Wiki: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Podman6
Discussion Thread: https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/177294 **This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.** This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee. == Summary == This proposal introduces Podman 6.0, a new major version of the container management tool, into Fedora 44. This update includes significant API and CLI breaking changes, new functionality, and the final removal of deprecated components including slirp4netns, cgroups v1, and the BoltDB backend. == Owner == * Name: [[User:Lsm5|Lokesh Mandvekar]], [[User:Bbaude|Brent Baude]], [[User:Mohanboddu|Mohan Boddu]] * Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] == Detailed Description == This change will update the podman package to version 6.0, which incorporates several major architectural changes and finalizes previously announced deprecations. Key technical changes include: **Removal of Deprecated Code:** The code for several deprecated components will be fully removed. * **slirp4netns**: Replaced by Pasta, which became the default rootless networking option in Podman 5.0. * **CgroupsV1**: Podman 6.0 will no longer support cgroups v1; all related code and tests will be removed. * **BoltDB**: The BoltDB database backend, replaced by SQLite as the default in Podman 4.8, will be removed. A deprecation notice has been added to Podman 5.7 to warn users. Users should first upgrade to Podman 5.8 first (will be release on all active Fedora releases) and reboot before upgrading to Podman 6 to ensure migration. Refer to [ https://blog.podman.io/2025/12/boltdb-database-migration/ this blog post] for details on BoltDB to SQLite migration. * **--network-cmd-path**: This option, only used by slirp4netns, will also be removed. **Configuration File Rework:** A significant redesign of configuration file handling will be implemented to address long-standing confusion between remote clients (Windows/Mac) and the server. This will likely involve a client/server approach to containers.conf and unifying the parsing logic for containers.conf and storage.conf. **Netavark Enhancements:** The Netavark network backend will remove support for iptables favoring nftables which has been the default since Fedora 41, consolidate the network create logic into Netavark itself, and change internal structures to preserve the network order for containers. This will impact only the users who manually configured iptables. **New Conmon:** A new version of conmon is being evaluated to address several user enhancements and improvements. == Feedback == == Benefit to Fedora == **Modernization and Maintenance:** Aligns Fedora with the latest container technologies by removing legacy, unmaintained, or superseded components like slirp4netns, cgroupsv1, BoltDB. This reduces maintenance overhead, technical debt, and attack surface. **Improved User Experience:** The configuration file rework will resolve significant confusion for users, especially those on Windows and macOS, by clarifying client vs. server settings and normalizing configuration file parsing. **Enhanced Networking:** Finalizing the move to Netavark and removing iptables support simplifies the networking stack and aligns with Fedora's modern defaults (nftables). == Scope == * Proposal owners: The Podman maintainers will be responsible for updating the podman package, managing associated dependency changes (like conmon), and ensuring the new version builds and runs correctly in Fedora 44. They will also manage the upstream changes in netavark and common. * Other developers: Maintainers of buildah and skopeo will likely need to adapt to the new configuration file parsing logic, which could require a major version bump for those tools. The podman-py maintainers will need to verify compatibility with the new configuration system. These are maintained by the same team of maintainers as Podman and they are on board with this change. These changes would likely need to additionally be coordinated with CoreOS and Image Mode developers. * Release engineering: N/A (not a System Wide Change) * Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change) * Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change) == Upgrade/compatibility impact == This is a major version update with several breaking changes. * Users on systems still using CgroupsV1 will no longer be supported. * Users who have not migrated their database from BoltDB to SQLite will find their container state unusable after the upgrade. * Networking configurations relying on slirp4netns will no longer function. Users must be using Netavark and Pasta (which are the defaults in Podman 5). * Existing containers.conf files may need to be migrated or split to accommodate the new client/server configuration logic. == Early Testing (Optional) == N/A == How To Test == No special hardware is required (other than an x86_64 or aarch64 machine). # Install the new podman 6.0 package on a fresh Fedora 44 system. # Verify that basic container lifecycle works (run, stop, rm, ps, inspect). # Verify that networking functions correctly using the default Netavark (root) and Pasta (rootless) backends. # Test upgrading from Fedora 43 with Podman 5.x. Verify that existing SQLite databases are read correctly and containers still run. == User Experience == Users will benefit from a cleaner, more maintainable codebase with removed legacy components. The configuration file improvements will reduce confusion for users working with remote Podman clients on Windows and macOS. Users still relying on deprecated components (slirp4netns, cgroups v1, BoltDB) will need to migrate to the supported alternatives before upgrading. == Dependencies == N/A (not a System Wide Change) == Contingency Plan == * Contingency mechanism: N/A (not a System Wide Change) * Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change) * Blocks release? No == Documentation == N/A (Upstream documentation will be provided with the 6.0 release) == Release Notes == Podman has been updated to major version 6.0. This release finalizes the removal of support for slirp4netns, cgroups v1, and the BoltDB database backend. Users must be on Netavark, Pasta, cgroups v2, and SQLite, respectively. Configuration file handling for remote clients has been significantly refactored, which may require user migration.
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