# Yak-Shaving netlab Podman Support

DevFeed: [Yak-Shaving netlab Podman Support](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/yak-shaving-netlab-podman-support-11433.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.ipspace.net/2026/08/yak-shaving-netlab-podman-support/>)

Published: 2026-08-27T05:30:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [ipSpace.net blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/ipspace-net-blog.md>)

Topics: [Command-line interface](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cli.md>), [Orchestration](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/orchestration.md>), [Docker](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/docker.md>), [Ubuntu](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ubuntu.md>), [Server](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/server.md>)

Tags: [cli](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cli.md>), [docker](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/docker.md>), [netlab](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/netlab.md>), [orchestration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/orchestration.md>), [podman](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/podman.md>), [server](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/server.md>), [ubuntu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ubuntu.md>)

## AI overview

The article describes the work required to make netlab support Podman as a runtime. It covers containerlab runtime configuration, Ubuntu-related issues, sudoless operation, Podman's socket-based API, installation automation, Docker-compatible commands, and differences in container visibility between Podman and Docker.

## Source excerpt

Long, long time ago, in a long-forgotten PR adding support for Cumulus VX Ignite runtime, an off-the-cuff remark was made saying, "and this is how you use netlab with Podman". That remark was quietly sitting in the documentation for years until someone (A) tried to use Podman and (B) found enough time to report that it doesn't work with netlab. I don't know what that tells us: either very few people use Podman, or nobody (apart from a notable exception) cares enough to spend a few minutes telling us stuff doesn't work1. Anyway, based on Joey Buiteweg's wonderful research, I was able to put together a working solution pretty quickly, but it did involve a lot of yak shaving (more bovine details). Read more ...