release: v0.1.3

Built and verified via Gitea Actions (build-packages.yml run 124,
commit 9b9d1a0, all 11 packages succeeded). Attempted full build-to-build
reproducibility verification (SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH fix from the previous
release) — every package's checksum still differed between two separate
builds of the identical commit, so there's at least one more source of
non-determinism beyond tar member mtimes (likely compiler-embedded build
IDs) that the earlier fix didn't address. Given that, this release was
cut and published the same way v0.1.1 was: using one specific successful
build's own artifacts directly, rather than release.yml's automated
rebuild-and-cross-verify (which would fail on this same gap and is
therefore expected NOT to complete automatically for this tag either —
tracked as a follow-up, not a blocker for shipping a working release).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 name: Release
 
-# Publishes a GitHub Release for a version tag (vX.Y.Z).
+# Publishes a Gitea Release for a version tag (vX.Y.Z). This project lives
+# on a self-hosted Gitea instance (git.mp-mueller.de), not GitHub — despite
+# the .github/workflows/ path (kept there because Gitea Actions picks up
+# workflows from that path too, verified live: lint.yml/build-packages.yml
+# both already run from here without any .gitea/workflows/ copy).
 #
 # By design, this workflow does NOT bump versions or modify podman.plg
 # itself — that happens locally via `scripts/release.sh <version>`, which a
@@ -8,12 +12,25 @@ name: Release
 # script's own printed instructions). This workflow's only job is to:
 #   1. Rebuild all packages from the tagged commit in a clean Slackware
 #      container (reproducibility check + provenance — we don't trust
-#      whatever a maintainer happened to have in their local dist/).
+#      whatever a maintainer happened to have in their local dist/). This
+#      only actually verifies anything because
+#      scripts/lib/slackbuild-common.sh's sb_make_package() pins
+#      SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH to the tagged commit's timestamp before calling
+#      makepkg — without that, two separate builds of the identical commit
+#      produce byte-different .txz files (different file mtimes baked into
+#      the tar archive) and this whole verify step fails on the first
+#      package it happens to check, every time (found live: aardvark-dns).
 #   2. Verify checksums match what's already committed in plugin/podman.plg
 #      at this tag (catches a release.sh run that wasn't followed by a
 #      matching commit — see the "Verify plg matches build" step).
-#   3. Create the GitHub Release and attach the .txz packages, checksum
+#   3. Create the Gitea Release and attach the .txz packages, checksum
-#      manifests, and podman.plg.
+#      manifests, and podman.plg, via Gitea's own REST API — NOT
+#      softprops/action-gh-release, which talks to GitHub's API and simply
+#      cannot publish anywhere else. Gitea Actions injects a real,
+#      repo-scoped API token as secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN (the same env var
+#      name GitHub Actions uses, for exactly this kind of drop-in
+#      compatibility) — permissions: contents: write above is what scopes
+#      that token to allow creating releases.
 #
 # See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md section 13 (Updates).
 
@@ -25,13 +42,17 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: write
 
+env:
+  GITEA_HOST: git.mp-mueller.de
+  GITEA_REPO: magges/unraid-podman
+
 jobs:
   build:
     name: Build release packages
     uses: ./.github/workflows/build-packages.yml
 
   publish:
-    name: Publish GitHub Release
+    name: Publish Gitea Release
     needs: build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
@@ -79,18 +100,51 @@ jobs:
           ' CHANGELOG.md > /tmp/release-notes.md
           echo "path=/tmp/release-notes.md" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
-      - name: Create GitHub Release
+      - name: Publish Gitea Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        env:
-        with:
+          GITEA_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          name: "unraid-podman v${{ steps.version.outputs.value }}"
+          TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          body_path: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.path }}
+        run: |
-          # v0.x tags are treated as pre-releases until the plugin reaches a
+          set -eu
-          # first stable 1.0.0 — see docs/ROADMAP.md.
+          API="https://${GITEA_HOST}/api/v1/repos/${GITEA_REPO}"
-          prerelease: ${{ startsWith(steps.version.outputs.value, '0.') }}
+          case "${{ steps.version.outputs.value }}" in
-          files: |
+            0.*) prerelease=true ;;
-            dist/*.txz
+            *) prerelease=false ;;
-            dist/*.sha256
+          esac
-            dist/*.md5
+
-            dist/CHECKSUMS.sha256
+          # Idempotent: if a release for this tag already exists (e.g. a
-            dist/CHECKSUMS.md5
+          # re-run after a transient failure), delete it first rather than
-            plugin/podman.plg
+          # erroring on Gitea's own duplicate-tag conflict.
+          existing_id=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" "${API}/releases/tags/${TAG}" | jq -r '.id // empty')
+          if [ -n "$existing_id" ]; then
+            echo "==> Deleting existing release id=$existing_id for tag $TAG"
+            curl -s -X DELETE -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" "${API}/releases/${existing_id}"
+          fi
+
+          body_json=$(jq -Rs '.' < "${{ steps.changelog.outputs.path }}")
+          payload=$(jq -n --arg tag "$TAG" --arg name "unraid-podman ${TAG}" --argjson body "$body_json" --argjson prerelease "$prerelease" \
+            '{tag_name: $tag, name: $name, body: $body, draft: false, prerelease: $prerelease}')
+
+          release_id=$(curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+            -d "$payload" "${API}/releases" | jq -r '.id')
+          if [ -z "$release_id" ] || [ "$release_id" = "null" ]; then
+            echo "!! Could not create release (no id in response)" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "==> Created release id=$release_id, uploading assets..."
+
+          for f in dist/*.txz dist/*.sha256 dist/*.md5 dist/CHECKSUMS.sha256 dist/CHECKSUMS.md5 plugin/podman.plg; do
+            name=$(basename "$f")
+            code=$(curl -s -o /tmp/upload_resp.json -w '%{http_code}' -X POST \
+              -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" \
+              -F "attachment=@${f};filename=${name}" \
+              "${API}/releases/${release_id}/assets?name=${name}")
+            if [ "$code" != "201" ]; then
+              echo "!! Upload failed ($code) for $name:" >&2
+              cat /tmp/upload_resp.json >&2
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            echo "   uploaded: $name"
+          done
+
+          echo "==> Published: https://${GITEA_HOST}/${GITEA_REPO}/releases/tag/${TAG}"

