podman-systemd.unit(5)

NAME

podman-systemd.unit - systemd units using Podman Quadlet

SYNOPSIS

name.container, name.volume, name.network, name.kube name.image, name.pod

  Podman rootful unit search path

Quadlet files for the root user can be placed in the following two directories:

    •   /etc/containers/systemd/

    •   /usr/share/containers/systemd/

  Podman rootless unit search path

Quadlet files for non-root users can be placed in the following directories

    •   $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/containers/systemd/ or ~/.config/containers/systemd/

    •   /etc/containers/systemd/users/$(UID)

    •   /etc/containers/systemd/users/

  Using symbolic links

Quadlet supports using symbolic links for the base of the search paths. Symbolic links below the search paths are not supported.

DESCRIPTION

Podman supports starting containers (and creating volumes) via systemd by using a systemd generator. These files are read during boot (and when systemctl daemon-reload is run) and generate corresponding regular systemd service unit files. Both system and user systemd units are supported. All options and tables available in standard systemd unit files are supported. For example, options defined in the [Service] table and [Install] tables pass directly to systemd and are handled by it. See systemd.unit(5) man page for more information.

The Podman generator reads the search paths above and reads files with the extensions .container .volume, .network, .pod and .kube, and for each file generates a similarly named .service file. Be aware that existing vendor services (i.e., in /usr/) are replaced if they have the same name. The generated unit files can be started and managed with systemctl like any other systemd service. systemctl {--user} list-unit-files lists existing unit files on the system.

The Podman files use the same format as regular systemd unit files. Each file type has a custom section (for example, [Container]) that is handled by Podman, and all other sections are passed on untouched, allowing the use of any normal systemd configuration options like dependencies or cgroup limits.

The source files also support drop-ins in the same way systemd does. For a given source file (say foo.container), the corresponding .ddirectory (in this case foo.container.d) will be scanned for files with a .conf extension that are merged into the base file in alphabetical order. The format of these drop-in files is the same as the base file. This is useful to alter or add configuration settings for a unit, without having to modify unit files.

For rootless containers, when administrators place Quadlet files in the /etc/containers/systemd/users directory, all users' sessions execute the Quadlet when the login session begins. If the administrator places a Quadlet file in the /etc/containers/systemd/users/${UID}/ directory, then only the user with the matching UID execute the Quadlet when the login session gets started. For unit files placed in subdirectories within /etc/containers/systemd/user/${UID}/ and the other user unit search paths, Quadlet will recursively search and run the unit files present in these subdirectories.

Note: When a Quadlet is starting, Podman often pulls one more container images which may take a considerable amount of time. Systemd defaults service start time to 90 seconds, or fails the service. Pre-pulling the image or extending the systemd timeout time for the service using the TimeoutStartSec Service option can fix the problem.

Adding the following snippet to a Quadlet file extends the systemd timeout to 15 minutes.
    [Service]
    TimeoutStartSec=900

Quadlet requires the use of cgroup v2, use podman info --format {{.Host.CgroupsVersion}} to check on the system.

  Service Type

By default, the Type field of the Service section of the Quadlet file does not need to be set. Quadlet will set it to notify for .container and .kube files, forking for .pod files, and oneshot for .volume, .network and .image files.

However, Type may be explicitly set to oneshot for .container and .kube files when no containers are expected to run once podman exits.

When setting Type=oneshot, it is recommended to also set RemainAfterExit=yes to prevent the service state from becoming inactive (dead)

Examples for such cases: - .container file with an image that exits after their entrypoint has finished ` -.kube` file pointing to a Kubernetes Yaml file that does not define any containers. E.g. PVCs only

  Enabling unit files

The services created by Podman are considered transient by systemd, which means they don't have the same persistence rules as regular units. In particular, it is not possible to "systemctl enable" them in order for them to become automatically enabled on the next boot.

To compensate for this, the generator manually applies the [Install] section of the container definition unit files during generation, in the same way systemctl enable does when run later.

For example, to start a container on boot, add something like this to the file:
    [Install]
    WantedBy=default.target

Currently, only the Alias, WantedBy and RequiredBy keys are supported.

The Install section can be part of the main file, or it can be in a separate drop-in file as described above. The latter allows you to install an non-enabled unit and then later enabling it by installing the drop-in.

NOTE: To express dependencies between containers, use the generated names of the service. In other words WantedBy=other.service, not WantedBy=other.container. The same is true for other kinds of dependencies, too, like After=other.service.

  Template files

Systemd supports a concept of template files. They are units with names of the form "basename@instancename.service" when they are running, but that can be instantiated multiple times from a single "basename@.service" file. The individual instances can also be different by using drop-in files with the full instance name.

Quadlets support these in two ways. First of all, a quadlet unit with a template form will generate a systemd service with a template form, and the template systemd service can be used as a regular template. For example, "foo@.container" will generate "foo@.service" and you can then "systemctl start foo@bar.service".

Secondly, if you make a symlink like "foo@instance.container", that will generate an instantiated template file. When generating this file quadlet will read drop-in files both from the instanced directory (foo@instance.container.d) and the template directory (foo@.container.d). This allows customization of individual instances.

