib/containers
Run container with command – command options similar to docker.
$ podman run -it --rm docker.io/library/alpine /bin/sh
/ # apk update
fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
v3.20.1-138-gdca7b7c7495 [https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/main]
v3.20.1-139-ga1c75604690 [https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/community]
OK: 24157 distinct packages available
/ # apk add vim
(1/5) Installing vim-common (9.1.0414-r0)
(2/5) Installing xxd (9.1.0414-r0)
(3/5) Installing ncurses-terminfo-base (6.4_p20240420-r0)
(4/5) Installing libncursesw (6.4_p20240420-r0)
(5/5) Installing vim (9.1.0414-r0)
Executing busybox-1.36.1-r29.trigger
OK: 40 MiB in 19 packages
/ # exitShow running containers.
$ podman ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
1eb35f1b7de8 docker.io/library/alpine:latest /bin/sh 4 seconds ago Up 4 seconds ago pedantic_roentgen
ec9c5b12db46 docker.io/library/alpine:latest /bin/sh 5 minutes ago Up 5 minutes ago ecstatic_wilesPodman CLI Cheat Sheet
Check out below reference commands when using Podman.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
podman run <image> | Run a container from an image |
podman ps | List running containers |
podman images | List local container images |
podman pull <image> | Pull an image from a registry |
podman build -t <tag> . | Build an image from a Dockerfile |
podman stop <container> | Stop a running container |
podman start <container> | Start a stopped container |
podman restart <container> | Restart a running container |
podman rm <container> | Remove a stopped container |
podman rmi <image> | Remove an image |
podman exec -it <container> <command> | Execute a command in a running container |
podman inspect <container/image> | Display detailed information about a container/image |
podman logs <container> | View logs from a container |
podman network ls | List Podman networks |
podman volume ls | List Podman volumes |
podman system prune | Remove all stopped containers, networks, and volumes |
podman version | Display Podman version |
podman info | Display Podman system information |
podman help | Display Podman command help |
For more on usage of Podman, check:
To setup private registry, checkout:
Conclusion
Podman seems to be a replacement for Docker and other container management tools which require a daemon to work. It is still fresh and in early development stages to tell a lot. In RHEL 8, the officially supported tools for managing Docker containers are Podman and Buildah.
Related guides:
Very good information! I was able to install podman on my Ubuntu 20.04 system following these instructions. There is just one minor type under “Show running containers.”, the command is “podman ps” not “podman ls”.
Thanks!
Awesome thank you!