The Docker client (cli) is easy to port - it's mostly just an elaborate frontend to the socket/API. Every other OS just runs Linux in a VM. Focusing on integrating the VM with the usual development workflow is the lowest hanging fruit, provides the best ROI, and is relatively future-proof.

Unless you mean running containers in production - I think OCI is a much better target in that case.

oci is just the image spec.

there's cri which describe a runtime api, but you still need an implementation for it, like containerd, cri-o, etc.

I have been using it for more than a year now in both production and at home. So far so good. Even GPU works out of the box in rootless mode without requiring any special privileges. edit: Redhat in production and Debian at home

I think the question was about using podman on FreeBSD, which is the first time I'm hearing about it:

https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-install-podman-on-freebsd-14-0

Looks like it isn't using virtualization (unlike the crutches forced on users of the two major commercial OSes), which is great.

It can't run Linux based images, you have to find images compatible with FreeBSD or build your own.

I thought FreeBSD has a functional Linux emulation layer?

Yeah podman on linux is so old it's not even a news anymore.

My question was about podman on FreeBSD.