Instanced template files (like foo@bar.container) can be enabled just like non-templated ones. However, templated ones (foo@.container) are different, because they need to be instantiated. If the [Install] section contains a DefaultInstance= key, then that instance will be enabled, but if not, nothing will happen and the options will only be used as the default for units that are instantiated using symlinks.

An example template file sleep@.container might look like this:
    [Unit]
    Description=A templated sleepy container
    [Container]
    Image=quay.io/fedora/fedora
    Exec=sleep %i
    [Service]
    # Restart service when sleep finishes
    Restart=always
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    DefaultInstance=100

If this is installed, then on boot there will be a sleep@100.service running that sleeps for 100 seconds. You can then do something like systemctl start sleep@50.service to start another instance that sleeps 50 seconds, or alternatively another service can start it via a dependency like Wants=sleep@50.service.

In addition, if you do ln -s sleep@.container sleep@10.container you will also have a 10 second sleep running at boot. And, if you want that particular instance to be running with another image, you can create a drop-in file like sleep@10.container.d/10-image.conf:
    [Container]
    Image=quay.io/centos/centos

  Debugging unit files

After placing the unit file in one of the unit search paths (mentioned above), you can start it with systemctl start {--user}. If it fails with "Failed to start example.service: Unit example.service not found.", then it is possible that you used incorrect syntax or you used an option from a newer version of Podman Quadlet and the generator failed to create a service file.

View the generated files and/or error messages with:
    /usr/lib/systemd/system-generators/podman-system-generator {--user} --dryrun

  Debugging a limited set of unit files

If you would like to debug a limited set of unit files, you can copy them to a separate directory and set the QUADLET_UNIT_DIRS environment variable to this directory when running the command below:
    QUADLET_UNIT_DIRS=<Directory> /usr/lib/systemd/system-generators/podman-system-generator {--user} --dryrun

This will instruct Quadlet to look for units in this directory instead of the common ones and by that limit the output to only the units you are debugging.

Container units [Container]

Container units are named with a .container extension and contain a [Container] section describing the container that is run as a service. The resulting service file contains a line like ExecStart=podman run … image-name, and most of the keys in this section control the command-line options passed to Podman. However, some options also affect the details of how systemd is set up to run and interact with the container.

By default, the Podman container has the same name as the unit, but with a systemd- prefix, i.e. a $name.container file creates a $name.service unit and a systemd-$name Podman container. The ContainerName option allows for overriding this default name with a user-provided one.

There is only one required key, Image, which defines the container image the service runs.

Valid options for [Container] are listed below:
[Container] options | podman run equivalent
AddCapability=CAP | --cap-add CAP
AddDevice=/dev/foo | --device /dev/foo
Annotation="XYZ" | --annotation "XYZ"
AutoUpdate=registry | --label "io.containers.autoupdate=registry"
ContainerName=name | --name name
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
DNS=192.168.55.1 | --dns=192.168.55.1
DNSOption=ndots:1 | --dns-option=ndots:1
DNSSearch=foo.com | --dns-search=foo.com
DropCapability=CAP | --cap-drop=CAP
Entrypoint=/foo.sh | --entrypoint=/foo.sh
Environment=foo=bar | --env foo=bar
EnvironmentFile=/tmp/env | --env-file /tmp/env
EnvironmentHost=true | --env-host
Exec=/usr/bin/command | Command after image specification - /usr/bin/command
ExposeHostPort=50-59 | --expose 50-59
GIDMap=0:10000:10 | --gidmap=0:10000:10
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
Group=1234 | --user UID:1234
HealthCmd=/usr/bin/command | --health-cmd=/usr/bin/command
HealthInterval=2m | --health-interval=2m
HealthOnFailure=kill | --health-on-failure=kill
HealthRetries=5 | --health-retries=5
HealthStartPeriod=1m | --health-start-period=period=1m
HealthStartupCmd=command | --health-startup-cmd=command
HealthStartupInterval=1m | --health-startup-interval=1m
HealthStartupRetries=8 | --health-startup-retries=8
HealthStartupSuccess=2 | --health-startup-success=2
HealthStartupTimeout=1m33s | --health-startup-timeout=1m33s
HealthTimeout=20s | --health-timeout=20s
HostName=new-host-name | --hostname="new-host-name"
Image=ubi8 | Image specification - ubi8
IP=192.5.0.1 | --ip 192.5.0.1
IP6=2001:db8::1 | --ip6 2001:db8::1
Label="XYZ" | --label "XYZ"
LogDriver=journald | --log-driver journald
Mask=/proc/sys/foo:/proc/sys/bar | --security-opt mask=/proc/sys/foo:/proc/sys/bar
Mount=type=... | --mount type=...
Network=host | --net host
NoNewPrivileges=true | --security-opt no-new-privileges
Notify=true | --sdnotify container
PidsLimit=10000 | --pids-limit 10000
Pod=pod-name | --pod=pod-name
PodmanArgs=--add-host foobar | --add-host foobar
PublishPort=50-59 | --publish 50-59
Pull=never | --pull=never
ReadOnly=true | --read-only
ReadOnlyTmpfs=true | --read-only-tmpfs
Rootfs=/var/lib/rootfs | --rootfs /var/lib/rootfs
RunInit=true | --init
SeccompProfile=/tmp/s.json | --security-opt seccomp=/tmp/s.json
Secret=secret | --secret=secret[,opt=opt ...]
SecurityLabelDisable=true | --security-opt label=disable
SecurityLabelFileType=usr_t | --security-opt label=filetype:usr_t
SecurityLabelLevel=s0:c1,c2 | --security-opt label=level:s0:c1,c2
SecurityLabelNested=true | --security-opt label=nested
SecurityLabelType=spc_t | --security-opt label=type:spc_t
ShmSize=100m | --shm-size=100m
StopTimeout=20 | --stop-timeout=20
SubGIDMap=gtest | --subgidname=gtest
SubUIDMap=utest | --subuidname=utest
Sysctl=name=value | --sysctl=name=value
Timezone=local | --tz local
Tmpfs=/work | --tmpfs /work
UIDMap=0:10000:10 | --uidmap=0:10000:10
Ulimit=nofile=1000:10000 | --ulimit nofile=1000:10000
Unmask=ALL | --security-opt unmask=ALL
User=bin | --user bin
UserNS=keep-id:uid=200,gid=210 | --userns keep-id:uid=200,gid=210
Volume=/source:/dest | --volume /source:/dest
WorkingDir=$HOME | --workdir $HOME

