Podman, From Zero
You already know Docker, and now a server, a CI runner, or a security review has put Podman in front of you. The good news: most of the muscle memory transfers. The interesting part is what changed underneath, because Podman threw out the one piece of Docker most people never think about until it bites them: the root daemon.
This guide gets you from "what even is this" to running real workloads, comfortably, in three phases.
How to read this
If you know Docker, you can skim phase 2 for the deltas and spend your time on phases 1 and 3, where the real differences live. If you have never touched a container, read straight through; nothing here assumes Podman experience, only a willingness to type commands and read what comes back.
The phases
- What Podman Actually Is - the mental model: no daemon, no root, and why that matters.
- Running Containers and Pods - the everyday commands, plus the one concept Docker doesn't have.
- Production Reality and Gotchas - systemd units, rootless limits, and the places it differs.