Podman docker alternative

Build container without Docker (Mac/Linux/Windows)

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
pod podman run localhost/myflask:latest -p 5000:5000
# Verify the site
curl http://localhost:5000/
# Check running containers
podman ps (-a to list all including stopped)

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