Description of [Container] section are:

  AddCapability=

Add these capabilities, in addition to the default Podman capability set, to the container.

This is a space separated list of capabilities. This key can be listed multiple times.

For example:
    AddCapability=CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE CAP_IPC_OWNER

  AddDevice=

Adds a device node from the host into the container. The format of this is HOST-DEVICE[:CONTAINER-DEVICE][:PERMISSIONS], where HOST-DEVICE is the path of the device node on the host, CONTAINER-DEVICE is the path of the device node in the container, and PERMISSIONS is a list of permissions combining 'r' for read, only if it exists on the host.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Annotation=

Set one or more OCI annotations on the container. The format is a list of key=value items, similar to Environment.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  AutoUpdate=

Indicates whether the container will be auto-updated (podman-auto-update(1)). The following values are supported:

    •   registry: Requires a fully-qualified image reference (e.g., quay.io/podman/stable:latest) to be used to create the container. This enforcement is necessary to know which image to actually check and pull. If an image ID was used, Podman does not know which image to check/pull anymore.

    •   local: Tells Podman to compare the image a container is using to the image with its raw name in local storage. If an image is updated locally, Podman simply restarts the systemd unit executing the container.

  ContainerName=

The (optional) name of the Podman container. If this is not specified, the default value of systemd-%N is used, which is the same as the service name but with a systemd- prefix to avoid conflicts with user-managed containers.

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  DNS=

Set network-scoped DNS resolver/nameserver for containers in this network.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  DNSOption=

Set custom DNS options.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  DNSSearch=

Set custom DNS search domains. Use DNSSearch=. to remove the search domain.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  DropCapability=

Drop these capabilities from the default podman capability set, or all to drop all capabilities.

This is a space separated list of capabilities. This key can be listed multiple times.

For example:
    DropCapability=CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE CAP_IPC_OWNER

  Entrypoint=

Override the default ENTRYPOINT from the image. Equivalent to the Podman --entrypoint option. Specify multi option commands in the form of a json string.

  Environment=

Set an environment variable in the container. This uses the same format as services in systemd and can be listed multiple times.

  EnvironmentFile=

Use a line-delimited file to set environment variables in the container. The path may be absolute or relative to the location of the unit file. This key may be used multiple times, and the order persists when passed to podman run.

  EnvironmentHost=

Use the host environment inside of the container.

  Exec=

If this is set then it defines what command line to run in the container. If it is not set the default entry point of the container image is used. The format is the same as for systemd command lines.

  ExposeHostPort=

Exposes a port, or a range of ports (e.g. 50-59), from the host to the container. Equivalent to the Podman --expose option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  GIDMap=

Run the container in a new user namespace using the supplied GID mapping. Equivalent to the Podman --gidmap option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and run in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Group=

The (numeric) GID to run as inside the container. This does not need to match the GID on the host, which can be modified with UsersNS, but if that is not specified, this GID is also used on the host.

  HealthCmd=

Set or alter a healthcheck command for a container. A value of none disables existing healthchecks. Equivalent to the Podman --health-cmd option.

  HealthInterval=

Set an interval for the healthchecks. An interval of disable results in no automatic timer setup. Equivalent to the Podman --health-interval option.

  HealthOnFailure=

Action to take once the container transitions to an unhealthy state. The "kill" action in combination integrates best with systemd. Once the container turns unhealthy, it gets killed, and systemd restarts the service. Equivalent to the Podman --health-on-failure option.

  HealthRetries=

The number of retries allowed before a healthcheck is considered to be unhealthy. Equivalent to the Podman --health-retries option.

  HealthStartPeriod=

The initialization time needed for a container to bootstrap. Equivalent to the Podman --health-start-period option.

  HealthStartupCmd=

Set a startup healthcheck command for a container. Equivalent to the Podman --health-startup-cmd option.

  HealthStartupInterval=

Set an interval for the startup healthcheck. An interval of disable results in no automatic timer setup. Equivalent to the Podman --health-startup-interval option.

  HealthStartupRetries=

The number of attempts allowed before the startup healthcheck restarts the container. Equivalent to the Podman --health-startup-retries option.

  HealthStartupSuccess=

The number of successful runs required before the startup healthcheck succeeds and the regular healthcheck begins. Equivalent to the Podman --health-startup-success option.

