How To Install Podman 4 on Ubuntu 22.04

In this article, we will guide you through the process of installing Podman 4 on Ubuntu 22.04. Podman is a daemonless container engine developed by RedHat for orchestrating Docker containers. It’s a lightweight and powerful alternative to Docker, especially in situations where running a daemon is not feasible.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that you have a system running Ubuntu 22.04. You also need to have sudo privileges to execute administrative commands.

Step 1: Update Your System

The first step is to update your system. Open your terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This command updates the list of available packages and their versions, and upgrades the currently installed packages to their latest versions.

Step 2: Add Necessary Repository

Next, we need to add the necessary repository that contains the Podman package. Run the following script as root:

#!/bin/sh

ubuntu_version='22.04'
key_url="https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/unstable/xUbuntu_${ubuntu_version}/Release.key"
sources_url="https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/unstable/xUbuntu_${ubuntu_version}"

echo "deb $sources_url/ /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:unstable.list
curl -fsSL $key_url | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/devel_kubic_libcontainers_unstable.gpg > /dev/null

This script does the following:

• ubuntu_version='22.04': This sets the variable ubuntu_version to ‘22.04’.
• key_url and sources_url: These two variables store the URLs for the GPG key and the source list respectively.
• echo "deb $sources_url/ /": This command adds the source URL to the list of repositories.
• curl -fsSL $key_url | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/devel_kubic_libcontainers_unstable.gpg > /dev/null: This command downloads the GPG key for the repository and adds it to the list of trusted keys.

Step 3: Install Podman

Now that the repository is added, we can install Podman. Run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install podman

The apt update command updates the list of available packages and their versions. The apt install podman command installs Podman.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Podman 4 on Ubuntu 22.04. You can now use Podman to manage your Docker containers.

Please note that some users have reported issues with Podman 3.4 on Ubuntu 22.04, and upgrading to Podman 4.4 or later has resolved those problems. However, according to the official Podman blog, the Kubic packages for Podman, Buildah, and Skopeo won’t receive further updates for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

If you prefer to build Podman from scratch, you can refer to the official Podman documentation for detailed instructions on building from source. The documentation provides specific instructions for each operating system, including Ubuntu.

Remember, it’s always recommended to use the latest stable version of any software in a production environment. Always refer to the official documentation for the most accurate and up-to-date information.