Podman 5.0 Released — Docker Compatible Rootless Containers

Podman 5.0 is the most significant Podman release — a rewritten network stack using Netavark, full Docker Compose compatibility and rootless containers that rival Docker's performance.

What's New in Podman 5.0

• Netavark network stack — replaces CNI, faster and more reliable
• Docker Compose v2 compatibility — run compose files natively
• Improved rootless performance — near-native networking speed
• Podman Desktop 1.0 — polished GUI for all platforms

Install Podman 5.0 on Ubuntu 24.04

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y podman

# Verify version
podman --version

# Enable Docker compatibility alias
echo "alias docker=podman" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Run Docker Compose with Podman

# Install podman-compose
pip3 install podman-compose

# Or use Docker Compose with Podman socket
systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket
export DOCKER_HOST=unix://$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/podman/podman.sock
docker-compose up -d

Rootless Security Advantage

# Run containers without root — much more secure
podman run -d --name nginx -p 8080:80 nginx

# Containers cannot escalate to root on host
podman run --rm alpine id
# uid=0(root) gid=0(root) — but this is mapped to your user on host

Migrate from Docker to Podman

# Export Docker images
docker save myimage:latest | podman load

# Migrate running containers
docker inspect container_name > container_config.json
# Recreate in Podman using the config

Conclusion

Podman 5.0 is a production-ready Docker alternative with superior security. Our team deploys container infrastructure using Docker, Podman or Kubernetes based on your requirements.