  HealthStartupTimeout=

The maximum time a startup healthcheck command has to complete before it is marked as failed. Equivalent to the Podman --health-startup-timeout option.

  HealthTimeout=

The maximum time allowed to complete the healthcheck before an interval is considered failed. Equivalent to the Podman --health-timeout option.

  HostName=

Sets the host name that is available inside the container. Equivalent to the Podman --hostname option.

  Image=

The image to run in the container. It is recommended to use a fully qualified image name rather than a short name, both for performance and robustness reasons.

The format of the name is the same as when passed to podman pull. So, it supports using :tag or digests to guarantee the specific image version.

As a special case, if the name of the image ends with .image, Quadlet will use the image pulled by the corresponding .image file, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-image.service. Note that the corresponding .image file must exist.

  IP=

Specify a static IPv4 address for the container, for example 10.88.64.128. Equivalent to the Podman --ip option.

  IP6=

Specify a static IPv6 address for the container, for example fd46:db93:aa76:ac37::10. Equivalent to the Podman --ip6 option.

  Label=

Set one or more OCI labels on the container. The format is a list of key=value items, similar to Environment.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  LogDriver=

Set the log-driver used by Podman when running the container. Equivalent to the Podman --log-driver option.

  Mask=

Specify the paths to mask separated by a colon. Mask=/path/1:/path/2. A masked path cannot be accessed inside the container.

  Mount=

Attach a filesystem mount to the container. This is equivalent to the Podman --mount option, and generally has the form type=TYPE,TYPE-SPECIFIC-OPTION[,...].

As a special case, for type=volume if source ends with .volume, a Podman named volume called systemd-$name is used as the source, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-volume.service. Such a volume can be automatically be lazily created by using a $name.volume Quadlet file.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Network=

Specify a custom network for the container. This has the same format as the --network option to podman run. For example, use host to use the host network in the container, or none to not set up networking in the container.

As a special case, if the name of the network ends with .network, a Podman network called systemd-$name is used, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-network.service. Such a network can be automatically created by using a $name.network Quadlet file.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  NoNewPrivileges= (defaults to no)

If enabled, this disables the container processes from gaining additional privileges via things like setuid and file capabilities.

  Notify= (defaults to no)

By default, Podman is run in such a way that the systemd startup notify command is handled by the container runtime. In other words, the service is deemed started when the container runtime starts the child in the container. However, if the container application supports sd_notify, then setting Notify to true passes the notification details to the container allowing it to notify of startup on its own.

In addition, setting Notify to healthy will postpone startup notifications until such time as the container is marked healthy, as determined by Podman healthchecks. Note that this requires setting up a container healthcheck, see the HealthCmd option for more.

  PidsLimit=

Tune the container's pids limit. This is equivalent to the Podman --pids-limit option.

  Pod=

Specify a Quadlet .pod unit to link the container to. The value must take the form of <name>.pod and the .pod unit must exist.

Quadlet will add all the necessary parameters to link between the container and the pod and between their corresponding services.

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman run command in the generated file (right before the image name in the command line). It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  PublishPort=

Exposes a port, or a range of ports (e.g. 50-59), from the container to the host. Equivalent to the Podman --publish option. The format is similar to the Podman options, which is of the form ip:hostPort:containerPort, ip::containerPort, hostPort:containerPort or containerPort, where the number of host and container ports must be the same (in the case of a range).

If the IP is set to 0.0.0.0 or not set at all, the port is bound on all IPv4 addresses on the host; use [::] for IPv6.

Note that not listing a host port means that Podman automatically selects one, and it may be different for each invocation of service. This makes that a less useful option. The allocated port can be found with the podman port command.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Pull=

Set the image pull policy. This is equivalent to the Podman --pull option

  ReadOnly= (defaults to no)

If enabled, makes the image read-only.

  ReadOnlyTmpfs= (defaults to yes)

If ReadOnly is set to yes, mount a read-write tmpfs on /dev, /dev/shm, /run, /tmp, and /var/tmp.

  Rootfs=

The rootfs to use for the container. Rootfs points to a directory on the system that contains the content to be run within the container. This option conflicts with the Image option.

The format of the rootfs is the same as when passed to podman run --rootfs, so it supports overlay mounts as well.

Note: On SELinux systems, the rootfs needs the correct label, which is by default unconfined_u:object_r:container_file_t:s0.

  RunInit= (default to no)

If enabled, the container has a minimal init process inside the container that forwards signals and reaps processes.

  SeccompProfile=

Set the seccomp profile to use in the container. If unset, the default podman profile is used. Set to either the pathname of a json file, or unconfined to disable the seccomp filters.

  Secret=

Use a Podman secret in the container either as a file or an environment variable. This is equivalent to the Podman --secret option and generally has the form secret[,opt=opt ...]

  SecurityLabelDisable=

Turn off label separation for the container.

  SecurityLabelFileType=

Set the label file type for the container files.

  SecurityLabelLevel=

Set the label process level for the container processes.

  SecurityLabelNested=

Allow SecurityLabels to function within the container. This allows separation of containers created within the container.

  SecurityLabelType=

Set the label process type for the container processes.

  ShmSize=

Size of /dev/shm.

