Podman

Podman (Pod Manager) is an open-source, daemonless container engine for developing, managing, and running OCI-compliant containers on Linux. It was developed by Red Hat engineers as a Docker-compatible alternative.

Overview

Podman is a drop-in replacement for Docker, using the same CLI syntax. Unlike Docker, Podman does not require a running daemon (systemd service), making it more secure and compatible with systemd integration. Containers run as regular processes, and pods (groups of containers) can be managed directly.

Key Features

  • Daemonless architecture: no background service required
  • Rootless containers: run containers without root privileges
  • Docker CLI compatibility: podman commands mirror docker commands
  • Pod management: group containers into pods (Kubernetes-style)
  • Integration with systemd: containers can be managed as systemd services
  • Buildah and Skopeo as complementary tools in the CNI ecosystem

Licensing

Podman is released under the Apache License 2.0, a permissive open-source license.

See Podman on Red Hat for details.

Official Resources