Podman Desktop 1.19 Release! 🎉
by Axel Stefanini
[image: image.png]
Podman Desktop 1.19 is now available! Click here to download
<https://podman-desktop.io/downloads>!
This release brings exciting new features and improvements, including many
extension updates:
- Podman v5.5: The Podman executable shipped with Podman Desktop has
been updated to its latest version.
- Bootc Extension 1.9: Test and experiment with Bootable Container
directly from the extension.
- AI Lab 1.7.2: New inference runtime, llama-stack implementation, and
Model Context Protocol (MCP).
- Minc extension: Podman Desktop extension to deploy MicroShift as a
container.
- RHEL lightspeed extension: Extension to get assistance using RHEL
Lightspeed.
- RHEL VMs extension: The RHEL VMs extension helps the user run RHEL
Virtual machines.
- Availability on RHEL 10: Podman Desktop is now directly available on
RHEL 10.
Release details 🔍
<https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19#release-details->Podman
v5.5 <https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19#podman-v55>
Podman Desktop aims to work offline, so it ships alongside its binary, the
Podman executable. In this release, the latest Podman 5.5 version provides
new features, bug fixes, and better stability while using the tool.
You can find the full changelog of Podman 5.5 on their release page
containers/podman/releases#v5.5.0
<https://github.com/containers/podman/releases/tag/v5.5.0>.
Bootc Extension 🦭
<https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19#bootc-extension->
The Podman Desktop Boot container extension (aka Bootc) has recently seen
significant improvements; one of them is the usage of macadam
<https://github.com/crc-org/macadam>.
As the bootc tool applies a container image as an update to an already
running Linux system, allowing the output to boot an entire OS with the
container image included. To test the bootc artifact, you either need a
dedicated machine or create a virtual machine from the artifact.
To simplify the developer experience of testing the artifact, the Podman
Desktop Bootc extension offers you a way to directly create a virtual
machine from the artifact you created.
[image: image.png]
AI Lab ✨
<https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19#ai-lab->
The Podman Desktop AI Lab extension started as an experiment in 2024,
exploring how AI workflows could be containerized, celebrating more than
one year of updates and progress, the extension has grown to support a wide
range of tools, such as Instructlab, llamaCPP, WhisperCPP and with the
latest release OpenVINO, llama-stack and MCP.
Minc extension 📦
MicroShift <https://github.com/openshift/microshift> is a project that
optimizes OpenShift Kubernetes for small form factors and edge computing.
Similar to Kind <https://podman-desktop.io/docs/kind> and Minikube
<https://podman-desktop.io/docs/minikube>, an extension for creating and
managing MicroShift clusters locally through Podman has been created.
RHEL Lightspeed ⚡
Red Hat Lightspeed is a generative AI assistant integrated into Red Hat's
hybrid cloud platforms, such as OpenShift and Enterprise Linux.9
<https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19#user-content-f...>
It
provides natural language guidance within the console to simplify complex
tasks, enhance productivity, and bridge IT skills gaps.
Users can choose from various AI models, including OpenAI, Azure OpenAI,
WatsonX, or deploy private models on Red Hat platforms.
With a Red Hat subscription, you can experiment with Red Hat Lightspeed
from anywhere, including Podman Desktop, through a new extension called
RHEL Lightspeed.
[image: extension-lightspeed-light-4e5934bd56bed97b4e2585519d9c1184.png]
RHEL VMs extension 🗃️
Through the Podman executable, Podman Desktop manages virtual machines; the
cross-platform code responsible for this has been reused to create the
macadam tool mentioned earlier.
The RHEL VMs extension helps the user run RHEL virtual machines using the
macadam tool.
[image: extension-rhel-vm-create-light-a7f88f83ca5d2a2aa77e00bdd5c190a3.png]
RHEL 10 availability 🚢
The Podman Desktop you love - *simplified container management and
intuitive UI* - now extends to RHEL workflows. For users on RHEL systems,
explore the extension channel to install Podman Desktop. You'll get a
familiar experience across Windows, Mac and now RHEL. Releases are
happening at the same time as other platforms, so you'll get instant access
to new features.
Find more details about Installing Podman Desktop on RHEL 10
<https://podman-desktop.io/docs/installation/linux-install/install-on-rhel10>
.
See the full release notes our website
<https://podman-desktop.io/blog/podman-desktop-release-1.19>
2 weeks, 5 days