{{Short description|Daemonless OCI-compliant container runtime}} {{infobox software | title = Podman | name = Podman | logo = Podman-logo-orig.png | screenshot = Podman commands screenshot.webp | caption = Example of Podman commands | collapsible = | author = Red Hat | developer = Cloud Native Computing Foundation | released = 2018 <ref>{{cite web |title=Podman v0.3.5 |url=https://github.com/containers/podman/releases/tag/v0.3.5 |website=github |access-date=21 March 2026}}</ref> | discontinued = | latest release version = {{wikidata|property|reference|P348}} | latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}} | latest preview version = | programming language = Go | operating system = Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD | platform = | language = | genre = OS-level virtualization | license = Apache-2.0 license }}
'''Podman''' (''pod manager'') is an open source Open Container Initiative (OCI)-compliant<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.howtogeek.com/devops/what-is-podman-and-how-does-it-differ-from-docker/|title=What Is Podman and How Does It Differ from Docker?|first=James|last=Walker|date=June 4, 2021|website=How-To Geek}}</ref> container management tool created by Red Hat used for handling containers, images, volumes, and pods on the Linux operating system,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3663672/what-is-podman-and-will-it-replace-docker.html|title=What is Podman? The container engine replacing Docker|first=Jacqueline|last=Primavera|date=June 17, 2022|website=InfoWorld}}</ref> with support for macOS and Microsoft Windows via a virtual machine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3697157/red-hat-puts-podman-container-management-on-the-desktop.html|title=Red Hat puts Podman container management on the desktop|first=Paul|last=Krill|date=May 23, 2023|website=InfoWorld}}</ref> Based on the libpod library, it offers APIs for the lifecycle management of containers, pods, images, and volumes. The API is identical to the Docker API.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jetbrains.com/help/go/podman.html|title=Podman | GoLand|website=GoLand Help}}</ref> Podman Desktop provides an alternative to Docker Desktop.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.howtogeek.com/devops/getting-started-with-podman-desktop-an-open-source-docker-desktop-alternative/|title=Getting Started With Podman Desktop, an Open Source Docker Desktop Alternative|first=James|last=Walker|date=January 19, 2023|website=How-To Geek}}</ref>
==History== thumb|Podman Desktop showing terminal of a container The first public release of Podman (v0.2) was released in 2018, version 1.0.0 of Podman was released on January 16th, 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=Podman v1.0.0 Released {{!}} Podman |url=https://podman.io/release/2019/01/16/podman-release-v1.0.0 |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=podman.io |date=16 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Version 1.0 of Podman Desktop was released on May 23, 2023.<ref>{{cite news |title=Podman Desktop 1.0: The next-gen container management solution streamlining developers container operations |url=https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/podman-desktop-10-next-gen-container-management-solution-streamlining-developers-container-operations |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=Red Hat Blog |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Tim |title=Podman Desktop 1.0 released: a challenge to Docker Desktop • DEVCLASS |url=https://devclass.com/2023/05/24/podman-desktop-1-0-released-a-challenge-to-docker-desktop/ |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=DEVCLASS |date=24 May 2023}}</ref>
In KubeCon 2024, Red Hat announced that it will contribute Podman and Podman Desktop to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), by that point, Podman Desktop had already been downloaded 1.5 million times,<ref>{{cite news |title=Red Hat to Contribute Comprehensive Container Tools Collection to Cloud Native Computing Foundation |url=https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-contribute-comprehensive-container-tools-collection-cloud-native-computing-foundation |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=Red Hat Blog |language=en}}</ref> the projects were accepted into the CNCF on January 21, 2025.<ref>{{cite news |title=Podman Desktop |url=https://www.cncf.io/projects/podman-desktop/ |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=CNCF |date=10 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Podman Container Tools |url=https://www.cncf.io/projects/podman-container-tools/ |website=CNCF |access-date=10 September 2025 |date=10 September 2025}}</ref>
===Adoption===
In the 2025 Stack Overflow survey, among 20,070 survey respondents identifying as professionals, 10.9% said that they had used Podman in the past year, compared to 73.8% and 30.1% for Docker and Kubernetes respectively.<ref name="SOSurvey">{{cite web |title=Technology {{!}} 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey |url=https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology#most-popular-technologies-platform-prof |website=Stack Overfllow |access-date=10 September 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
==Design==
Podman is a "daemonless" tool,<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Podman? — Podman documentation |url=https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/ |website=docs.podman.io |access-date=10 September 2025}}</ref> as opposed to other containerization systems like Docker, which uses a background service called ''dockerd'' to manage its containers, Podman relies on systemd for managing its container life cycles.<ref name="linuxJournal">{{cite web |title=Containers in 2025: Docker vs. Podman for Modern Developers |url=https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/containers-2025-docker-vs-podman-modern-developers |website=Linux Journal |access-date=30 November 2025}}</ref>
==Security==
Podman lets containers run without root privileges (rootless), meaning they can be created, run, and managed by regular users without administrator rights by using Linux namespaces.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title= Rootless containers with Podman|url=https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2020/09/25/rootless-containers-with-podman-the-basics#why_rootless_containers_|website = Red Hat Developer|date=25 September 2020 |access-date=2024-10-12}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Free and open-source software}} * List of Linux containers
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite web|url=https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/podman-in-action/9781633439689/|title=Podman in Action: Secure, Rootless Containers for Kubernetes, Microservices, and More: Walsh, Daniel: 9781633439689: Books|website=learning.oreilly.com}} * {{Cite web|url=https://www.packtpub.com/product/podman-for-devops/9781803248233|title=Podman for DevOps: Containerization reimagined with Podman and its companion tools: Arrichiello, Alessandro, Salinetti, Gianni: 9781803248233: Books|website=packtpub.com}}
{{Virtualization software}}
Category:Containerization software Category:Software using the Apache license Category:Free software programmed in Go Category:Red Hat software Category:Linux Foundation projects Category:Linux containerization
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