Selfhosted

In case you haven't started yet. Learn docker, but use podman.

At the end of the day, you’re running containers and both will get the job done. Go with whatever you want to start, and be open to try the other when you inevitably end up with jobby job that uses the other one instead.

As a podman user myself, they're essentially the same. I look at the docker documentation when learning new things about podman. 99.9% of the time, it's exactly the same. For the features that aren't in podman, you can use the podman-docker package. This gets you a daemon so you can have some docker-specific features such as a container being able to start/stop other containers by mounting the socket as a volume, and it allows you to use docker-compose.

Docker is more ubiquitous, Podman has use cases that diverge from Docker.

Discover the use case and decide from there.

That said docker is a good starting point, their documentation is pretty great and once you know docker you’ll better appreciate why podman is different.

It's easier to start with docker first simply because of the sheer amount of learning resources available on the internet. If you're having issues, you can usually find a solution quickly with a search engine.

That's being said, there's not much differences on how to use them these days. You can even run docker compose on podman.

You didn't say what's your goal. What do you want to achieve? For instance, if you work in IT you should probably learn Docker unless Podman is more relevant in your actual daily tasks.

Honestly, if you have never used containers before I would suggest starting with docker as it has more readily accessible beginner walk through and tutorials. From there, you will have a good idea as to switching to podman is the right move for you or not.

Personally, I started with docker and haven’t moved from there since I don’t see a need (yet). I have dozens of services running on docker. I don’t know how heavy of a lift it would be to learn podman but like I said, I don’t feel the need to do so.

Maybe try out both and see which one you like more?

They're pretty much the same. Use docker documentation for learning, but actually use podman, because it's nicer to use (doesn't require root, easier to install on many Linux distributions).

I tried out podman at first, but I found many docker instances simply provide a string of crap instead of explanations. It was easy to get a grasp of how docker worked, and now that I have an idea I feel like I could jump into podman better.

Both. Start with docker as there's a buttload of tutorials. Once you're familiar with it jump to podman. Learn the differences, use both for a while and decide what suits you best.

Both. They're pretty damn similar.

Still haven't looked into podman properly, but docker is much easier to learn because as you said there's a lot more material available online. I'd say start with Docker, and if in the future you will find out podman better fits your needs you can always switch (they should not be that different)

Docker, there are more resources for it and once you know it Podman should be an easy migration if you want to. Also I'm not sure about your claim that Podman is more FOSS than docker, it's "better" because it doesn't run as root, but other than that I don't know of any advantages to it that are not a derivation of "it runs as a regular user".

Doesn't really matter for basic stuff as it will be the same.

Once you get into container orchestration the differences start and then you basically need to decide what you want to get out of it.

They're very similar so you pretty much can't go wrong. Podman, I believe, is more secure by default (or aims to be) so might run into more roadblocks with its use.

Yes

Docker, definitely docker

Docker and docker-compose. Then learn podman after you have some experience, if you want to...

Or jump into kubernetes (or minikube) instead of podman if you want to do highly useful things.

But first, get comfortable building images with a Dockerfile, and then running them in a meaningful way, and networking them, and locking them down.

Podman only if you really care about using FOSS, having first-class rootless mode, and don't mind the hassle of scarce learning resource and tutorials on all Podman features that are different from docker.

Otherwise docker.

Here goes my experience.

When I started the self hosted trip, I was against containers and tried to avoid them at all costs. Then I learned about containers, and now I still am against containers but less vividly so. I have used them and still use them.

Containers are good for the self hoster because they deliver fast deploy and easy testing of lots of services quickly. They are good for developers because they can provide one common installation approach that reduces greatly user issues and support requests.

But containers also have downsides as well. First of all they make the user dumber. Instead of learning something new, you blindly "compose pull & up" your way. Easy, but it's dumbifier and that's not a good thing. Second, there is a dangerous trend where projects only release containers, and that's bad for freedom of choice (bare metal install, as complex as it might be, need to always be possible) and while I am aware that you can download an image and extract the files inside, that's more an hack than a solution. Third, with containers you are forced to use whatever deployment the devs have chosen for you. Maybe I don't want 10 postgres instances one for each service, or maybe I already have my nginx reverse proxy or so. I have seen projects release different composer files for different scenarios, but at that point I would prefer to deploy on bare metal.

Said so, containers are not avoidable today, so study and embrace them, you will not be disappointed as its a cool piece of tech. But please stay clear of docker and go podman instead. Podman doesn't rely on a potentially insecure socket and does not require an always running daemon. Podman also by default doesn't force you to run services as root which you should never do. Also, networking feels clearer on podman and podman feels more .modern by using nft instead of iptables. Yes most of this can be fixed on docker, but since podman is a drop in replacement, why bother? Also, podman is truly open source while docker, shockingly, its not.

Here is my wiki page on the subject: https://wiki.gardiol.org/doku.php?id=gentoo:containers feel free to read it.

One last thought: updating containers should not be taken lightly. Its so easy and fast that you might be tempted to setup cron jobs or install watchtower, but you will end sooner or later with a broken service and lost data. So backup, always backup, and keep updating with rationale.

Tldr: containers are unavoidable today and are a cool piece of tech worth investigating. Don't blindly use them as there are security issues involved, and I hope the trend of making containers the only way doesn't take hold, because containers also make self hosters dumber and that's not good.

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

[Thread #623 for this sub, first seen 23rd Mar 2024, 07:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

This is a bit of a Pokemon starter question. Just pick one and see where it takes you! They do roughly the same job, especially now that docker has a rootless mode. At the end of the day you're learning a new technology and that's a positive thing.

Learn Docker first, it will be faster and easier. It will both give you an intro to containers and you'll get some practical use for your self hosting needs.

If you're still curious later you can go deeper into Podman and other container technology.

not having to change habits later.

If everybody thought like this, we would still be banging rocks together.
I am not sure about your use case, but IMO learning Docker first would be a good default. It is more wide-spread than podman. If you want (or need) to, moving on to podman would probably not be too big a step.