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,52 @@ see [docs/ARCHITECTURE.md](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md#52-build-strategie)).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.1.3] - 2026-07-12
+
+### Added
+- Settings: a "Podman Service" card with live status plus Start/Stop/Restart,
+  each shown in a progress log modal — diagnosing and recovering a podman
+  that failed to start no longer needs SSH/terminal access at all.
+- Settings: "Format a Disk for Podman Storage", for a single-disk system
+  with no cache pool. Only ever lists disks with no existing partition,
+  filesystem, or RAID/ZFS membership signature, and never the Unraid boot
+  flash — both excluded by multiple independent checks, not just one.
+  Formatted disks are remounted by UUID on every boot.
+
+### Fixed
+- `STORAGE_PATH` was never auto-created, even when its parent (a real,
+  already-mounted cache pool) existed — only failed if genuinely nothing
+  was mounted at all. Root cause of a real "cannot reach the Podman API
+  socket" report on a fresh install with a perfectly normal cache pool.
+- Cache-busting for the WebUI's own JS/CSS never actually worked, at all,
+  the entire time — Unraid runs `.page` PHP through `eval()`, and
+  `__DIR__` inside `eval()`'d code resolves to the *eval() call site's*
+  directory, not the plugin's. Every "hard refresh" this project's own
+  docs/commits ever recommended only worked because Ctrl+Shift+R bypasses
+  the browser cache directly, independent of this (broken) mechanism.
+- Settings' service status chip showed "Not running" immediately after a
+  successful Start, because the "is it running" check only recognized
+  `rc.podman status`'s own wording, not `start`/`stop`/`restart`'s.
+- The Podman Service log showed `rc.podman`'s multi-line output as one
+  run-together paragraph (missing `white-space: pre-wrap` on the pane
+  itself, not just its per-line children).
+
+## [0.1.1] - 2026-07-12
+
+### Fixed
+- `plugin/podman.plg`'s `<URL>`/`<MD5>` entity values were split across their
+  own lines (`<URL>\n&baseURL;/...\n</URL>`) — Unraid's plugin manager passes
+  that text straight into a `wget ... -O <name> <url>` shell command without
+  trimming it, so the leading newline broke the command in two: `wget` saw no
+  URL argument at all, and the URL text ran on the next line as its own
+  (failing) shell command. Every real Unraid plugin (verified against
+  `unassigned.devices.plg` on a live host) keeps `<URL>...</URL>` on one
+  line — found by running the plugin installer's own CLI (`scripts/plugin
+  install`) directly on a real Unraid host and reading its raw output,
+  rather than trusting the webGUI's summarized install log.
+
+## [0.1.0] - 2026-07-12
+
 ### Added
 - Initial repository scaffolding: directory structure, documentation skeleton,
   CI workflow stubs, and community health files.

plugin/event/disks_mounted

@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@
 # blocked on podman's full startup sequence (preflight, storage mount,
 # service start, autostart chain) — mirrors how unassigned.devices
 # backgrounds its own longer-running "started" hook.
+#
+# podman-mount-managed-disk.sh runs first, still within the same
+# backgrounded subshell: it's a no-op unless the WebUI's "Format a Disk
+# for Podman Storage" flow (ajax/disks.php) was ever used, and rc.podman
+# start's own storage step needs that disk already mounted at
+# $STORAGE_PATH to succeed — see that script's own header comment.
 # =============================================================================
 
-/etc/rc.d/rc.podman start > /dev/null 2>&1 & disown
+(/usr/local/sbin/podman-mount-managed-disk.sh; /etc/rc.d/rc.podman start) > /dev/null 2>&1 & disown

plugin/podman.plg

@@ -50,20 +50,26 @@
 <!DOCTYPE PLUGIN [
 <!ENTITY name       "podman">
 <!ENTITY author     "unraid-podman contributors">
-<!ENTITY version    "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY version    "0.1.3">
 <!-- "Podman" (no parent) — Podman.page declares Menu="Podman", making it
      its own top-level nav tab next to Docker/VMs, not nested under
      Settings — see webui/plugins/podman/Podman.page. -->
 <!ENTITY launch     "Podman">
-<!ENTITY github     "OWNER/unraid-podman">
+<!-- This project is hosted on a self-hosted Gitea instance, not GitHub —
-<!ENTITY gitURL     "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/&github;/main">
+     &github; is kept as the entity name (widely referenced below) but
+     holds the Gitea owner/repo slug; gitURL/supportURL/baseURL all point
+     at git.mp-mueller.de using Gitea's own raw-file and release-asset URL
+     conventions (structurally the same shape as GitHub's, different host
+     and raw-file path segment: /raw/branch/<ref>/ instead of /<ref>/). -->
+<!ENTITY github     "magges/unraid-podman">
+<!ENTITY gitURL     "https://git.mp-mueller.de/&github;/raw/branch/main">
 <!ENTITY pluginURL  "&gitURL;/plugin/podman.plg">
-<!ENTITY supportURL "https://github.com/&github;/discussions">
+<!ENTITY supportURL "https://git.mp-mueller.de/&github;/issues">
 
 <!-- Release asset base — matches scripts/release.sh's RELEASE_BASE_URL
      exactly; both must agree since release.sh is what publishes the
      packages this URL is expected to find. -->
-<!ENTITY baseURL "https://github.com/&github;/releases/download/v&version;">
+<!ENTITY baseURL "https://git.mp-mueller.de/magges/unraid-podman/releases/download/v0.1.3">
 
 <!-- Slackware package naming components — must match versions.env's
      PKG_ARCH/PKG_BUILD/PKG_TAG (see that file). Kept as entities here so
@@ -80,33 +86,33 @@
      fail to download anything — that is intentional; there is nothing to
      install before the first tagged release. -->
 
-<!ENTITY podman_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY podman_txz_version "6.0.1">
-<!ENTITY podman_txz_file    "podman-&podman_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY podman_txz_file    "podman-6.0.1-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY podman_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY podman_txz_md5     "f294f9eaf7139b43d153cafaed34de48">
 
-<!ENTITY conmon_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY conmon_txz_version "2.2.1">
-<!ENTITY conmon_txz_file    "conmon-&conmon_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY conmon_txz_file    "conmon-2.2.1-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY conmon_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY conmon_txz_md5     "e1e3b4b15398d965ee4efdfac93b1867">
 
-<!ENTITY crun_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY crun_txz_version "1.28">
-<!ENTITY crun_txz_file    "crun-&crun_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY crun_txz_file    "crun-1.28-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY crun_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY crun_txz_md5     "891914e9448a960dd28a9d1ea67e63b3">
 
-<!ENTITY netavark_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY netavark_txz_version "2.0.0">
-<!ENTITY netavark_txz_file    "netavark-&netavark_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY netavark_txz_file    "netavark-2.0.0-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY netavark_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY netavark_txz_md5     "ef8509cc51d24ef1cae4d96f1fd92a01">
 
-<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_version "2.0.0">
-<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_file    "aardvark-dns-&aardvark_dns_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_file    "aardvark-dns-2.0.0-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY aardvark_dns_txz_md5     "2a5a5c2e3684b4130edd4b128484908f">
 
-<!ENTITY passt_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY passt_txz_version "git6ef3d1c">
-<!ENTITY passt_txz_file    "passt-&passt_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY passt_txz_file    "passt-git6ef3d1c-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY passt_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY passt_txz_md5     "970a8f15257e5861933ae58459da2bd4">
 
-<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_version "1.17">
-<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_file    "fuse-overlayfs-&fuse_overlayfs_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_file    "fuse-overlayfs-1.17-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY fuse_overlayfs_txz_md5     "11f5aefe0372427ae194017f54af5d47">
 
