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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: January 26th, 2025
  • My friend, a podman container file is a simple tiny ini text file. Behind the scenes it gets converted to a systemd service unit file, which is also an ini text file. The service file has a simple ExecStart command that just calls podman run. Meanwhile podman will just set up an environment and run the container with runc or crun. The whole thing is basically one step above a shell script. I could buildroot a system with this entire stack and it would fit on my wifi router.

    You’re the one overcomplicating things.

  • That sounds heavy and complicated.

    It’s neither. A systemd generator just transforms a simple 15 line container text file to a simple 20 line service text file, and then the container lifecycle and dependencies are managed by systemd like any other system or user service.

  • It’s not tightly coupled to anything. It just ships with a systemd generator allowing you to manage containers, pods or networks with systemd if you want. And lots of people are noticing the benefits of that arrangement.

  • I use alacritty with a small script that calls tdrop to make it a drop-down terminal, and sets a few other window properties. For tabs I use tmux as it’s amazing and works everywhere.

    It all works perfectly on X, but tdrop is pretty glitchy on Wayland with multiple monitors. Since I use the drop-down terminal a lot, that this was enough of a trigger to move from gnome to kde where I can still use X.

  • I finally had to switch recently because I use gnome, and they removed the X11 session. I managed to sort out most of the missing parts needed for my workflow, but it still feels like a downgrade. It feels much more sluggish, things that were instant now take a second, and I’ve been under a constant barrage of bugs and glitches. Some make the whole experience feel like using amateur software. I’ll be typing, then press a global shortcut to launch some software, and I’ll end up with whole desktop pausing for a second and the shortcut inserted in my text 20 times. And this happens a few times a day. Just one example.

    I’ve almost exclusively used Linux desktop for the past decade and it was a smooth experience, but with gnome-wayland I finally understand the people that were always complaining about everything being broken and glitchy.

    I can understand having some bugs, but if text or mouse input doesn’t work properly, or if using my new laptop suddenly feels like using my much slower old one, then I may as well look for a different desktop.

  • I use quadlets instead - it’s part of podman and lets you manage containers as systemd services. Supports automatic image updates and gives you all the benefits of systemd service management. There’s a tool out there that will convert a docker compose config into quadlet unit files giving you a quick start, but I just write them by hand.