DDEV Adds Experimental Support for Podman and Docker Rootless in Version 1.25.0

Both Podman and Docker Rootless allow containers to run without a root daemon, reducing privilege requirements on the host system. DDEV notes, however, that these options introduce notable limitations. Docker Rootless requires a no-bind-mounts workflow using Mutagen, while Podman behaves differently from Docker and is generally slower, particularly outside Linux.

On macOS, Podman cannot bind to the default development ports 80 and 443, requiring developers to use alternative ports such as 8080 and 8443. Docker Rootless is not available on macOS at all. As a result, DDEV continues to recommend standard Docker providers for most users due to better performance and fewer workflow changes.

The work to support these runtimes involved substantial internal changes, including a switch to Docker’s official client libraries, removal of deprecated Compose features, improved API performance, and added compatibility for SELinux-enabled systems. DDEV automatically detects the active container runtime and allows developers to switch between runtimes using Docker contexts.

The project emphasises that Podman and Docker Rootless support remains experimental and should be adopted only when security or policy requirements make traditional Docker unsuitable.