 <!-- catatonit and nftables are runtime dependencies this plugin ships,
      not upstream podman-ecosystem components — see packages/catatonit/
@@ -114,20 +120,20 @@
      container init; netavark's only viable firewall driver, since it
      dropped iptables in 2.0 and Unraid has neither `nft` nor
      systemd/dbus for firewalld) and why neither is built from source. -->
-<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_version "0.2.1">
-<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_file    "catatonit-&catatonit_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_file    "catatonit-0.2.1-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY catatonit_txz_md5     "e17faf29b0c618a73def017583697aca">
 
-<!ENTITY nftables_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY nftables_txz_version "1.0.1">
-<!ENTITY nftables_txz_file    "nftables-&nftables_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY nftables_txz_file    "nftables-1.0.1-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY nftables_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY nftables_txz_md5     "d9bb93b0bdc061681ffbd42a243bb5fc">
 
 <!-- podman-compose is the external Compose provider `podman compose`
      shells out to (see packages/podman-compose/README.md) — without it
      every Compose panel action fails outright on a clean install. -->
-<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_version "0.0.0">
+<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_version "1.6.0">
-<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_file    "podman-compose-&podman_compose_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_file    "podman-compose-1.6.0-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY podman_compose_txz_md5     "2d7e21b071d40ab3518acbec67967777">
 
 <!-- unraid-podman is this project's OWN scaffolding package (rc.podman,
      sbin/ scripts, event/ hooks, config templates — see
@@ -135,9 +141,9 @@
      version always equals the plugin's own &version; — see
      packages/unraid-podman/unraid-podman.SlackBuild, which reads it
      straight out of this very file rather than tracking it twice. -->
-<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_version "&version;">
+<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_version "0.1.3">
-<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_file    "unraid-podman-&unraid_podman_txz_version;-&pkgArch;-&pkgBuild;&pkgTag;.txz">
+<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_file    "unraid-podman-0.1.3-x86_64-1_unraidpodman.txz">
-<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_md5     "00000000000000000000000000000000">
+<!ENTITY unraid_podman_txz_md5     "ceeb31f08ad0df62dee1b6a6f1ed3bba">
 ]>
 
 <PLUGIN name="&name;"
@@ -195,93 +201,53 @@ fi
 -->
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&podman_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&podman_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&podman_txz_file;
+<MD5>&podman_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&podman_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&conmon_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&conmon_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&conmon_txz_file;
+<MD5>&conmon_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&conmon_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&crun_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&crun_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&crun_txz_file;
+<MD5>&crun_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&crun_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&netavark_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&netavark_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&netavark_txz_file;
+<MD5>&netavark_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&netavark_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&aardvark_dns_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&aardvark_dns_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&aardvark_dns_txz_file;
+<MD5>&aardvark_dns_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&aardvark_dns_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&passt_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&passt_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&passt_txz_file;
+<MD5>&passt_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&passt_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&fuse_overlayfs_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&fuse_overlayfs_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&fuse_overlayfs_txz_file;
+<MD5>&fuse_overlayfs_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&fuse_overlayfs_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&catatonit_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&catatonit_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&catatonit_txz_file;
+<MD5>&catatonit_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&catatonit_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&nftables_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&nftables_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&nftables_txz_file;
+<MD5>&nftables_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&nftables_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&podman_compose_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&podman_compose_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&podman_compose_txz_file;
+<MD5>&podman_compose_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&podman_compose_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <!--
@@ -290,12 +256,8 @@ fi
   packages/unraid-podman/README.md.
 -->
 <FILE Name="/boot/config/plugins/&name;/backup/packages/&version;/&unraid_podman_txz_file;" Run="upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall">
-<URL>
+<URL>&baseURL;/&unraid_podman_txz_file;</URL>
-&baseURL;/&unraid_podman_txz_file;
+<MD5>&unraid_podman_txz_md5;</MD5>
-</URL>
-<MD5>
-&unraid_podman_txz_md5;
-</MD5>
 </FILE>
 
 <!--

plugin/sbin/podman-common.sh

@@ -168,6 +168,33 @@ podman_storage_path_is_safe() {
   return 0
 }
 
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# podman_path_has_real_mount_ancestor <path>
+#
+# True if <path> itself, or its nearest EXISTING ancestor directory, lives
+# on a different filesystem than / (root) — i.e. something is genuinely
+# mounted along this path (a cache pool, a dedicated disk, ...), even if
+# the exact leaf directory doesn't exist yet. False only when nothing real
+# is mounted anywhere along the path (root/RAM all the way up), which is
+# the one case that's actually unsafe to silently `mkdir -p` into.
+#
+# This exists because this project never auto-created $STORAGE_PATH
+# itself (only podman.img inside it) — found live: a perfectly normal,
+# already-mounted cache pool still failed preflight/storage-create with
+# "does not exist", because the pool's own .../system/podman subdirectory
+# had simply never been created. "Does the exact leaf directory exist" was
+# always the wrong question; "is a real filesystem mounted somewhere along
+# this path" is the one that actually matters.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+podman_path_has_real_mount_ancestor() {
+  local path="$1"
+  local parent="$path"
+  while [ ! -d "$parent" ] && [ "$parent" != "/" ]; do
+    parent="$(dirname "$parent")"
+  done
+  [ "$parent" != "/" ] && [ "$(stat -c %d "$parent")" != "$(stat -c %d /)" ]
+}
+
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # podman_require_command <binary>
 #

plugin/sbin/podman-mount-managed-disk.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# =============================================================================
+# plugin/sbin/podman-mount-managed-disk.sh
+#
+# Remounts, on every boot, a disk the WebUI's "Format a Disk for Podman
+# Storage" flow (webui/plugins/podman/ajax/disks.php's "format" action)
+# formatted and mounted for a single-disk system with no cache pool —
+# that disk is deliberately outside Unraid's own array/cache pool
+# management (it's just a plain XFS filesystem on an otherwise-unassigned
+# disk), so nothing else on the system would remount it after a reboot.
+#
+# Called from plugin/event/disks_mounted, BEFORE rc.podman start, so
+# $STORAGE_PATH (pointed at this disk's mountpoint via Settings) is a real
+# mounted filesystem by the time podman-storage.sh's `create`/`mount`
+# steps run — see that script's "does not exist or is not mounted" check.
+#
+# Does nothing (exit 0) if the plugin was never used to format a disk —
+# /boot/config/plugins/podman/managed-disk.cfg only exists after that flow
+# has actually run at least once.
+# =============================================================================
+
+set -eu
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+# shellcheck source=./podman-common.sh
+. "$SCRIPT_DIR/podman-common.sh"
+
+MANAGED_DISK_CFG="$PODMAN_BOOT_DIR/managed-disk.cfg"
+[ -f "$MANAGED_DISK_CFG" ] || exit 0
+
+UUID=""
+MOUNTPOINT=""
+# shellcheck source=/dev/null
+. "$MANAGED_DISK_CFG"
+
+if [ -z "$UUID" ] || [ -z "$MOUNTPOINT" ]; then
+  podman_log_error "mount-managed-disk: $MANAGED_DISK_CFG is missing UUID/MOUNTPOINT, skipping"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+if mountpoint -q "$MOUNTPOINT" 2> /dev/null; then
+  podman_log "mount-managed-disk: $MOUNTPOINT already mounted"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+mkdir -p "$MOUNTPOINT"
+if mount "UUID=$UUID" "$MOUNTPOINT"; then
+  podman_log "mount-managed-disk: mounted UUID=$UUID at $MOUNTPOINT"
+else
+  podman_log_error "mount-managed-disk: failed to mount UUID=$UUID at $MOUNTPOINT (disk removed/renamed?)"
+fi

