Podman 1.0 can run Kubernetes pods

The Podman command line container management tool has reached version 1.0. The tool implements an almost Docker-compatible command line but uses that CRI-O container runtime. Originally it was developed as a test tool for CRI-O but has since then become a full container engine.

In addition to the Docker functionality Podman implements rootless containers through the use of user namespaces. That means that the user ID of the privileged user in a container can be mapped to a non-privileged user on the host system. Also Podman uses a traditional fork/exec model for executing containers which means that it's with non-elevated privileges. While Docker, on the other hand, runs container while controlling the Docker daemon that is running as a root process.

In the latest version Podman also supports the creation of pods, a Kubernetes concept that can comprise more than one container. Correspondingly Podman also understands the Kubernetes Yaml format to describe the setup of a Pod.