[pkg-go] Bug#1065732: podman: Please "Recommends: containers-storage" so overlay driver is used by default

[Anthony Fok]

Package: podman
Version: 4.9.3+ds1-1
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: foka at debian.org

When I first got Podman installed a year ago, I felt it was running
a lot slower than Docker for some reasons, and eventually came across
this:

    Podman run/build is painfully slow compared to docker
    https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/13226

and indeed, `podman info` on my system showed:

    graphDriverName: vfs

It turns out I did not install the "Suggested" containers-storage package
which contains /usr/share/containers/storage.conf that sets "overlay"
as the default driver.

There is a similar discussion at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/podman/comments/14dgdf8/how_can_i_figure_out_which_storage_driver_podman/

Eventually, I ran the following commands to remedy the situation:

    sudo apt install containers-storage
    rm -rf ~/.local/share/containers
    podman system reset

After that, `podman info` shows:

    graphDriverName: overlay

I propose promoting the dependency on the containers-storage package
from "Suggests" to "Recommends", or even to "Depends", so that
"overlay" is consistently chosen as the default storage driver
which provides a much better overall experience for end users.

For reference, in Fedora, podman "Requires: containers-common-extra"
which in turns "Requires: containers-common" which provides
/usr/share/containers/storage.conf where storage = "overlay" is set.

Many thanks!

Anthony Fok

-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
  APT prefers stable-security
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 6.7.7-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_WARN
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages podman depends on:
ii  conmon                           2.1.10+ds1-1
ii  crun                             1.14.1-1
ii  golang-github-containers-common  0.57.4+ds1-2
ii  libc6                            2.37-15.1
ii  libdevmapper1.02.1               2:1.02.196-1
ii  libgpgme11t64 [libgpgme11]       1.18.0-4.1
ii  libseccomp2                      2.5.5-1
ii  libsqlite3-0                     3.45.1-1
ii  libsubid4                        1:4.13+dfsg1-4
ii  runc                             1.1.12+ds1-2

Versions of packages podman recommends:
ii  buildah            1.33.5+ds1-4
ii  catatonit          0.1.7-1+b1
ii  dbus-user-session  1.14.10-4
ii  passt              0.0~git20240220.1e6f92b-1
ii  slirp4netns        1.2.1-1
ii  tini               0.19.0-1
ii  uidmap             1:4.13+dfsg1-4

Versions of packages podman suggests:
ii  containers-storage  1.51.0+ds1-2
pn  docker-compose      <none>
ii  iptables            1.8.10-3

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/cni/net.d/87-podman-bridge.conflist [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/etc/cni/net.d/87-podman-bridge.conflist'

-- no debconf information