This is equivalent to the Podman --shm-size option and generally has the form number[unit]

  StopTimeout=

Seconds to wait before forcibly stopping the container.

Note, this value should be lower than the actual systemd unit timeout to make sure the podman rm command is not killed by systemd.

This is equivalent to the Podman --stop-timeout option

  SubGIDMap=

Run the container in a new user namespace using the map with name in the /etc/subgid file. Equivalent to the Podman --subgidname option.

  SubUIDMap=

Run the container in a new user namespace using the map with name in the /etc/subuid file. Equivalent to the Podman --subuidname option.

  Sysctl=

Configures namespaced kernel parameters for the container. The format is Sysctl=name=value.

This is a space separated list of kernel parameters. This key can be listed multiple times.

For example:
    Sysctl=net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1 net.ipv6.conf.all.use_tempaddr=1

  Timezone= (if unset uses system-configured default)

The timezone to run the container in.

  Tmpfs=

Mount a tmpfs in the container. This is equivalent to the Podman --tmpfs option, and generally has the form CONTAINER-DIR[:OPTIONS].

This key can be listed multiple times.

  UIDMap=

Run the container in a new user namespace using the supplied UID mapping. Equivalent to the Podman --uidmap option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Ulimit=

Ulimit options. Sets the ulimits values inside of the container.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Unmask=

Specify the paths to unmask separated by a colon. unmask=ALL or /path/1:/path/2, or shell expanded paths (/proc/*):

If set to ALL, Podman will unmask all the paths that are masked or made read-only by default.

The default masked paths are /proc/acpi, /proc/kcore, /proc/keys, /proc/latency_stats, /proc/sched_debug, /proc/scsi, /proc/timer_list, /proc/timer_stats, /sys/firmware, and /sys/fs/selinux.

The default paths that are read-only are /proc/asound, /proc/bus, /proc/fs, /proc/irq, /proc/sys, /proc/sysrq-trigger, /sys/fs/cgroup.

  User=

The (numeric) UID to run as inside the container. This does not need to match the UID on the host, which can be modified with UserNS, but if that is not specified, this UID is also used on the host.

  UserNS=

Set the user namespace mode for the container. This is equivalent to the Podman --userns option and generally has the form MODE[:OPTIONS,...].

  Volume=

Mount a volume in the container. This is equivalent to the Podman --volume option, and generally has the form [[SOURCE-VOLUME|HOST-DIR:]CONTAINER-DIR[:OPTIONS]].

If SOURCE-VOLUME starts with ., Quadlet resolves the path relative to the location of the unit file.

As a special case, if SOURCE-VOLUME ends with .volume, a Podman named volume called systemd-$name is used as the source, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-volume.service. Such a volume can be automatically be lazily created by using a $name.volume Quadlet file.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  WorkingDir=

Working directory inside the container.

The default working directory for running binaries within a container is the root directory (/). The image developer can set a different default with the WORKDIR instruction. This option overrides the working directory by using the -w option.

Pod units [Pod]

Pod units are named with a .pod extension and contain a [Pod] section describing the pod that is created and run as a service. The resulting service file contains a line like ExecStartPre=podman pod create …, and most of the keys in this section control the command-line options passed to Podman.

By default, the Podman pod has the same name as the unit, but with a systemd- prefix, i.e. a $name.pod file creates a $name-pod.service unit and a systemd-$name Podman pod. The PodName option allows for overriding this default name with a user-provided one.

Valid options for [Pod] are listed below:
[Pod] options | podman container create equivalent
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
Network=host | --network host
PodmanArgs=--cpus=2 | --cpus=2
PodName=name | --name=name
PublishPort=50-59 | --publish 50-59
Volume=/source:/dest | --volume /source:/dest

Supported keys in the [Pod] section are:

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and pod in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Network=

Specify a custom network for the pod. This has the same format as the --network option to podman pod create. For example, use host to use the host network in the pod, or none to not set up networking in the pod.

As a special case, if the name of the network ends with .network, Quadlet will look for the corresponding .network Quadlet unit. If found, Quadlet will use the name of the Network set in the Unit, otherwise, systemd-$name is used. The generated systemd service contains a dependency on the service unit generated for that .network unit, or on $name-network.service if the .network unit is not found

This key can be listed multiple times.

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman pod create command in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  PodName=

The (optional) name of the Podman pod. If this is not specified, the default value of systemd-%N is used, which is the same as the service name but with a systemd- prefix to avoid conflicts with user-managed containers.

Please note that pods and containers cannot have the same name. So, if PodName is set, it must not conflict with any container.

  PublishPort=

Exposes a port, or a range of ports (e.g. 50-59), from the pod to the host. Equivalent to the Podman --publish option. The format is similar to the Podman options, which is of the form ip:hostPort:containerPort, ip::containerPort, hostPort:containerPort or containerPort, where the number of host and container ports must be the same (in the case of a range).

If the IP is set to 0.0.0.0 or not set at all, the port is bound on all IPv4 addresses on the host; use [::] for IPv6.

Note that not listing a host port means that Podman automatically selects one, and it may be different for each invocation of service. This makes that a less useful option. The allocated port can be found with the podman port command.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Volume=

Mount a volume in the pod. This is equivalent to the Podman --volume option, and generally has the form [[SOURCE-VOLUME|HOST-DIR:]CONTAINER-DIR[:OPTIONS]].

