2 Install Podman and Related Utilities

Install Podman and its related utilities such as Buildah and Skopeo on an Oracle Linux host.

To use Podman, the system must have the latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) version or Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) installed.

Podman and the related utilities are available for Oracle Linux on the Oracle Linux yum server and the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN).

The container-tools module (or metapackage, in the case of Oracle Linux 9 and Oracle Linux 10 hosts) is provided for convenience to install Podman and the utilities using a single command. However, Podman and its related utilities are designed to work independently of each other, so they can also be installed as individual packages. For example, Buildah has no dependency on Podman, so it's possible to separate the container build infrastructure from systems on which the containers are intended to run. You can optionally install Buildah on the same system that you run Podman, or you can install Buildah on another system. Similarly, you can install Skopeo separate from the other utilities according to specific requirements. To install these packages individually, see Installing Podman, Installing Buildah, and Installing Skopeo.

To install Podman and the related utilities on Oracle Linux 8 hosts, run the following command: 

sudo dnf module install container-tools:ol8

To install Podman and the related utilities on Oracle Linux 9 and Oracle Linux 10 hosts, run the following command: 

sudo dnf install container-tools

Podman, Buildah, Skopeo, and other related utilities are installed.

Tip:

If you're using the Oracle Linux Cockpit Web console, you can install the cockpit-podman add-on application. This adds a Podman containers page to the Cockpit web console to monitor and manage Podman images, containers and pods. For example, the Podman containers page provides up-to-date container performance details, container CLI interaction ability, and options to create, run, and change container instances. For information on installing and using this add-on, see Oracle Linux: Using the Cockpit Web Console.

Installing Podman

Install standalone Podman without installing the associated utilities (Buildah or Skopeo) on an Oracle Linux host.

You can install either the podman package, or the podman-docker package. The podman-docker package effectively aliases the docker command to podman. The podman-docker package might be helpful if you're more familiar with Docker, or where automation expects the docker command to be present. If you're installing the podman-docker package, replace this package name in the first step, and use the docker command instead of the podman command in the rest of this book.

  1. Install Podman.
    sudo dnf install podman
  2. Check the Podman configuration.

    Use the podman info command to display information about the configuration and version of Podman: 

    podman info
  3. Show the Podman commands.
    podman --help

    For more information, see the podman(1) manual page.

Installing Buildah

Install the Buildah utility without installing Podman or Skopeo on an Oracle Linux host.

  1. Install Buildah.
    sudo dnf install buildah
  2. Check the Buildah configuration.

    Use the buildah info command to display information about the configuration and version of Buildah: 

    buildah info
  3. Show the Buildah commands.
    buildah --help

    For more information, see the buildah(1) manual page.

Installing Skopeo

Install the Skopeo utility without installing Podman or Buildah on an Oracle Linux host.

  1. Install Skopeo.
    sudo dnf install skopeo
  2. Show the Skopeo commands.
    skopeo --help

    For more information, see the skopeo(1) manual page.