# Why does bluefin use docker in preference to podman?

**URL:** <https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/why-does-bluefin-use-docker-in-preference-to-podman/6620>\
**Category:** Bluefin\
**Created:** [February 4, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/why-does-bluefin-use-docker-in-preference-to-podman/6620 "2025-02-04T18:28:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![parkan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/parkan/32/4263_2.png) [@parkan](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/parkan)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/why-does-bluefin-use-docker-in-preference-to-podman/6620/1 "2025-02-04T18:28:30Z")

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_NOTE: this is not intended as a podman vs docker ideology post_

I’ve been using bluefin on the framework for a few months now and I couldn’t be happier – this is now my OS recommendation for all devs. I feel very comfortable in the workflow and (I think) understand most of the decisions made even if I may disagree with some on matters of taste.

The fairly big one that I **don’t** understand is the re-introduction of docker on top of an otherwise very podman/OCI oriented base system. I’ve looked through the relevant docs (e.g. [Developer Mode | Bluefin](https://docs.projectbluefin.io/bluefin-dx/)) and announcements that I could find but couldn’t find a conclusive answer.

As far as I could tell, the main motivations could be:

- devcontainers prefers docker (though podman [seems to work OK](https://geekingoutpodcast.substack.com/p/running-dev-containers-locally-with) with that system these days)
- more 1:1 to production environments using docker (this seems to be rapidly narrowing except a few areas where the architecture differences stand in the way, mainly namespaces and capabilities, and of course many organizations are moving over to podman these days)
- negative feelings about toolbx UX (I kinda agree on this one, for example `toolbox create` should absolutely not let you use incompatible base images as it does currently)
- potentially stability/performance differences due to more mature docker codebase

I would mainly like to understand:

- what would I be missing by overlay removing docker related packages?
- is there a bigger picture that I’m missing?

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_[View the full topic](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/why-does-bluefin-use-docker-in-preference-to-podman/6620)._