If SOURCE-VOLUME starts with ., Quadlet resolves the path relative to the location of the unit file.

As a special case, if SOURCE-VOLUME ends with .volume, Quadlet will look for the corresponding .volume Quadlet unit. If found, Quadlet will use the name of the Volume set in the Unit, otherwise, systemd-$name is used. The generated systemd service contains a dependency on the service unit generated for that .volume unit, or on $name-volume.service if the .volume unit is not found

This key can be listed multiple times.

Kube units [Kube]

Kube units are named with a .kube extension and contain a [Kube] section describing how podman kube play runs as a service. The resulting service file contains a line like ExecStart=podman kube play … file.yml, and most of the keys in this section control the command-line options passed to Podman. However, some options also affect the details of how systemd is set up to run and interact with the container.

There is only one required key, Yaml, which defines the path to the Kubernetes YAML file.

Valid options for [Kube] are listed below:
[Kube] options | podman kube play equivalent
AutoUpdate=registry | --annotation "io.containers.autoupdate=registry"
ConfigMap=/tmp/config.map | --config-map /tmp/config.map
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
ExitCodePropagation=how | How to propagate container error status
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
KubeDownForce=true | --force (for podman kube down)
LogDriver=journald | --log-driver journald
Network=host | --net host
PodmanArgs=--annotation=key=value | --annotation=key=value
PublishPort=59-60 | --publish=59-60
SetWorkingDirectory=yaml | Set WorkingDirectory of unit file to location of the YAML file
UserNS=keep-id:uid=200,gid=210 | --userns keep-id:uid=200,gid=210
Yaml=/tmp/kube.yaml | podman kube play /tmp/kube.yaml

Supported keys in the [Kube] section are:

  AutoUpdate=

Indicates whether containers will be auto-updated (podman-auto-update(1)). AutoUpdate can be specified multiple times. The following values are supported:

    •   registry: Requires a fully-qualified image reference (e.g., quay.io/podman/stable:latest) to be used to create the container. This enforcement is necessary to know which images to actually check and pull. If an image ID was used, Podman does not know which image to check/pull anymore.

    •   local: Tells Podman to compare the image a container is using to the image with its raw name in local storage. If an image is updated locally, Podman simply restarts the systemd unit executing the Kubernetes Quadlet.

    •   name/(local|registry): Tells Podman to perform the local or registry autoupdate on the specified container name.

  ConfigMap=

Pass the Kubernetes ConfigMap YAML path to podman kube play via the --configmap argument. Unlike the configmap argument, the value may contain only one path but it may be absolute or relative to the location of the unit file.

This key may be used multiple times

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  ExitCodePropagation=

Control how the main PID of the systemd service should exit. The following values are supported: - all: exit non-zero if all containers have failed (i.e., exited non-zero) - any: exit non-zero if any container has failed - none: exit zero and ignore failed containers

The current default value is none.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and kube in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  KubeDownForce=

Remove all resources, including volumes, when calling podman kube down. Equivalent to the Podman --force option.

  LogDriver=

Set the log-driver Podman uses when running the container. Equivalent to the Podman --log-driver option.

  Network=

Specify a custom network for the container. This has the same format as the --network option to podman kube play. For example, use host to use the host network in the container, or none to not set up networking in the container.

As a special case, if the name of the network ends with .network, a Podman network called systemd-$name is used, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-network.service. Such a network can be automatically created by using a $name.network Quadlet file.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman kube play command in the generated file (right before the path to the yaml file in the command line). It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  PublishPort=

Exposes a port, or a range of ports (e.g. 50-59), from the container to the host. Equivalent to the podman kube play's --publish option. The format is similar to the Podman options, which is of the form ip:hostPort:containerPort, ip::containerPort, hostPort:containerPort or containerPort, where the number of host and container ports must be the same (in the case of a range).

If the IP is set to 0.0.0.0 or not set at all, the port is bound on all IPv4 addresses on the host; use [::] for IPv6.

The list of published ports specified in the unit file is merged with the list of ports specified in the Kubernetes YAML file. If the same container port and protocol is specified in both, the entry from the unit file takes precedence

This key can be listed multiple times.

  SetWorkingDirectory=

Set the WorkingDirectory field of the Service group of the Systemd service unit file. Used to allow podman kube play to correctly resolve relative paths. Supported values are yaml and unit to set the working directory to that of the YAML or Quadlet Unit file respectively.

Alternatively, users can explicitly set the WorkingDirectory field of the Service group in the .kube file. Please note that if the WorkingDirectory field of the Service group is set, Quadlet will not set it even if SetWorkingDirectory is set

  UserNS=

Set the user namespace mode for the container. This is equivalent to the Podman --userns option and generally has the form MODE[:OPTIONS,...].

  Yaml=

The path, absolute or relative to the location of the unit file, to the Kubernetes YAML file to use.

Network units [Network]

Network files are named with a .network extension and contain a section [Network] describing the named Podman network. The generated service is a one-time command that ensures that the network exists on the host, creating it if needed.

By default, the Podman network has the same name as the unit, but with a systemd- prefix, i.e. for a network file named $NAME.network, the generated Podman network is called systemd-$NAME, and the generated service file is $NAME-network.service. The NetworkName option allows for overriding this default name with a user-provided one.

