How to install Forgejo using podman

Install Forgejo using podman.

Operating system.

$ lsb_release --all

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS
Release:	22.04
Codename:	jammy

Install podman.

$ sudo apt install podman systemd-container

Determine podman version.

$ podman version

Version:      3.4.4
API Version:  3.4.4
Go Version:   go1.17.3
Built:        Thu Jan  1 01:00:00 1970
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

Create dedicated forgejo user.

$ sudo useradd --home-dir /opt/forgejo --create-home --shell /bin/bash forgejo

Create user systemd directory.

$ sudo -u forgejo mkdir -p /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user

Enable user lingering.

$ sudo loginctl enable-linger forgejo

Create application network.

$ sudo -u forgejo -i podman network create forgejo-network

/opt/forgejo/.config/cni/net.d/forgejo-network.conflist

Create database container.

$ sudo -u forgejo mkdir /opt/forgejo/database

$ sudo -u forgejo -i \
    podman container run \
                      --detach \
                      --env MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=toor \
                      --env MARIADB_DATABASE=forgejo \
                      --env MARIADB_USER=forgejo \
                      --env MARIADB_PASSWORD=forgejo \
                      --volume /opt/forgejo/database:/var/lib/mysql/ \
                      --network forgejo-network \
                      --name forgejo-database \
                      docker.io/library/mariadb:latest

Trying to pull docker.io/library/mariadb:latest...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 94c8eab958ce done  
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Copying blob 890f8c45a000 done  
Copying blob 97533be58132 done  
Copying config a748acbacc done  
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014  

Create application container.

$ sudo -u forgejo mkdir /opt/forgejo/git

$ sudo -u forgejo -i \
    podman container run \
                      --detach \
                      --env DB_TYPE=mysql \
                      --env DB_HOST=forgejo-database:3306 \
                      --env DB_NAME=forgejo \
                      --env DB_USER=forgejo \
                      --env DB_PASSWD=forgejo \
                      --volume /opt/forgejo/git:/data \
                      --network forgejo-network \
                      --publish 3000:3000 \
                      --label "io.containers.autoupdate=registry" \
                      --name forgejo-app \
                      codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:1.18.0-rc1-1

Trying to pull codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:1.18.0-rc1-1...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 03e8d6776079 done  
Copying blob 1bf71cc7b214 done  
Copying blob 79e1c7a8b118 done  
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Copying blob 1625488e60ae done  
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Copying blob 4f4fb700ef54 done  
Copying blob 41aae6095be7 done  
Copying config 7838f2d9e5 done  
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4

Generate systemd services.

$ sudo -u forgejo -i podman generate systemd --files forgejo-database

/opt/forgejo/container-2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014.service

$ sudo -u forgejo cat /opt/forgejo/container-2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014.service

# container-2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014.service
# autogenerated by Podman 3.4.4
# Tue Dec 27 22:54:00 CET 2022

[Unit]
Description=Podman container-2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014.service
Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
RequiresMountsFor=/run/user/1001/containers

[Service]
Environment=PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=%n
Restart=on-failure
TimeoutStopSec=70
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start 2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014
ExecStopPost=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014
PIDFile=/run/user/1001/containers/overlay-containers/2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014/userdata/conmon.pid
Type=forking

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

$ sudo -u forgejo -i podman generate systemd --files forgejo-app     

/opt/forgejo/container-a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4.service

$ sudo -u forgejo cat /opt/forgejo/container-a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4.service

# container-a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4.service
# autogenerated by Podman 3.4.4
# Tue Dec 27 22:54:27 CET 2022

[Unit]
Description=Podman container-a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4.service
Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
RequiresMountsFor=/run/user/1001/containers

[Service]
Environment=PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=%n
Restart=on-failure
TimeoutStopSec=70
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4
ExecStopPost=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4
PIDFile=/run/user/1001/containers/overlay-containers/a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4/userdata/conmon.pid
Type=forking

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Copy service files.

$ sudo -u forgejo cp /opt/forgejo/container-2fd6882fa1d3be96d8f523909e6b01c56dddbeecb77f50062075c35d6fa25014.service  /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/forgejo-database.service

$ sudo -u forgejo cp /opt/forgejo/container-a67af8553a03ee6cc376f578890001f591a312ec6d5be70bc36c0f3379e97cf4.service  /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/forgejo-app.service

Use machinectl utility to control services using systemd.

$ sudo machinectl shell --uid forgejo 
Connected to the local host. Press ^] three times within 1s to exit session.
forgejo@host$ podman ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                                      COMMAND               CREATED         STATUS             PORTS                   NAMES
2fd6882fa1d3  docker.io/library/mariadb:latest           mariadbd              27 minutes ago  Up 27 minutes ago                          forgejo-database
a67af8553a03  codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:1.18.0-rc1-1  /bin/s6-svscan /e...  17 minutes ago  Up 17 minutes ago  0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp  forgejo-app
forgejo@host$ podman stop forgejo-app
forgejo@host$ podman stop forgejo-database
forgejo@host$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
forgejo@host$ systemctl --user enable --now forgejo-database
Created symlink /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/forgejo-database.service → /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/forgejo-database.service.
forgejo@host$ systemctl --user enable --now forgejo-app
Created symlink /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/forgejo-app.service → /opt/forgejo/.config/systemd/user/forgejo-app.service.
forgejo@host$ podman ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                                      COMMAND               CREATED         STATUS            PORTS                   NAMES
2fd6882fa1d3  docker.io/library/mariadb:latest           mariadbd              36 minutes ago  Up 6 minutes ago                          forgejo-database
a67af8553a03  codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:1.18.0-rc1-1  /bin/s6-svscan /e...  26 minutes ago  Up 6 minutes ago  0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp  forgejo-app
forgejo@host$ exit
Connection to the local host terminated.

Open web-browser on port 3000 to access application.