Lightweight, rootless, daemonless containers

In general API is the same as docker

Run podman under a user without sudo capability

See podman docs at https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/docs/tutorials/rootless_tutorial.md

Enable lingering with sudo loginctl enable-linger podmanuser so services don't get killed when the podmanuser logs out

Manage pods with systemd user unit files

Convert existing docker-compose with podlet compose --pod. Split output into configurations as given by podlet, and place under $HOME/.config/containers/systemd. Modify service files as needed, then run systemctl --user daemon reload to make the units available. To start the pods, run systemctl --user start mypodname-pod (start the main pod, which then starts other needed pods)

To manage podman user quadlets without logging in as the configured podman user, you can use sudo systemctl -M podmanuser@ --user status mypodname-pod

Source: Giacomo's blog at https://giacomo.coletto.io/blog/podman-quadlets/