Post: podmanRun, a simple wrapper for podman

blog.bryanroessler.com/_posts/2020-01-23-run-with-podman.md

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ subtitle: Now with systemd!
 tags: [atom, podman, containers, ide, systemd, run-with-podman]
 ---
 
+# Note
+
+**The scripts provided in this tutorial have been superseded by the simpler [podmanRun]({% post_url 2020-05-15-podmanrun-a-simple-podman-wrapper %}) wrapper.**
+
 ### Overview
 
 In this tutorial we will be using Atom's [build package](https://atom.io/packages/build) (although you are free to use your own IDE) and a container management script to run files/commands on default system images using podman. We will go one step further by enabling systemd support in our build environment. We will also provide the option of masking the program's output from the host using unnamed volumes.

blog.bryanroessler.com/_posts/2020-05-15-podmanrun-a-simple-podman-wrapper.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: 'podmanRun: a simple podman wrapper'
+date: '2020-05-15 15:36'
+tags:
+  - podman
+  - bash
+  - fedora
+  - containers
+---
+
+### Rationale
+
+[In a previous post]({% post_url 2020-01-23-run-with-podman %}) I demonstrated the benefits of running and developing code in containers in order to maintain a clean and predictable development environment. After using [run-with-podman](https://git.bryanroessler.com/bryan/run-with-podman) for several months I found that there would often be edge cases requiring additional argument handling. In light of this, I have simplified run-with-podman into a [podman](https://podman.io/) cli wrapper that users can use to pass arguments directly to podman while maintaining the container management benefits of run-with-podman. It's a much simpler script that gives more power to users.
+
+### Who is `podmanRun` intended for?
+
+Anyone that wants to easily run programs in ephemeral or persistent containers. Personally, I use podmanRun in order to quickly test code in different Linux distributions, automate compilation, and deploy containerized build services including preprocessors and web servers.
+
+### What does `podmanRun` actually do?
+
+Not much, by design.
+
+1.  Generates a unique container name based on the `--name` argument passed to `podman` within the `podmanRun` `--options` string. If no `--name` is specified in the `--options` string, podmanRun will generate a unique container name based on the concatenated options and commands passed by the user. Thus, if any options or commands are changed, a new container will be recreated regardless if `--mode=persistent` was set.
+2.  Checks whether a container with that name already exists.
+3.  If no matching container was found: the `--options` are passed directly to `podman run` and the commands are executed in the new container.
+4.  If a matching container was found:
+  - `--mode=recreate` will remove the existing container and run the commands in a new container using `podman run` with the provided `--options`.
+  - `--mode=persistent` will run the commands in the existing container using `podman exec` and `--options` will be ignored.
+3.  By default, the container is not removed afterwards (it will only be removed upon subsequent invocations of `podmanRun` using `--mode=recreate`) to allow the user to inspect the container. Containers can be automatically removed after execution by uncommenting the requisite line in `__main()`.
+
+### Usage
+
+For the complete list of up-to-date options, run `podmanRun --help`.
+```
+podmanRun [-m MODE] [-o OPTIONS] [COMMANDS [ARGS]...] [--help] [--debug]
+```
+
+##### Options
+
+```text
+--mode, -m MODE
+    1. recreate (default) (remove container if it already exists and create a new one)
+    2. persistent (reuse existing container if it exists)
+--options, -o OPTIONS
+    OPTIONS to pass to podman run/exec
+--debug, -d
+    Print debugging
+--help, -h
+    Print this help message and exit
+```
+
+Podman options can be passed to `--options` as a single string to be split on whitespace or passed multiple times discretely.
+
+##### Examples
+
+Run an ephemeral PHP webserver container using the current directory as webroot:
+```
+podmanRun -o "-p=8000:80 --name=php_script -v=$PWD:/var/www/html:z php:7.3-apache"
+```
+
+Run an ephemeral PHP webserver container using the current directory as webroot using IDE:
+```
+podmanRun -o "-p=8000:80 --name=php_{FILE_ACTIVE_NAME_BASE} -v={FILE_ACTIVE_PATH}:/var/www/html:z php:7.3-apache"
+```
+
+Run an ephemeral bash script:
+```
+podmanRun -o "--name=bash_script -v=$PWD:$PWD:z -w=$PWD debian:testing" ./script.sh
+```
+
+Run an ephemeral bash script using IDE:
+```
+podmanRun -o "--name=bash_{FILE_ACTIVE_NAME_BASE}" \
+          -o "-v={FILE_ACTIVE_PATH}:{FILE_ACTIVE_PATH}:z" \
+          -o "-w={FILE_ACTIVE_PATH}" \
+          -o "debian:testing" \
+          {FILE_ACTIVE} arg1 arg2
+```
+
+### Modes
+
+podmanRun supports two modes: `recreate` and `persistent`. Recreate will always overwrite an existing container with the same name, while persistent will try to execute commands in an existing container (if found) using `podman exec`.
+
+
+
+## Additional Info
+Did you find `podmanRun` useful? [Buy me a coffee!](https://paypal.me/bryanroessler?locale.x=en_US)