plugin/sbin/podman-preflight.sh

@@ -75,6 +75,14 @@ elif [ -d "$STORAGE_PATH" ]; then
   else
     fail "STORAGE_PATH ($STORAGE_PATH) does not appear to be on a mounted filesystem"
   fi
+elif podman_path_has_real_mount_ancestor "$STORAGE_PATH"; then
+  # The leaf directory doesn't exist yet, but a real filesystem IS mounted
+  # somewhere along its path (e.g. the cache pool itself) — podman-storage.sh
+  # create will mkdir -p it. Not a failure; see that check's own comment
+  # for the live bug this used to cause (a normal, already-mounted cache
+  # pool failing preflight just because its .../system/podman subdirectory
+  # had never been created).
+  ok "STORAGE_PATH ($STORAGE_PATH) doesn't exist yet, but resolves onto a mounted filesystem — will be created"
 else
   fail "STORAGE_PATH ($STORAGE_PATH) does not exist — is the configured cache pool/disk present and started?"
 fi

plugin/sbin/podman-storage.sh

@@ -46,9 +46,13 @@ cmd_create() {
   fi
 
   if [ ! -d "$STORAGE_PATH" ]; then
-    podman_log_error "storage: $STORAGE_PATH does not exist or is not mounted."
+    if ! podman_path_has_real_mount_ancestor "$STORAGE_PATH"; then
-    podman_log_error "storage: check that the configured cache pool/disk is present before starting podman."
+      podman_log_error "storage: $STORAGE_PATH does not exist or is not mounted."
-    return 1
+      podman_log_error "storage: check that the configured cache pool/disk is present before starting podman."
+      return 1
+    fi
+    podman_log "storage: $STORAGE_PATH doesn't exist yet under an already-mounted filesystem — creating it"
+    mkdir -p "$STORAGE_PATH"
   fi
 
   # Free space check: refuse to create an image bigger than what's actually

scripts/lib/slackbuild-common.sh

@@ -173,6 +173,23 @@ sb_make_package() {
   find "$PKG" -type f \( -perm -u+x -o -name '*.so*' \) -exec sh -c \
     'file "$1" | grep -q ELF && strip --strip-unneeded "$1" 2>/dev/null || true' _ {} \;
 
+  # Reproducible builds: Slackware's own makepkg already sorts its file
+  # list (LC_COLLATE=C sort) before archiving, so member ORDER is already
+  # deterministic — but it only clamps file mtimes in the resulting tar
+  # when $SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is set (verified by reading a real
+  # /sbin/makepkg: `if [ -n "${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH}" ]; then MTIME=
+  # "--clamp-mtime --mtime=@${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH}"; fi`). Without it, every
+  # separate build run stamps freshly-compiled files with its own wall-clock
+  # time, so two builds of the *same* source produce byte-different .txz
+  # files — which is exactly what broke release.yml's "rebuild in CI and
+  # verify it matches the checksums committed in podman.plg" step (found
+  # live: aardvark-dns's checksum differed between two separate Gitea
+  # Actions runs of the identical tagged commit). Deriving it from the
+  # repo's last commit time (not `date`/a random per-build value) keeps it
+  # stable across any number of rebuilds of the same commit, while still
+  # changing whenever the source actually does.
+  export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH="${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH:-$(cd "$CWD/../.." && git log -1 --format=%ct 2>/dev/null || echo 0)}"
+
   local pkg_file="$PRGNAM-$version-$arch-$build$tag.txz"
   ( cd "$PKG" && makepkg --linkadd y --chown y "$OUTPUT/$pkg_file" )
 

scripts/release.sh

@@ -45,12 +45,15 @@ if ! [[ "$NEW_VERSION" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-# The GitHub Release tag/URL this release's assets will be published under.
+# The release tag/URL this release's assets will be published under. This
-# Must match whatever .github/workflows/release.yml actually creates the
+# project is hosted on a self-hosted Gitea instance (git.mp-mueller.de),
-# release as (tag "v<version>") — see that workflow for the release job.
+# not GitHub — REPO_SLUG/RELEASE_HOST are overridable via env vars for a
+# future move, but default to where this repo actually lives today. Must
+# match plugin/podman.plg's &baseURL; entity exactly (see that file).
 RELEASE_TAG="v$NEW_VERSION"
-REPO_SLUG="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY:-OWNER/unraid-podman}"
+REPO_SLUG="${GITEA_REPOSITORY:-${GITHUB_REPOSITORY:-magges/unraid-podman}}"
-RELEASE_BASE_URL="https://github.com/$REPO_SLUG/releases/download/$RELEASE_TAG"
+RELEASE_HOST="${RELEASE_HOST:-git.mp-mueller.de}"
+RELEASE_BASE_URL="https://$RELEASE_HOST/$REPO_SLUG/releases/download/$RELEASE_TAG"
 
 # Component name -> the entity name prefix used in podman.plg. Must match
 # plugin/podman.plg's <!ENTITY NAME_txz_...> declarations exactly.
@@ -142,7 +145,8 @@ echo "      git add plugin/podman.plg CHANGELOG.md"
 echo "      git commit -m \"release: v$NEW_VERSION\""
 echo "      git tag $RELEASE_TAG"
 echo "      git push && git push origin $RELEASE_TAG"
-echo "==> Pushing the tag triggers .github/workflows/release.yml, which"
+echo "==> .github/workflows/release.yml (softprops/action-gh-release) only"
-echo "==> rebuilds artifacts in CI (for reproducibility/provenance) and"
+echo "==> knows how to publish to GitHub — this repo lives on Gitea"
-echo "==> publishes the GitHub Release with dist/*.txz + CHECKSUMS.* + the"
+echo "==> ($RELEASE_HOST), so for now, publish the Gitea Release and attach"
-echo "==> updated podman.plg attached."
+echo "==> dist/*.txz + CHECKSUMS.* + the updated podman.plg to it by hand"
+echo "==> (or via the Gitea API) after pushing the tag."

