Common Podman Failure Patterns
Container Won't Start
| Error |
Cause |
Fix |
exec format error |
Binary built on wrong arch |
Rebuild on the Linux server |
address already in use |
Port conflict |
ss -tlnp | grep :PORT to find offender |
permission denied |
Missing capability or read-only root |
Check get_app_capabilities(), add tmpfs |
OCI runtime error |
Corrupt container state |
podman rm -f NAME && recreate |
image not known |
Image not pulled |
podman pull IMAGE:TAG |
no such network |
Network missing |
podman network create archy-net |
Container Starts But App Unreachable
| Symptom |
Check Layer |
Fix |
| Direct port works, /app/ doesn't |
Nginx config |
Add /app/{id}/ location block |
| Neither works |
Podman ports |
podman port NAME — verify mapping exists |
| Port mapped but refused |
Container logs |
App crashing internally — check logs |
| Works sometimes |
Resources |
Check OOM kills, CPU, disk space |
| 502 Bad Gateway |
Nginx→Container |
Wrong port in proxy_pass or container restarted |
Container Keeps Dying
| Pattern |
Cause |
Fix |
| Exits immediately (code 1) |
Config error |
Check podman logs NAME |
| Dies after minutes |
OOM killed |
Increase --memory limit |
| Dies when dep restarts |
No restart policy |
Add --restart unless-stopped |
| Crash loop |
Repeated crash |
Fix root cause, don't just restart |
Network Issues
| Problem |
Cause |
Fix |
| Can't resolve container names |
Not on archy-net |
Recreate with --network=archy-net |
| Can't reach internet |
DNS missing |
Add --dns 1.1.1.1 |
| Container-to-container timeout |
Different networks |
Put both on same network |
Capability Reference
| Capability |
Apps That Need It |
Failure Mode |
| CHOWN |
nextcloud, homeassistant, btcpay, jellyfin, portainer |
Can't chown during setup |
| SETUID/SETGID |
nextcloud, homeassistant, btcpay, jellyfin |
Can't switch to service user |
| DAC_OVERRIDE |
nextcloud, homeassistant, btcpay |
Can't access cross-UID files |
| FOWNER |
bitcoin-knots, lnd, fedimint |
Can't modify data dir perms |
| NET_BIND_SERVICE |
nginx-proxy-manager, vaultwarden |
Can't bind ports <1024 |
Read-Only Safe Apps
Only these 8 apps can run with --read-only: searxng, grafana, filebrowser, electrs, nostr-rs-relay, ollama, indeedhub
All others need writable root or will fail silently.