[3988689847] Upstream Reporter: Jan Rodák
Upstream issue status: Open
Upstream description:

Issue Description

When exiting, podman-restart.service stops all containers that are flagged to start after boot. This is fine for the always restart policy, but for unless-stopped, it behaves just like a user running podman stop .

ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman  $LOGGING stop  --all --filter should-start-on-boot=true

Note that stopping the service will automatically stop all running containers that match --filter should-start-on-boot=true on your machine.

Steps to reproduce the issue

podman run -d --restart=unless-stopped --name my_container fedora sleep infinity
# Check container if it is running:
podman ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                                     COMMAND         CREATED        STATUS         PORTS       NAMES
58ae1d244603  registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:latest  sleep infinity  2 minutes ago  Up 21 seconds              my_container

systemctl --user enable podman-restart.service
systemctl --user start podman-restart.service
# Check if service is running: 
systemctl --user status podman-restart.service

reboot

# Check the container if it is running after reboot:
podman ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                                     COMMAND         CREATED        STATUS         PORTS       NAMES

Describe the results you received

A container with --restart=unless-stopped does not start after a machine reboot, if podman-restart.service was running before the restart.

Describe the results you expected

A container with --restart=unless-stopped does start after a machine reboot.

podman info output

host:   arch: arm64
  buildahVersion: 1.43.0-dev
  cgroupControllers:   - cpu
  - io
  - memory
  - pids
  cgroupManager: systemd
  cgroupVersion: v2
  conmon:     package: conmon-2.2.1-1.20260224064415932437.main.5.g9e471ba.fc42.aarch64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.2.1, commit: '
  cpuUtilization:     idlePercent: 98.09
    systemPercent: 0.59
    userPercent: 1.31
  cpus: 6
  databaseBackend: sqlite
  distribution:     distribution: fedora
    variant: workstation
    version: "42"
  emulatedArchitectures:   - linux/386
  - linux/amd64
  - linux/arm64be
  - linux/loong64
  - linux/mips
  - linux/mips64
  - linux/ppc
  - linux/ppc64
  - linux/ppc64le
  - linux/riscv32
  - linux/riscv64
  - linux/s390x
  eventLogger: journald
  freeLocks: 1984
  hostname: fedora-mac-vm
  idMappings:     gidmap:     - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 524288
      size: 65536
    uidmap:     - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 524288
      size: 65536
  kernel: 6.18.12-100.fc42.aarch64
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 11435470848
  memTotal: 16718344192
  networkBackend: netavark
  networkBackendInfo:     backend: netavark
    defaultNetwork: podman
    dns:       package: aardvark-dns-2.0.0~dev-1.20260223151339890071.main.40.g12570fb.fc42.aarch64
      path: /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns
      version: aardvark-dns 2.0.0-dev
    package: Unknown
    path: /usr/local/libexec/podman/netavark
    version: netavark 2.0.0-dev
  ociRuntime:     name: crun
    package: crun-1.26-1.20260223200004469904.main.102.gfab0a1d7.fc42.aarch64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version UNKNOWN
      commit: 3c771023c6f0890634b87a0ecf17e2b160b67006
      rundir: /run/user/1000/crun
      spec: 1.0.0
      +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +LIBKRUN +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
  os: linux
  pasta:     executable: /usr/bin/pasta
    package: passt-0^20260120.g386b5f5-1.fc42.aarch64
    version: |
      pasta 0^20260120.g386b5f5-1.fc42.aarch64-pasta
      Copyright Red Hat
      GNU General Public License, version 2 or later
        <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html>
      This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
      There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
  remoteSocket:     exists: true
    path: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock
  rootlessNetworkCmd: pasta
  security:     apparmorEnabled: false
    capabilities: CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_FOWNER,CAP_FSETID,CAP_KILL,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_SETFCAP,CAP_SETGID,CAP_SETPCAP,CAP_SETUID,CAP_SYS_CHROOT
    rootless: true
    seccompEnabled: true
    seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
    selinuxEnabled: true
  serviceIsRemote: false
  slirp4netns:     executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
    package: slirp4netns-1.3.1-2.fc42.aarch64
    version: |-
      slirp4netns version 1.3.1
      commit: e5e368c4f5db6ae75c2fce786e31eef9da6bf236
      libslirp: 4.8.0
      SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 5
      libseccomp: 2.5.5
  swapFree: 8589930496
  swapTotal: 8589930496
  uptime: 0h 13m 33.00s
  variant: v8
plugins:   authorization: null
  log:   - k8s-file
  - none
  - passthrough
  - journald
  network:   - bridge
  - macvlan
  - ipvlan
  volume:   - local
registries:   localhost:5000:
    Blocked: false
    Insecure: true
    Location: localhost:5000
    MirrorByDigestOnly: false
    Mirrors: null
    Prefix: localhost:5000
    PullFromMirror: ""
  search:   - registry.fedoraproject.org
  - registry.access.redhat.com
  - docker.io
store:   containerStore:     number: 3
    paused: 0
    running: 1
    stopped: 2
  graphDriverName: overlay
  graphOptions: {}
  graphRoot: /home/jrodak/.local/share/containers/storage
  graphRootAllocated: 67014492160
  graphRootUsed: 28504403968
  graphStatus:     Backing Filesystem: btrfs
    Native Overlay Diff: "true"
    Supports d_type: "true"
    Supports shifting: "false"
    Supports volatile: "true"
    Using metacopy: "false"
  imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
  imageStore:     number: 11
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  transientStore: false
  volumePath: /home/jrodak/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:   APIVersion: 6.0.0-dev
  BuildOrigin: 'Copr: rhcontainerbot/podman-next'
  Built: 1771891200
  BuiltTime: Tue Feb 24 01:00:00 2026
  GitCommit: 39ea7ef794b946aa883c75fa3349e4616efec28b
  GoVersion: go1.24.13
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/arm64
  Version: 6.0.0-dev

Podman in a container

No

Privileged Or Rootless

None

Upstream Latest Release

Yes

Additional environment details

Additional environment details

Additional information

• https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/20418
• https://github.com/containers/podman/pull/27619