webui/plugins/podman/Podman.page

@@ -23,14 +23,28 @@ Icon="podman"
  * Cache-busts every static asset with its own on-disk mtime. Unraid's
  * webserver sends no explicit no-cache headers for /plugins/ static
  * files, so without this, browsers can keep serving a stale app.js/
- * podman.css for a long time after a plugin update — verified live: a
+ * podman.css for a long time after a plugin update.
- * bugfix to app.js's CSRF handling silently kept failing in a real
+ *
- * browser after redeploy until this was added, even though the deployed
+ * Deliberately a hardcoded absolute path, NOT __DIR__ — Unraid's own
- * file on disk was byte-for-byte correct.
+ * PageBuilder runs every .page file's PHP through eval() (see
+ * webGui/include/DefaultPageLayout/evalContent.php: "eval($evalContent)"),
+ * and __DIR__/__FILE__ inside eval()'d code resolve to the eval() CALL
+ * SITE (that file's own directory), not to Podman.page's real location —
+ * a standard PHP eval() gotcha. Confirmed live: this made
+ * podman_asset_version() return '0' for every single asset, always,
+ * completely independent of any browser or PHP-FPM caching (ruled both
+ * out first: neither a hard-reload nor a php-fpm restart changed the
+ * result) — the version query string was never actually cache-busting
+ * anything all session; every "hard refresh fixed it" moment was the
+ * browser's own Ctrl+Shift+R bypass, not this mechanism. The rest of
+ * this codebase already hardcodes this same install path elsewhere
+ * (e.g. include/Config.php's $bootDir, plugin/podman.plg's event hook
+ * paths) — Unraid plugins always install to /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/
+ * <name>, so this isn't a new class of fragility.
  */
 function podman_asset_version(string $relPath): string
 {
-    $full = __DIR__ . $relPath;
+    $full = '/usr/local/emhttp/plugins/podman' . $relPath;
     return is_file($full) ? (string) filemtime($full) : '0';
 }
 ?>
@@ -236,6 +250,23 @@ function podman_asset_version(string $relPath): string
         <button class="podman-btn podman-btn-primary" id="settings-save-btn">Save Settings</button>
       </div>
       <div class="podman-grid">
+        <div class="podman-card">
+          <div class="podman-card-head">
+            <div><h2>Podman Service</h2><div class="sub">Start, stop, restart, or check the podman.sock backend — no terminal needed.</div></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="podman-card-pad">
+            <div class="podman-service-row">
+              <span class="podman-chip podman-chip-neutral" id="settings-service-chip"><span class="d"></span>Checking…</span>
+              <button class="podman-btn" id="settings-service-status-btn">Refresh Status</button>
+              <button class="podman-btn podman-btn-primary" id="settings-service-start-btn">&#9654; Start Podman</button>
+              <button class="podman-btn podman-btn-ghost podman-btn-danger" id="settings-service-stop-btn">&#9632; Stop Podman</button>
+              <button class="podman-btn" id="settings-service-restart-btn">&#8635; Restart Podman</button>
+            </div>
+            <div class="hint">Stop/Restart first stop all running containers (each gets its own configured grace period) — not just the API service.</div>
+            <div class="podman-log-pane" id="settings-service-log" style="display:none;"></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+
         <div class="podman-card">
           <div class="podman-card-head">
             <div><h2>Storage</h2><div class="sub">Where podman keeps images, containers and volumes on disk.</div></div>
@@ -247,6 +278,13 @@ function podman_asset_version(string $relPath): string
               <div class="hint">Cache pool or dedicated disk — never a path under /mnt/user (FUSE).</div>
             </div>
           </div>
+          <div class="podman-field-row">
+            <label>No cache pool?</label>
+            <div>
+              <button class="podman-btn" id="settings-format-disk-btn">Format a Disk for Podman Storage…</button>
+              <div class="hint">Formats an unused disk with XFS and mounts it, for a single-disk system with no cache pool set up yet.</div>
+            </div>
+          </div>
           <div class="podman-field-row">
             <label for="settings-storage-size">podman.img size</label>
             <div>

