felix kronlage-dammersNov 26, 2022
Doug Rabson

This year I have been spending much of my time porting the github.com/containers stack to #FreeBSD. This is now available to install on FreeBSD-13.1 and later - just run 'pkg install podman-suite' to get all the pieces.

There are still a few rough edges but most of the core functionality is there including networking, image management, containers, pods and more. Take a look at #podman if you've been missing a docker-like #container engine on #FreeBSD.

Nov 24, 2022 at 11:12amWeb
Show threadabedNov 24, 2022
@dfr good job
Show threadRomain TartièreNov 24, 2022

@dfr Oh! Do you have resources that describe how that fits with FreeBSD (on the top of my head is it agnostic of the usage of jails / bhyve or tied to one of these tools)?

Also, how does it compare to other tooling in the ports tree (e.g. iocage, bastille)?

I am currently in the process of replacing iocage which seems dead by something else. I am now looking into bastille which has some neat features but so far image creation looks "meh"… So I am still looking for alternatives 😉

Show threadDoug RabsonNov 25, 2022

@smortex Right now its fairly tightly linked to jails although, with the addition of something like 9pfs, I think a bhyve OCI runtime is doable, similar to krun or runx.

Comparing to iocage or bastille, there is a strong focus on providing tools to separate function from state. For instance you can make a generic image for e.g. mysql and run a container based on that that keeps its state in a separate volume managed by podman.

Show threadKaren BrunerNov 24, 2022
@dfr are there docs for usage on FreeBSD?
Show threadPeter WemmNov 25, 2022
The beauty of it is that you can take just about any docker or podman doc and it'll work. Except that it's running natively rather than emulating something. Personally, I find the buildah tool to be particularly useful - it gives so much more control for building containers than a typical dockerfile.
Show threadKaren BrunerNov 25, 2022
@karinjiri @dfr what OCI runtime is this using? runj?
Show threadDoug RabsonNov 25, 2022
@karinjiri @fuzzykb This is using my own runtime, ocijail, mostly so I can work on better support for podman and buildah without hassling Samuel Karp all the time. When we start working on an OCI platform specification for FreeBSD, I expect both runtimes to be usable.
Show threadokapiNov 25, 2022
@karinjiri @dfr @fuzzykb I found podman documentation tricky because it all seems to assume a level of familiarity with docker and I never used docker. Would be nice if ocijail at least had a man page. I'll definitely try this out, regardless.
Show threadDoug RabsonNov 25, 2022

@okapi @karinjiri @fuzzykb I should probably write a manpage for ocijail but normally, you should not need to use it directly - its main function is as an abstraction layer, hiding most of the low-level container management from the high-level podman/buildah/cri-o engines.

It might be worth reading a few docker guides to cover the basic ideas, e.g. https://docker-curriculum.com - just substitute podman for docker and quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal for busybox.

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Show threadokapiNov 25, 2022
@dfr @karinjiri @fuzzykb I'm getting an error trying to pull that image.
```
# podman pull quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal
Trying to pull quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal:latest...
Error: initializing source docker://quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal:latest: reading manifest latest in quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal: manifest unknown
```
Is there a source file for the construction of that initial image? In future, might it work for Linux images with the linuxulator?
Show threadKaren BrunerNov 25, 2022

@okapi @dfr @karinjiri I wrote up a way to run Linux containers using containerd and Samuel Karp's runj, but stuff like networking is still not supported

https://productionwithscissors.run/2022/09/04/containerd-linux-on-freebsd/

Fun with FreeBSD: Run Linux Containers on FreeBSD

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Show threadDoug RabsonNov 26, 2022
@okapi @karinjiri @fuzzykb I didn't set a 'latest' tag on that image. Try quay.io/dougrabson/freebsd-minimal:13. Scripts to build it are at github.com/dfr/freebsd-images.
Show threadDoug RabsonNov 26, 2022
@okapi @karinjiri @fuzzykb Also, I haven't tried to support running linux images - my main goal is for native FreeBSD image support.
Show threadDoug RabsonNov 27, 2022

@okapi @karinjiri @fuzzykb It turns out that it almost works - try 'sudo podman run --os=linux -ti --rm docker.io/alpine sh'.

Its missing linux /sys and /proc filesystems so things like ps don't work but probably not too hard to fix. Still way down the priority list though.

Show threadDoug RabsonNov 25, 2022
@karinjiri @fuzzykb Buildah is a lot more powerful than traditional Containerfile builds - I use it to build small freebsd images here: https://github.com/dfr/freebsd-images
GitHub - dfr/freebsd-images

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Show threadtxt.fileNov 26, 2022
@dfr kind of awesome. Thanks.
Show threadfellmoon 🏴Nov 26, 2022
@dfr thank you so much! Gonna need to try it out once I'm at home!