podman VS podman-desktop-companion

Example of why: https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/5102#issuecommen...

Podman

Even though we will focus on Docker for this article, I wanted to mention that there are more container creation and management tools such as Podman, Rkt, and so on.

By using containerization, the application will always have the same configuration that is used in the development environment and production environment. There is no more "It works on my machine". Some examples of containerization technologies are Docker and Podman.

Podman Documentation. Podman is a daemonless container engine for developing, managing, and running OCI Containers on your Linux System.

AFAIK podman either already supports pods in quadlet container files, or will in the near future. https://github.com/containers/podman/pull/20762

Podman as a devcontainers engine doesn't currently work if you use devcontainer features [1] or (and this sounds like you're issue) if you use WSL2.

I haven't submitted the WSL2 issue to the Podman team yet. If you get to it before I do, can you like it here?

https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/18691#issuecomme...

You can also use their Oracle Linux Docker images with the database preinstalled using either Podman or Docker. Just make absolutely sure you are downloading something you are licensed to use, because it seems really easy to accidentally infringe copyright via this method.

It's an open source project. https://github.com/containers/podman and https://podman.io - go there, get engaged, see what's going on and most important become part of the community and contribute!

Btw #2: For a nice, cross-platform GUI app thing for Docker & Podman here's this one: Podman Desktop Companion.

Podman Desktop Companion (cross-platform, supports Docker too)

Docker in WSL2 too works but with Podman the environment setup may be a little more flexible depending on what you want to achieve on what distro etc. In any case you can use the cross-platform Podman Desktop Companion app to manage your containers via a GUI.

Both Distrobox and Podman can be installed without root access btw and, here's a neat little GUI for managing Podman & Docker containers: Podman Desktop Companion (cross-platform).

No, that's incorrect. Also, there's the unofficial Pods app, and the Podman Desktop Companion.

For a GUI to manage your Podman and/or Docker containers, install the Podman Desktop Companion app (yes, it supports both Podman and Docker). They say that the Windows version can be used to manage the containers running in WSL2 but a more sure way would be to pick the Linux app and to install it in the WSL2 distro your containers are installed & running in.

I'm skeptic how long this will last unless they bring out some cutting-edge innovations. I frankly used and loved Docker Desktop for a long time because it was the easiest way to get going and I believe even k8s is included now which is great for hobbyists and those who just want to get things done. But, I've been annoyed by the UX changes and the push to login to docker hub.

While in 2023, there are most certainly great alternatives that are relatively easy to install from the terminal and get going, I guess there's not yet a definitive replacement that comes with the GUI too. Best I can think of is Podman Desktop Companion[1] but not sure how well this works.

[1]: https://iongion.github.io/podman-desktop-companion/

How does this compare to Podman Desktop Companion? They look very similar - nearly identical - yet clearly two different projects.