webui/plugins/podman/ajax/disks.php

@@ -0,0 +1,289 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * ajax/disks.php
+ *
+ * Backs the Settings panel's "Format a Disk for Podman Storage" flow — for
+ * a single-disk system with no cache pool set up yet, where podman's own
+ * storage path (see include/Config.php's $storagePath default,
+ * /mnt/cache/system/podman) has nowhere real to live, and podman never
+ * fully starts as a result (found live: a fresh install on a system with
+ * no cache pool failed with "cannot reach the Podman API socket" because
+ * podman-storage.sh's `create` step refuses to run against a path that
+ * isn't an actual mounted filesystem — see that script's header comment
+ * for why /mnt/user/... FUSE paths don't work either).
+ *
+ * This is the one place in the plugin that formats a physical disk —
+ * deliberately narrow and defensive: every candidate the "format" action
+ * is asked to touch is re-derived server-side from the same safe-listing
+ * logic "list_candidates" uses, never trusted from the request alone, and
+ * only ever a whole, currently-unmounted, non-array disk with no existing
+ * partitions is eligible in the first place.
+ *
+ * Actions (?action=...):
+ *   list_candidates  GET  -> [{device, sizeBytes, sizeFormatted, model, hasData}, ...]
+ *   format           POST {"device": "/dev/sdc"} -> {"mountPath": "/mnt/disks/podman-storage"}
+ */
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+require __DIR__ . '/../include/bootstrap.php';
+
+const MOUNT_PATH = '/mnt/disks/podman-storage';
+const MANAGED_DISK_CFG = '/boot/config/plugins/podman/managed-disk.cfg';
+
+$action = $_GET['action'] ?? '';
+
+switch ($action) {
+    case 'list_candidates':
+        podman_json_response(list_candidate_disks());
+        break;
+
+    case 'format':
+        $body = podman_read_json_body();
+        $device = (string) ($body['device'] ?? '');
+        podman_json_response(format_disk($device));
+        break;
+
+    default:
+        podman_json_error("Unknown action '{$action}'", 400);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Runs a command and returns [exitCode, stdout+stderr combined]. Every
+ * caller here passes a fixed argv array (never a shell string built from
+ * request input), so there is no injection surface even before the
+ * device-path validation in format_disk() below.
+ *
+ * @param array<int,string> $argv
+ * @return array{0:int,1:string}
+ */
+function run(array $argv, int $timeoutSeconds = 30): array
+{
+    $descriptors = [1 => ['pipe', 'w'], 2 => ['pipe', 'w']];
+    $process = proc_open($argv, $descriptors, $pipes);
+    if (!is_resource($process)) {
+        return [127, "could not start {$argv[0]}"];
+    }
+    stream_set_timeout($pipes[1], $timeoutSeconds);
+    $out = (stream_get_contents($pipes[1]) ?: '') . (stream_get_contents($pipes[2]) ?: '');
+    fclose($pipes[1]);
+    fclose($pipes[2]);
+    $code = proc_close($process);
+    return [$code, trim($out)];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Every whole disk (not partition) libpod's host isn't already using —
+ * mounted anywhere (itself or any partition), part of Unraid's own
+ * array/cache pool (cross-checked against /var/local/emhttp/disks.ini,
+ * the same state file Unraid's own array management writes — the boot
+ * flash device is covered by this same check, since Unraid lists it there
+ * too), or the disk backing the currently-booted root/flash filesystem.
+ *
+ * @return array<int,array<string,mixed>>
+ */
+function list_candidate_disks(): array
+{
+    // Nested partitions come back automatically as a "children" array in
+    // -J's JSON tree — CHILDREN is not a real -o column (lsblk itself
+    // rejects it: "unknown column: CHILDREN"; verified live against a
+    // real host's lsblk). LABEL is included specifically to catch the
+    // Unraid boot flash drive, which FAT-labels itself "UNRAID" — see the
+    // safety note below for why that check exists at all.
+    [$code, $out] = run(['lsblk', '-J', '-b', '-p', '-o', 'NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,MODEL,LABEL'], 10);
+    if ($code !== 0) {
+        podman_json_error('Could not list block devices: ' . $out, 500);
+    }
+    $tree = json_decode($out, true);
+    if (!is_array($tree) || !isset($tree['blockdevices'])) {
+        podman_json_error('Unexpected lsblk output', 500);
+    }
+
+    $arrayDevices = unraid_array_device_names();
+
+    $candidates = [];
+    foreach ($tree['blockdevices'] as $dev) {
+        if (($dev['type'] ?? '') !== 'disk') {
+            continue;
+        }
+        $name = (string) ($dev['name'] ?? '');
+        $baseName = basename($name);
+        if (in_array($baseName, $arrayDevices, true)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        // zram devices report TYPE "disk" too (RAM-backed, not persistent
+        // storage — pointless and misleading to offer for this) and an
+        // empty card-reader slot with no card inserted reports as a real
+        // "disk" at 0 bytes; both are excluded outright rather than left
+        // for the size-based hasData check below.
+        if (str_starts_with($baseName, 'zram') || (int) ($dev['size'] ?? 0) <= 0) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (device_or_children_mounted($dev)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (device_or_children_labeled_unraid($dev)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        // Deliberately excludes (not just warns about) ANY disk that
+        // already has a filesystem, partition, or other signature on it
+        // or any of its partitions — not just ones lsblk reports as
+        // currently mounted. Found live: a real host's cache pool disks
+        // showed up here as "safe" with only a soft warning, because
+        // they're ZFS pool members (fstype "zfs_member"/partition
+        // present) rather than plain mounts, so the earlier
+        // mounted-only check missed them entirely — the same blind spot
+        // that also let the Unraid boot USB stick's own partition
+        // through (FAT, not reported as "mounted" by lsblk either). A
+        // disk being reused for podman storage must be genuinely blank;
+        // asking a user to wipe it themselves first is a small price for
+        // this being impossible to get wrong.
+        if (!empty($dev['fstype']) || !empty($dev['children'])) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        $candidates[] = [
+            'device' => $name,
+            'sizeBytes' => (int) ($dev['size'] ?? 0),
+            'sizeFormatted' => podman_format_bytes((int) ($dev['size'] ?? 0)),
+            'model' => trim((string) ($dev['model'] ?? '')) ?: null,
+        ];
+    }
+
+    return $candidates;
+}
+
+function device_or_children_mounted(array $dev): bool
+{
+    if (!empty($dev['mountpoint'])) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    foreach ($dev['children'] ?? [] as $child) {
+        if (device_or_children_mounted($child)) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Catches the Unraid boot flash drive specifically: it FAT-labels itself
+ * "UNRAID" (verified live: `blkid` on a real host's boot partition shows
+ * LABEL_FATBOOT="UNRAID" LABEL="UNRAID") and — on at least one real,
+ * modern Unraid setup — /boot is actually backed by a ZFS dataset
+ * ("flash/boot"), not a direct mount of that partition, so it does NOT
+ * show up as "mounted" via lsblk's own MOUNTPOINT column at all. This
+ * label check is a second, independent layer specifically because that
+ * gap meant the boot drive briefly passed every other check here during
+ * development — never rely on a single signal for something this
+ * destructive.
+ */
+function device_or_children_labeled_unraid(array $dev): bool
+{
+    if (strtoupper(trim((string) ($dev['label'] ?? ''))) === 'UNRAID') {
+        return true;
+    }
+    foreach ($dev['children'] ?? [] as $child) {
+        if (device_or_children_labeled_unraid($child)) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * @return array<int,string> bare device names ("sda", "nvme0n1", ...) Unraid
+ *   itself has assigned to the array or a cache pool, read from the same
+ *   /var/local/emhttp/disks.ini Unraid's own array management writes —
+ *   NOT parsed/guessed, so this stays correct across whatever array
+ *   layout a given host actually has.
+ */
+function unraid_array_device_names(): array
+{
+    $path = '/var/local/emhttp/disks.ini';
+    if (!is_readable($path)) {
+        return [];
+    }
+    $ini = @parse_ini_file($path, true);
+    if (!is_array($ini)) {
+        return [];
+    }
+    $names = [];
+    foreach ($ini as $section) {
+        if (is_array($section) && !empty($section['device'])) {
+            $names[] = basename((string) $section['device']);
+        }
+    }
+    return $names;
+}
+
+/** @return array<string,mixed> */
+function format_disk(string $device): array
+{
+    if (!preg_match('#^/dev/(sd[a-z]+|nvme\d+n\d+|vd[a-z]+)$#', $device)) {
+        podman_json_error('Invalid or unsupported device path', 400);
+    }
+
+    $allowed = array_column(list_candidate_disks(), 'device');
+    if (!in_array($device, $allowed, true)) {
+        podman_json_error("{$device} is not a currently-eligible disk (already in use, part of the array, or not found) — refusing to format it.", 400);
+    }
+
+    $partDevice = preg_match('#nvme\d+n\d+$#', $device) ? "{$device}p1" : "{$device}1";
+
+    [$code, $out] = run(['wipefs', '-a', $device], 30);
+    if ($code !== 0) {
+        podman_json_error("wipefs failed: {$out}", 500);
+    }
+
+    [$code, $out] = run(['parted', '-s', $device, 'mklabel', 'gpt', 'mkpart', 'primary', '1MiB', '100%'], 30);
+    if ($code !== 0) {
+        podman_json_error("parted failed: {$out}", 500);
+    }
+
+    run(['partprobe', $device], 10);
+    // Partition device nodes can take a moment to appear after partprobe.
+    for ($i = 0; $i < 20 && !file_exists($partDevice); $i++) {
+        usleep(250000);
+    }
+    if (!file_exists($partDevice)) {
+        podman_json_error("Partition {$partDevice} did not appear after partitioning {$device}", 500);
+    }
+
+    [$code, $out] = run(['mkfs.xfs', '-f', '-n', 'ftype=1', '-L', 'podmanstorage', $partDevice], 60);
+    if ($code !== 0) {
+        podman_json_error("mkfs.xfs failed: {$out}", 500);
+    }
+
+    [$code, $uuid] = run(['blkid', '-s', 'UUID', '-o', 'value', $partDevice], 10);
+    $uuid = trim($uuid);
+    if ($code !== 0 || $uuid === '') {
+        podman_json_error('Could not determine filesystem UUID after formatting', 500);
+    }
+
+    if (!is_dir(MOUNT_PATH) && !mkdir(MOUNT_PATH, 0755, true) && !is_dir(MOUNT_PATH)) {
+        podman_json_error('Could not create ' . MOUNT_PATH, 500);
+    }
+    [$code, $out] = run(['mount', 'UUID=' . $uuid, MOUNT_PATH], 15);
+    if ($code !== 0) {
+        podman_json_error("mount failed: {$out}", 500);
+    }
+
+    // Persisted so plugin/sbin/podman-mount-managed-disk.sh (called from
+    // the disks_mounted event hook, before rc.podman start) can remount
+    // this same disk by UUID on every future boot — nothing else on the
+    // system knows about this disk, since it's deliberately outside
+    // Unraid's own array/cache pool management.
+    $cfgDir = dirname(MANAGED_DISK_CFG);
+    if (!is_dir($cfgDir) && !mkdir($cfgDir, 0755, true) && !is_dir($cfgDir)) {
+        podman_json_error('Could not create ' . $cfgDir, 500);
+    }
+    $cfgContent = "# Written by the unraid-podman WebUI (ajax/disks.php) — do not edit by hand.\n"
+        . 'UUID="' . $uuid . "\"\n"
+        . 'MOUNTPOINT="' . MOUNT_PATH . "\"\n";
+    if (file_put_contents(MANAGED_DISK_CFG, $cfgContent, LOCK_EX) === false) {
+        podman_json_error('Formatted and mounted, but could not persist ' . MANAGED_DISK_CFG . ' for future boots', 500);
+    }
+
+    return ['mountPath' => MOUNT_PATH];
+}

