[GH-ISSUE #349] setting up podman quadlet for GoW - rootless? #101

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opened 2026-10-15 12:49:01 +00:00 by bsakaguchi · 3 comments

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 12:49:01 +00:00

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Originally created by @mentaluproar on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/issues/349

I'm a bit stumped on getting a quadlet going for GoW. I want to create a user on fedora server, create a quadlet to spin up GoW, let GoW spin up and manage its own containers within the contest of that fedora user account and have control of literally nothing outside it.

I have a few issues.

how to I set this up so that the quadlet is limited to only things under it? my understanding is that's the point of rootless where it can control things under it but not above it, and if anything breaks out, its blind anyway and stopped but the boundaries of that linux user account.
if I do this rootlessly, how can GoW claim the gamepad devices created by the kernel? udev rules can supposedly fling them to the user account that actually needs them, and on my headless server its safe to assume nothing else wants a gamepad anyway, but how will GoW know which user gets which gamepad if it can only influence things under it, not above it?

I have a setup I created with sway and it's okay for certain games, but others are spectacularly uncooperative with what needs to be in the foreground and how to claim controller ownership. it does save space since everything is under one account there so steam family sharing kicks in and it doesnt risk wasting space on games being installed multiple times, but for simultaneous users its just not going to work and I need other migrate to this.

Originally created by @mentaluproar on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/issues/349 I'm a bit stumped on getting a quadlet going for GoW. I want to create a user on fedora server, create a quadlet to spin up GoW, let GoW spin up and manage its own containers within the contest of that fedora user account and have control of literally nothing outside it. I have a few issues. - how to I set this up so that the quadlet is limited to only things under it? my understanding is that's the point of rootless where it can control things under it but not above it, and if anything breaks out, its blind anyway and stopped but the boundaries of that linux user account. - if I do this rootlessly, how can GoW claim the gamepad devices created by the kernel? udev rules can supposedly fling them to the user account that actually needs them, and on my headless server its safe to assume nothing else wants a gamepad anyway, but how will GoW know which user gets which gamepad if it can only influence things under it, not above it? I have a setup I created with sway and it's okay for certain games, but others are spectacularly uncooperative with what needs to be in the foreground and how to claim controller ownership. it does save space since everything is under one account there so steam family sharing kicks in and it doesnt risk wasting space on games being installed multiple times, but for simultaneous users its just not going to work and I need other migrate to this.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 12:49:02 +00:00

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@JBailes commented on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026):

https://github.com/JBailes/wolf/tree/main/quickstart

Take a look at that, it's older, but it was working at one point for podman.

@JBailes commented on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026): https://github.com/JBailes/wolf/tree/main/quickstart Take a look at that, it's older, but it was working at one point for podman.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 12:49:02 +00:00

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@mentaluproar commented on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026):

This appears to be rootful

@mentaluproar commented on GitHub (Jul 12, 2026): This appears to be rootful

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 12:49:02 +00:00

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@skewballfox commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2026):

a couple of things: you can build the containers without root separately using buildah, pulse currently requires starting as root user and uses gosu to drop to a pulse user, though I just created #359 to fix that specifically. haven't got to the other containers yet, their quadlets are dependent on pulse

@skewballfox commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2026): a couple of things: you can build the containers without root separately using buildah, pulse currently requires starting as root user and uses gosu to drop to a pulse user, though I just created #359 to fix that specifically. haven't got to the other containers yet, their quadlets are dependent on pulse