Please note that stopping the corresponding service will not remove the podman network. In addition, updating an existing network is not supported. In order to update the network parameters you will first need to manually remove the podman network and then restart the service.

Using network units allows containers to depend on networks being automatically pre-created. This is particularly interesting when using special options to control network creation, as Podman otherwise creates networks with the default options.

Valid options for [Network] are listed below:
[Network] options | podman network create equivalent
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
DisableDNS=true | --disable-dns
DNS=192.168.55.1 | --dns=192.168.55.1
Driver=bridge | --driver bridge
Gateway=192.168.55.3 | --gateway 192.168.55.3
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
Internal=true | --internal
IPAMDriver=dhcp | --ipam-driver dhcp
IPRange=192.168.55.128/25 | --ip-range 192.168.55.128/25
IPv6=true | --ipv6
Label="XYZ" | --label "XYZ"
NetworkName=foo | podman network create foo
Options=isolate=true | --opt isolate=true
PodmanArgs=--dns=192.168.55.1 | --dns=192.168.55.1
Subnet=192.5.0.0/16 | --subnet 192.5.0.0/16

Supported keys in [Network] section are:

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  DisableDNS= (defaults to no)

If enabled, disables the DNS plugin for this network.

This is equivalent to the Podman --disable-dns option

  DNS=

Set network-scoped DNS resolver/nameserver for containers in this network.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Driver= (defaults to bridge)

Driver to manage the network. Currently bridge, macvlan and ipvlan are supported.

This is equivalent to the Podman --driver option

  Gateway=

Define a gateway for the subnet. If you want to provide a gateway address, you must also provide a subnet option.

This is equivalent to the Podman --gateway option

This key can be listed multiple times.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and network in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Internal= (defaults to no)

Restrict external access of this network.

This is equivalent to the Podman --internal option

  IPAMDriver=

Set the ipam driver (IP Address Management Driver) for the network. Currently host-local, dhcp and none are supported.

This is equivalent to the Podman --ipam-driver option

  IPRange=

Allocate container IP from a range. The range must be a either a complete subnet in CIDR notation or be in the <startIP>-<endIP> syntax which allows for a more flexible range compared to the CIDR subnet. The ip-range option must be used with a subnet option.

This is equivalent to the Podman --ip-range option

This key can be listed multiple times.

  IPv6=

Enable IPv6 (Dual Stack) networking.

This is equivalent to the Podman --ipv6 option

  Label=

Set one or more OCI labels on the network. The format is a list of key=value items, similar to Environment.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  NetworkName=

The (optional) name of the Podman network. If this is not specified, the default value of systemd-%N is used, which is the same as the unit name but with a systemd- prefix to avoid conflicts with user-managed networks.

  Options=

Set driver specific options.

This is equivalent to the Podman --opt option

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman network create command in the generated file (right before the name of the network in the command line). It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Subnet=

The subnet in CIDR notation.

This is equivalent to the Podman --subnet option

This key can be listed multiple times.

Volume units [Volume]

Volume files are named with a .volume extension and contain a section [Volume] describing the named Podman volume. The generated service is a one-time command that ensures that the volume exists on the host, creating it if needed.

By default, the Podman volume has the same name as the unit, but with a systemd- prefix, i.e. for a volume file named $NAME.volume, the generated Podman volume is called systemd-$NAME, and the generated service file is $NAME-volume.service. The VolumeName option allows for overriding this default name with a user-provided one.

Using volume units allows containers to depend on volumes being automatically pre-created. This is particularly interesting when using special options to control volume creation, as Podman otherwise creates volumes with the default options.

Valid options for [Volume] are listed below:
[Volume] options | podman volume create equivalent
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
Copy=true | --opt copy
Device=tmpfs | --opt device=tmpfs
Driver=image | --driver=image
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
Group=192 | --opt group=192
Image=quay.io/centos/centos:latest | --opt image=quay.io/centos/centos:latest
Label="foo=bar" | --label "foo=bar"
Options=XYZ | --opt XYZ
PodmanArgs=--driver=image | --driver=image
Type=type | Filesystem type of Device
User=123 | --opt uid=123
VolumeName=foo | podman volume create foo

Supported keys in [Volume] section are:

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Copy= (default to yes)

If enabled, the content of the image located at the mountpoint of the volume is copied into the volume on the first run.

  Device=

The path of a device which is mounted for the volume.

  Driver=

Specify the volume driver name. When set to image, the Image key must also be set.

This is equivalent to the Podman --driver option.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and volume in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Group=

The host (numeric) GID, or group name to use as the group for the volume

  Image=

Specifies the image the volume is based on when Driver is set to the image. It is recommended to use a fully qualified image name rather than a short name, both for performance and robustness reasons.

The format of the name is the same as when passed to podman pull. So, it supports using :tag or digests to guarantee the specific image version.

As a special case, if the name of the image ends with .image, Quadlet will use the image pulled by the corresponding .image file, and the generated systemd service contains a dependency on the $name-image.service. Note that the corresponding .image file must exist.

  Label=

Set one or more OCI labels on the volume. The format is a list of key=value items, similar to Environment.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Options=

The mount options to use for a filesystem as used by the mount(8) command -o option.

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman volume create command in the generated file (right before the name of the volume in the command line). It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Type=

The filesystem type of Device as used by the mount(8) commands -t option.