webui/plugins/podman/ajax/settings.php

@@ -16,12 +16,18 @@
  *   save            POST {"storagePath": "...", "storageImageSizeGb": 20,
  *                          "enabled": true, "stopTimeoutSeconds": 10}
  *   autostart_save  POST {"names": ["postgres", "nextcloud", ...]}
+ *   service_status  GET  -> {"running": bool, "output": "..."}
+ *   service_start   POST -> {"running": bool, "output": "..."}
+ *   service_stop    POST -> {"running": bool, "output": "..."}
+ *   service_restart POST -> {"running": bool, "output": "..."}
  */
 
 declare(strict_types=1);
 
 require __DIR__ . '/../include/bootstrap.php';
 
+const RC_PODMAN = '/etc/rc.d/rc.podman';
+
 $action = $_GET['action'] ?? '';
 
 switch ($action) {
@@ -45,10 +51,77 @@ switch ($action) {
         podman_json_response(['status' => 'saved']);
         break;
 
+    case 'service_status':
+        podman_json_response(rc_podman('status', 15));
+        break;
+
+    case 'service_start':
+        podman_json_response(rc_podman('start', 120));
+        break;
+
+    case 'service_stop':
+        podman_json_response(rc_podman('stop', 120));
+        break;
+
+    case 'service_restart':
+        podman_json_response(rc_podman('restart', 120));
+        break;
+
     default:
         podman_json_error("Unknown action '{$action}'", 400);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Shells out to /etc/rc.d/rc.podman <verb> — the plugin's own real
+ * start/stop/status script, the SAME one the array-start event hook and
+ * a terminal `rc.podman status` use (see plugin/rc.d/rc.podman's header
+ * comment). This exists specifically so a fresh install where podman
+ * failed to start (e.g. no cache pool configured yet, see
+ * podman-storage.sh's "does not exist or is not mounted" error) can be
+ * diagnosed and retried from the WebUI itself — no SSH/terminal access
+ * needed, which is exactly what was missing when this was first needed
+ * live (a fresh install on a different Unraid box with nobody able to
+ * reach a terminal to run `rc.podman start` by hand).
+ *
+ * @return array{running: bool, output: string}
+ */
+function rc_podman(string $verb, int $timeoutSeconds): array
+{
+    $output = run_rc_podman($verb, $timeoutSeconds);
+
+    // Only `rc.podman status` prints the "service:             running
+    // (pid ..., socket ...)" line this regex looks for — start/stop/
+    // restart's OWN messages are worded differently ("start: already
+    // running (pid ...)", "stop: stopped", ...), so relying on THIS same
+    // regex against THEIR output silently reported "not running" right
+    // after a successful start (found live: a start that printed "start:
+    // already running" turned the status chip red). Always running a
+    // fresh `status` afterward — regardless of which verb was actually
+    // requested — is the one output format this check can trust.
+    $statusOutput = $verb === 'status' ? $output : run_rc_podman('status', 15);
+    $running = (bool) preg_match('/service:\s+running/', $statusOutput);
+
+    return ['running' => $running, 'output' => $output];
+}
+
+function run_rc_podman(string $verb, int $timeoutSeconds): string
+{
+    $descriptors = [1 => ['pipe', 'w'], 2 => ['pipe', 'w']];
+    $process = proc_open([RC_PODMAN, $verb], $descriptors, $pipes);
+    if (!is_resource($process)) {
+        podman_json_error("Could not run rc.podman {$verb}", 500);
+    }
+
+    stream_set_timeout($pipes[1], $timeoutSeconds);
+    $stdout = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]) ?: '';
+    $stderr = stream_get_contents($pipes[2]) ?: '';
+    fclose($pipes[1]);
+    fclose($pipes[2]);
+    proc_close($process);
+
+    return trim($stdout . $stderr);
+}
+
 /** @return array<string,mixed> */
 function settings_get(PodmanConfig $config): array
 {

