I’m a retired Unix admin. It was my job from the early '90s until the mid '10s. I’ve kept somewhat current ever since by running various machines at home. So far I’ve managed to avoid using Docker at home even though I have a decent understanding of how it works - I stopped being a sysadmin in the mid '10s, I still worked for a technology company and did plenty of “interesting” reading and training.

It seems that more and more stuff that I want to run at home is being delivered as Docker-first and I have to really go out of my way to find a non-Docker install.

I’m thinking it’s no longer a fad and I should invest some time getting comfortable with it?

  • @rsolvaEnglish
    9•7 months ago

    Yes! Well, kinda. You can skip Docker and go straight to Podman, which is an open source and more integrated solution. I configure my containers as systemd services (as quadlets).

    • @lawrenceEnglish
      4•7 months ago

      Hold up, does Podman replace Docker entirely?

      • @rsolvaEnglish
        6•7 months ago

        There are still edge cases, but things have improved rapidly the last year or two, to the point that most docker-compose.yaml files can be run unmodified with podman-compose.

        I have however moved away from compose in favor of running containers and pods as systemd services, which I really like. If you want to try it, make sure your distro has a reasonably new version of Podman, at least v4.4 ot newer. Debian stable has an older version, so I had to use the testing repos to get quadlets working.

      • @[email protected]English
        4•7 months ago

        I’m no expert, but as far as I can tell yes. It also seems a bit easier to have a rootless setup.

      • @AnonymouseEnglish
        3•7 months ago

        It depends on what you do with Docker. Podman can replace many of the core docker features, but does not ship with a Docker Desktop app (there may be one available). Also, last I checked, there were differences in the docker build command.

        That being said, I’m using podman at home and work, doing development things and building images must fine. My final images are built in a pipeline with actual Docker, though.

        I jumped ship from Docker (like the metaphor?) when they started clamping down on unregistered users and changed the corporate license. It’s my personal middle finger to them.

      • El BartoEnglish
        1•7 months ago

        I, too, need to know…