Using Podman

As an alternative to Docker, one may choose to run WebODM using Podman. To do so, simply install your distribution’s podman package as well as its compatibility layer for docker. For example, on Alpine Linux:

apk add podman podman-docker

The Podman command line bears strong resemblance to the Docker one, so referring to the past section and replacing every docker command invocation with podman is likely sufficient to teach its basic use.

Migrating from Docker to Podman

Unfortunately, given the number of options webodm.sh provides for deployment, migrating between the two may require some manual work before switching platforms. If WebODM’s information was stored in directories using the --media-dir and --db-dir flags, then the data within those needs to be owned by the user running the Podman containers. If running rootlessly, be sure to set this to your current user. You should be safe to recursively chown the whole git repository as such if your media-dir and db-dir lives within it:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) WebODM

If webodm.sh was used without flags, then a different intervention is necessary to migrate their data.

docker volume export webodm-dbdata > webodm-dbdata.tar
docker volume export webodm-appmedia > webodm-appmedia.tar

Regardless of data location, you’ll now need to uninstall Docker completely from your system according to your operating system’s documentation. Note that, by default, the webodm.sh script may have taken the liberty of installing docker-compose for you. To clean that up, run the following:

rm ~/.docker/cni-plugins-docker-compose

Now, install Podman according to your operating system’s documentation. If you needed to export the media and db dirs from Docker before, you may now use it to import the volumes.

podman volume import webodm-dbdata webodm-dbdata.tar
podman volume import webodm-appmedia webodm-appmedia.tar

It is recommended that you log out and log back in to your system at this point to ensure all environment variables are properly sourced.

Running webodm.sh now should result in user data persisting between the switch.

For Versions of podman-compose < 1.5.0

podman-compose versions lower than 1.5.0 lack support for environment variables in docker-compose files. If your distribution does not provide an up to date version in its repositories, you can choose to either provide your own up-to-date binary or use Docker Compose with podman itself. In either case, you’ll need to update the compose_providers line of the /etc/containers/containers.conf file.

If you choose to use Docker Compose instead of podman-compose, you might need to configure a few extra environment variables to tell WebODM where to send its Docker API requests to. The following environment configuration resulted in WebODM successfully spawning in Alpine Linux 3.22, though it should be fairly agnostic across distros.

export WEBODM_PODMAN_SOCKET=$(podman info --format '{{.Host.RemoteSocket.Path}}')
mkdir -p $(dirname WEBODM_PODMAN_SOCKET)
export DOCKER_HOST=unix://$WEBODM_PODMAN_SOCKET

Finally, start WebODM as such:

podman system service --time=0 unix://$WEBODM_PODMAN_SOCKET & ./webodm.sh start

Configuring Podman to Run Rootlessly

A major benefit of using Podman instead of Docker is due to its ability to run rootlessly. Your specific operating system may or may not configure this for you manually, but generic instructions on doing so can be found in Podman’s official documentation. To surmise, executing the following commands is likely what you’ll need to do:

sudo usermod --add-subuids 10000-75535 $(whoami)
sudo usermod --add-subgids 10000-75535 $(whoami)

macOS

In theory, installing and running Podman Desktop from the official website should be all you need to use the webodm.sh script. Install and configure it for both Docker compatibility and Compose functionality.