Red Hat build of Podman Desktop Support Policy

Overview

Red Hat offers services for each major release for Red Hat build of Podman Desktop with designated support policies. This article outlines the support policies relevant to Red Hat build of Podman Desktop applicable to a base entitlement.

Details

Red Hat build of Podman Desktop will be supported subject to the Red Hat Production Scope of Coverage, Base Support Service Level Agreement and Red Hat build of Podman Desktop Life Cycle.

In practice, this means that Red Hat will assist customers with the setup of Red Hat build of Podman Desktop on supported workstations, including initial configuration, the enablement of bundled extensions, and other documented tasks.

Support for Extensions

Red Hat build of Podman Desktop provides a modular architecture that allows for the integration of various tools via extensions. To help customers effectively plan their support expectations, Red Hat categorizes these into Bundled Extensions and Custom/Third-Party Extensions.

Bundled Extensions

As part of the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop distribution, Red Hat provides a select number of bundled extensions (such as OpenShift Local, Developer Sandbox) that are configured and enabled by default or available for immediate activation.

  • Release-Specific Documentation: These extensions are documented with each release for Red Hat build of Podman Desktop. The selection of bundled extensions is subject to change with each release as the product roadmap evolves and new integration capabilities are introduced. To ensure customers can effectively plan their deployments, Red Hat will provide advance notice of the intent to remove or replace a bundled extension via Product Release Notes. These notices will be issued in the release(s) prior to the extension's removal to prevent unexpected changes to the user environment.
  • Support Scope: These bundled extensions are fully supported by Red Hat. Support is delimited by the functional code of the extension itself—specifically its integration, configuration, and operation within the Podman Desktop interface.
  • Entitlement Requirements: Where a bundled extension serves as an interface for another Red Hat product (e.g., OpenShift Local or RHEL), customers may require a separate valid product entitlement for that underlying technology to receive full technical support for issues originating within that specific component.
  • Maintenance: While bundled, these extensions may incorporate underlying technologies that follow their own independent maintenance schedules. Red Hat provides integration testing to validate basic functionality at the time of release, but the lifecycle of the underlying binaries may result in mid-cycle updates to the extension.

Custom and Third-Party Extensions

Podman Desktop allows users to source and install custom extensions from the broader ecosystem, including those authored by the community or third-party vendors.

  • Support Scope: For any extension sourced and installed by the user, Red Hat support is limited to investigating issues related to the enablement of the extension within the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop application.
  • Issue Reporting: Red Hat does not provide support for the internal features, functionality, or security of non-bundled extensions. If an issue is isolated to the extension itself rather than the Podman Desktop API or loading mechanism, customers must report these issues to the respective upstream projects or vendors.