Generate a systemd service unit to run a podman container under systemd
domain: dev-infra · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Create the container once with `podman create --name myapp <image>` (it does not need to be running to generate a unit).
Run `podman generate systemd --name myapp` to print the unit file to stdout, or add `--files` to write it as container-myapp.service in the current directory.
Enable/start the unit with `systemctl` (rootful) or `systemctl --user` (rootless); for rootless/remote set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u).
For a pod, first create it with `podman pod create --name mypod --infra=true`, add containers with `podman create --pod mypod ...`, then `podman generate systemd --files --name mypod`.
Review the generated unit before running; verify it with `systemctl --user status`.
Known gotchas
Deprecated: podman generate systemd is superseded by Quadlet (.container units); it still works but gets no new features.
Pods require an infra container (--infra=true) for the unit to manage the pod lifecycle.
--new only works for containers created via podman create/run or podman pod create, NOT via the REST API or podman kube play.
Generated units use --sdnotify=conmon by default, so systemd does NOT wait for a ready signal (the default 'container' value would hang waiting forever).
--restart-policy defaults to on-failure; generating without --new on a container that already has a custom restart policy can race systemd stop against podman restart.
--files written to the current directory inherit SELinux context; may need restorecon/chcon or a -Z move.
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