  User=

The host (numeric) UID, or user name to use as the owner for the volume

  VolumeName=

The (optional) name of the Podman volume. If this is not specified, the default value of systemd-%N is used, which is the same as the unit name but with a systemd- prefix to avoid conflicts with user-managed volumes.

Image units [Image]

Image files are named with a .image extension and contain a section [Image] describing the container image pull command. The generated service is a one-time command that ensures that the image exists on the host, pulling it if needed.

Using image units allows containers and volumes to depend on images being automatically pulled. This is particularly interesting when using special options to control image pulls.

Valid options for [Image] are listed below:
[Image] options | podman image pull equivalent
AllTags=true | --all-tags
Arch=aarch64 | --arch=aarch64
AuthFile=/etc/registry/auth.json | --authfile=/etc/registry/auth.json
CertDir=/etc/registry/certs | --cert-dir=/etc/registry/certs
ContainersConfModule=/etc/nvd.conf | --module=/etc/nvd.conf
Creds=myname:mypassword | --creds=myname:mypassword
DecryptionKey=/etc/registry.key | --decryption-key=/etc/registry.key
GlobalArgs=--log-level=debug | --log-level=debug
Image=quay.io/centos/centos:latest | podman image pull quay.io/centos/centos:latest
ImageTag=quay.io/centos/centos:latest | Use this name when resolving .image references
OS=windows | --os=windows
PodmanArgs=--os=linux | --os=linux
TLSVerify=false | --tls-verify=false
Variant=arm/v7 | --variant=arm/v7

  AllTags=

All tagged images in the repository are pulled.

This is equivalent to the Podman --all-tags option.

  Arch=

Override the architecture, defaults to hosts, of the image to be pulled.

This is equivalent to the Podman --arch option.

  AuthFile=

Path of the authentication file.

This is equivalent to the Podman --authfile option.

  CertDir=

Use certificates at path (*.crt, *.cert, *.key) to connect to the registry.

This is equivalent to the Podman --cert-dir option.

  ContainersConfModule=

Load the specified containers.conf(5) module. Equivalent to the Podman --module option.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Creds=

The [username[:password]] to use to authenticate with the registry, if required.

This is equivalent to the Podman --creds option.

  DecryptionKey=

The [key[:passphrase]] to be used for decryption of images.

This is equivalent to the Podman --decryption-key option.

  GlobalArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly between podman and image in the generated file. It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  Image=

The image to pull. It is recommended to use a fully qualified image name rather than a short name, both for performance and robustness reasons.

The format of the name is the same as when passed to podman pull. So, it supports using :tag or digests to guarantee the specific image version.

  ImageTag=

Actual FQIN of the referenced Image. Only meaningful when source is a file or directory archive.

For example, an image saved into a docker-archive with the following Podman command:

podman image save --format docker-archive --output /tmp/archive-file.tar quay.io/podman/stable:latest

requires setting - Image=docker-archive:/tmp/archive-file.tar - ImageTag=quay.io/podman/stable:latest

  OS=

Override the OS, defaults to hosts, of the image to be pulled.

This is equivalent to the Podman --os option.

  PodmanArgs=

This key contains a list of arguments passed directly to the end of the podman image pull command in the generated file (right before the image name in the command line). It can be used to access Podman features otherwise unsupported by the generator. Since the generator is unaware of what unexpected interactions can be caused by these arguments, it is not recommended to use this option.

The format of this is a space separated list of arguments, which can optionally be individually escaped to allow inclusion of whitespace and other control characters.

This key can be listed multiple times.

  TLSVerify=

Require HTTPS and verification of certificates when contacting registries.

This is equivalent to the Podman --tls-verify option.

  Variant=

Override the default architecture variant of the container image.

This is equivalent to the Podman --variant option.

EXAMPLES

Example test.container:
    [Unit]
    Description=A minimal container
    [Container]
    # Use the centos image
    Image=quay.io/centos/centos:latest
    # Use volume and network defined below
    Volume=test.volume:/data
    Network=test.network
    # In the container we just run sleep
    Exec=sleep 60
    [Service]
    # Restart service when sleep finishes
    Restart=always
    # Extend Timeout to allow time to pull the image
    TimeoutStartSec=900
    # ExecStartPre flag and other systemd commands can go here, see systemd.unit(5) man page.
    ExecStartPre=/usr/share/mincontainer/setup.sh
    [Install]
    # Start by default on boot
    WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target

Example test.kube:
    [Unit]
    Description=A kubernetes yaml based service
    Before=local-fs.target
    [Kube]
    Yaml=/opt/k8s/deployment.yml
    [Install]
    # Start by default on boot
    WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target

Example test.volume:
    [Volume]
    User=root
    Group=root
    Label=org.test.Key=value

Example test.network:
    [Network]
    Subnet=172.16.0.0/24
    Gateway=172.16.0.1
    IPRange=172.16.0.0/28
    Label=org.test.Key=value

Example for Container in a Pod:

test.pod
    [Pod]
    PodName=test

centos.container
    [Container]
    Image=quay.io/centos/centos:latest
    Exec=sh -c "sleep inf"
    Pod=test.pod

SEE ALSO

systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5), podman-run(1), podman-network-create(1), podman-auto-update(1) [systemd.unit(5)]