Build Podman with Fedora running on lima and use the container on Podman as a DevContainer from VS Code Remote-Containers.

build-and-setup-podman-on-fedora-lima.md

DevContainer with Podman on Fedora on lima

Environment

• macOS: Big Sur v11.5.2
• VS Code: Version: v1.60.0
• Remote - Containers: v0.194.0
• lima: v0.6.3

1. Install Podman and lima

Install using the Homebrew package.

brew install podman lima

Check command.

$ podman --version
podman version 3.3.1
$ lima --version
limactl version 0.6.3

2. Run "fedora" instance on lima

Clone the lima GitHub repo and start lima with the fedora.yml.

git clone https://github.com/lima-vm/lima.git
limactl start lima/examples/fedora.yaml

Enter Proceed with the default configuration.

? Creating an instance "fedora"  [Use arrows to move, type to filter]
> Proceed with the default configuration
  Open an editor to override the configuration
  Exit

After entering, the instance setup will start.

3. Setup build environment

SSH into the Fedora VM.

ssh-keygen -R [localhost]:60024
ssh -i ~/.lima/_config/user -o USER=$(whoami) -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no localhost -p 60024

Install the required packages, following the "Building from scratch" instructions in the Podman Installation Instructions.

(In the Fedora VM)

sudo dnf install -y \
  btrfs-progs-devel \
  conmon \
  containernetworking-plugins \
  containers-common \
  crun \
  device-mapper-devel \
  git \
  glib2-devel \
  glibc-devel \
  glibc-static \
  go \
  golang-github-cpuguy83-md2man \
  gpgme-devel \
  iptables \
  libassuan-devel \
  libgpg-error-devel \
  libseccomp-devel \
  libselinux-devel \
  make \
  pkgconfig

4. Setup golang and make (In the Fedora VM)

I referred to the following for instructions on how to set up golang. https://github.com/dc25/buildPodman/blob/main/build.sh

export GOPATH=~/go
export GOCACHE="$(mktemp -d)"
export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$PATH

mkdir -p $GOPATH
chmod -R 777 $GOPATH > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf $GOPATH > /dev/null 2>&1
if [[ -e $GOPATH ]] ; then
    echo unable to remove $GOPTATH
    exit 1
fi
mkdir -p $GOPATH

go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports

Clone the Podman GitHub repo and make/make install.

git clone https://github.com/containers/podman/
cd podman
make BUILDTAGS="selinux seccomp"
sudo make install PREFIX=/usr

Activate and start the podman.socket service.

systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket

Check Podman command.

$ podman -r --url unix:/run/user/${UID}/podman/podman.sock version
Client:
Version:      4.0.0-dev
API Version:  4.0.0-dev
Go Version:   go1.16.6
Git Commit:   e6046224ea88cad9286303456562b4a24ad9cf9b
Built:        Fri Sep 10 15:57:38 2021
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

Server:
Version:      4.0.0-dev
API Version:  4.0.0-dev
Go Version:   go1.16.6
Git Commit:   e6046224ea88cad9286303456562b4a24ad9cf9b
Built:        Fri Sep 10 15:57:38 2021
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

5. Setup Podman remote connection on macOS

Configure Podman remote via SSH connection to Fedora VM.

podman system connection add lima --identity ~/.lima/_config/user ssh://$(whoami)@localhost:60024
podman system connection default lima

Check connection into the Fedora VM via Podman command.

$ podman version
Client:
Version:      3.3.1
API Version:  3.3.1
Go Version:   go1.17
Built:        Tue Aug 31 04:15:26 2021
OS/Arch:      darwin/amd64

Server:
Version:      4.0.0-dev
API Version:  4.0.0-dev
Go Version:   go1.16.6
Git Commit:   e6046224ea88cad9286303456562b4a24ad9cf9b
Built:        Sat Sep 11 00:57:38 2021
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

6. Run and Attach to container

Start the container and keep it running.

podman run -d --name ubi ubi8 sleep inf

Launch the VS code and settings for Remote-Containers. Set podman to Docker Path.

Attach the pre-launched container.

Restrictions

You cannot use Try a Sample because Podman's remote connection does not support volume mounts. You will need to rewrite the mount path in the Fedora VM or take other measures.