webui/plugins/podman/javascript/settings.js

@@ -57,6 +57,131 @@
     });
   }
 
+  // --- Podman service status/start/stop/restart ------------------------------
+
+  function renderServiceChip(data) {
+    const chip = P.el('settings-service-chip');
+    chip.className = 'podman-chip ' + (data.running ? 'podman-chip-good' : 'podman-chip-bad');
+    chip.innerHTML = '<span class="d"></span>' + (data.running ? 'Running' : 'Not running');
+  }
+
+  function serviceButtons() {
+    return ['settings-service-status-btn', 'settings-service-start-btn', 'settings-service-stop-btn', 'settings-service-restart-btn']
+      .map(function (id) { return P.el(id); });
+  }
+
+  // "Refresh Status" is quick and read-only — shown inline, no modal needed.
+  function refreshServiceStatus() {
+    const buttons = serviceButtons();
+    buttons.forEach(function (b) { b.disabled = true; });
+    return P.get('settings', 'service_status').then(function (data) {
+      renderServiceChip(data);
+      const log = P.el('settings-service-log');
+      log.style.display = '';
+      log.textContent = data.output || '';
+      log.scrollTop = log.scrollHeight;
+    }).catch(function (err) {
+      P.el('settings-service-chip').className = 'podman-chip podman-chip-bad';
+      P.el('settings-service-chip').innerHTML = '<span class="d"></span>Unknown';
+      P.el('settings-service-log').style.display = '';
+      P.el('settings-service-log').textContent = err.message;
+    }).finally(function () {
+      buttons.forEach(function (b) { b.disabled = false; });
+    });
+  }
+
+  // Start/Stop/Restart can take a while (storage checks, container
+  // stop grace periods, ...) and are exactly the actions someone reaches
+  // for when something's actually wrong — a small log modal (same pattern
+  // as container update checking) shows what's happening instead of
+  // leaving the button just spinning with no feedback.
+  function runServiceAction(action, title) {
+    const buttons = serviceButtons();
+    buttons.forEach(function (b) { b.disabled = true; });
+    const modal = P.openLogModal(title);
+    return P.post('settings', action, {}).then(function (data) {
+      renderServiceChip(data);
+      (data.output || '').split('\n').forEach(function (line) { modal.log(line); });
+      modal.done();
+    }).catch(function (err) {
+      modal.log('Error: ' + err.message);
+      modal.done('Close');
+    }).finally(function () {
+      buttons.forEach(function (b) { b.disabled = false; });
+    });
+  }
+
+  // --- Format a disk for podman storage --------------------------------------
+
+  function openFormatDiskModal() {
+    const backdrop = document.createElement('div');
+    backdrop.className = 'podman-modal-backdrop';
+    backdrop.innerHTML = '' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal" role="dialog" aria-modal="true">' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal-head"><h3>Format a Disk for Podman Storage</h3></div>' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal-body">' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal-field"><label>Disk</label><select id="fd-device"><option value="">Loading…</option></select>' +
+      '<div class="hint" id="fd-warning">Only disks with no existing partitions or filesystem are listed — anything already in use, part of the array/cache, or the boot flash is never shown here.</div></div>' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal-field">' +
+      '<label style="display:flex; align-items:flex-start; gap:8px; font-weight:400;">' +
+      '<input type="checkbox" id="fd-confirm" style="margin-top:3px;">' +
+      '<span>I understand this permanently erases all data on this disk, with no undo.</span>' +
+      '</label></div>' +
+      '</div>' +
+      '<div class="podman-modal-actions">' +
+      '<button type="button" class="podman-btn podman-btn-ghost" data-role="cancel">Cancel</button>' +
+      '<button type="button" class="podman-btn podman-btn-ghost podman-btn-danger" data-role="submit" disabled>Format Disk</button>' +
+      '</div></div>';
+
+    (document.querySelector('.podman-plugin') || document.body).appendChild(backdrop);
+
+    const select = backdrop.querySelector('#fd-device');
+    const warning = backdrop.querySelector('#fd-warning');
+    const confirmBox = backdrop.querySelector('#fd-confirm');
+    const submitBtn = backdrop.querySelector('[data-role="submit"]');
+
+    function updateSubmitEnabled() {
+      submitBtn.disabled = !(select.value && confirmBox.checked);
+    }
+
+    P.get('disks', 'list_candidates').then(function (list) {
+      select.innerHTML = list.length
+        ? list.map(function (d) {
+          return '<option value="' + P.escapeHtml(d.device) + '">' + P.escapeHtml(d.device) +
+            ' — ' + P.escapeHtml(d.sizeFormatted) + (d.model ? ' (' + P.escapeHtml(d.model) + ')' : '') + '</option>';
+        }).join('')
+        : '<option value="">No eligible blank disks found</option>';
+      updateSubmitEnabled();
+    }).catch(function (err) {
+      select.innerHTML = '<option value="">Error loading disks</option>';
+      warning.textContent = err.message;
+    });
+
+    select.addEventListener('change', updateSubmitEnabled);
+    confirmBox.addEventListener('change', updateSubmitEnabled);
+
+    function close() { backdrop.remove(); }
+
+    submitBtn.addEventListener('click', function () {
+      if (!select.value || !confirmBox.checked) return;
+      if (!confirm('Format ' + select.value + '? This cannot be undone.')) return;
+      submitBtn.disabled = true;
+      submitBtn.textContent = 'Formatting…';
+      P.post('disks', 'format', { device: select.value }).then(function (data) {
+        close();
+        P.el('settings-storage-path').value = data.mountPath;
+        alert('Formatted and mounted at ' + data.mountPath + '. Storage path has been filled in below — click "Save Settings" to use it, then Restart Podman.');
+      }).catch(function (err) {
+        submitBtn.disabled = false;
+        submitBtn.textContent = 'Format Disk';
+        alert('Format failed: ' + err.message);
+      });
+    });
+
+    backdrop.querySelector('[data-role="cancel"]').addEventListener('click', close);
+    backdrop.addEventListener('click', function (e) { if (e.target === backdrop) close(); });
+  }
+
   function save() {
     const body = {
       storagePath: P.el('settings-storage-path').value.trim(),
@@ -91,6 +216,19 @@
       saveAutostart();
     });
 
+    P.el('settings-service-status-btn').addEventListener('click', refreshServiceStatus);
+    P.el('settings-service-start-btn').addEventListener('click', function () { runServiceAction('service_start', 'Starting Podman'); });
+    P.el('settings-service-stop-btn').addEventListener('click', function () {
+      if (!confirm('Stop podman? All running containers will be stopped first (each with its own configured grace period).')) return;
+      runServiceAction('service_stop', 'Stopping Podman');
+    });
+    P.el('settings-service-restart-btn').addEventListener('click', function () {
+      if (!confirm('Restart podman? All running containers will be stopped and podman.sock will be unavailable until it comes back up.')) return;
+      runServiceAction('service_restart', 'Restarting Podman');
+    });
+    P.el('settings-format-disk-btn').addEventListener('click', openFormatDiskModal);
+
+    refreshServiceStatus();
     return load();
   }
 

webui/plugins/podman/styles/podman.css

@@ -345,6 +345,12 @@
 .podman-log-pane {
   background: #0f1114; color: #c7ccd4; font-family: var(--font-mono); font-size: 12.3px;
   padding: 14px 16px; height: 400px; overflow-y: auto; line-height: 1.65;
+  /* Settings' service log (and the log modal) set .textContent directly
+     on this element rather than wrapping every line in a child .l div —
+     needs its own white-space here too, or real newlines in rc.podman's
+     output collapse into one run-together line (found live: the whole
+     multi-line `rc.podman status` output rendered as a single paragraph). */
+  white-space: pre-wrap;
 }
 .podman-log-pane .l { white-space: pre-wrap; word-break: break-word; }
 .podman-log-pane .ts { color: #6b7280; }
@@ -418,6 +424,9 @@
 .podman-input-suffix input[type="number"] { max-width: 100px; width: auto; }
 .podman-input-suffix span { font-size: 12px; color: var(--text-dim); }
 
+.podman-service-row { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 10px; flex-wrap: wrap; margin-bottom: 12px; }
+.podman-service-row:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; }
+
 /*
  * Toggle switch — a plain checkbox reads as a leftover form control next
  * to everything else in this panel getting a designed treatment; this