1 About Podman and Related Utilities
Podman, Buildah, and Skopeo are a set of tools to create, run, and manage applications across compatible Oracle Linux systems using Open Container Initiative compatible containers.
For information about the Open Container Initiative, see the upstream Open Container Initiative documentation.
About Podman
Podman provides a lightweight utility to run and manage Open Container Initiative compatible containers.
Podman deployments can reuse existing container images that are designed for Kubernetes, Docker, and Oracle Cloud Native Environment.
Podman is also intended as a drop-in replacement for Docker, so the CLI functions the same way if the podman-docker package is installed.
Similar to Docker, Podman integrates with Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, and Oracle Container Registry to share applications in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud.
Unlike Docker, Podman doesn't require a running daemon to function. Containers run correctly on systems that are running either the latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) release, or the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK). In addition, Podman containers can start and run without root permissions.
The Oracle Container Registry provides images for licensed commercial and open source Oracle software products. Images can also be used for development and testing purposes. The commercial license covers both production and testing use. The Oracle Container Registry provides a web interface for selecting Oracle images. If required, you must agree to terms of use before pulling the images by using the Podman client software. See Container Registries for more information about this service.
For more general information about Podman, see the upstream Podman documentation and the podman(1) manual page.
Note:
Docker Hub and GitHub Container Registry aren't owned or maintained by Oracle, but Oracle supplies vendor-approved container images on those services for use with other software platforms and cloud providers.
For more information, see the upstream Docker documentation and the upstream GitHub documentation.
About Buildah
Buildah is a utility for creating Open Container Initiative compatible container images.
Buildah provides a wider range of customization options than the more generic podman build command. If you create container images by using Buildah, you don't need a running daemon for the utility to function.
Buildah also doesn't cache builds by default. In addition, the utility can push container images to container registries, so it's suited for use with deployment scripts and automated build pipelines.
For more information, see Buildah.
About Skopeo
Skopeo is a utility for managing container images hosted on remote container registries.
Skopeo is useful for inspecting the contents of a container image without needing to first download it.
If container images are in a self-hosted (private) container registry, Skopeo can be used to seamlessly move container images from one location to another. Skopeo can also be used to bulk-delete container images.
For more information, see Skopeo.