Open-source collaboration is driving innovation in cloud-native developer tools, focusing on simplifying developer workflows for containerized environments.

Red Hat’s contributions to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation — including Podman, Podman Desktop and bootc — aim to support an accessible, community-driven approach to container and Kubernetes development, according to Stevan Le Meur (pictured, left), principal product manager of developer tools at Red Hat.

Red Hat’s Stevan LeMeur and Mark Russell talk with theCUBE about how the company’s latest advancements simplify workflows and enhance Kubernetes integration.

“We bring a new opportunity for the cloud-native space to continue to innovate together,” LeMeur said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for the entire community to innovate all together on these aspects.”

LeMeur and Mark Russell (right), principal product manager at Red Hat, spoke with theCUBE Research’s Rob Strechay and Savannah Peterson at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Red Hat’s latest advancements in cloud-native developer tools, including Podman, Podman Desktop and bootc, aimed at simplifying workflows and enhancing Kubernetes integration. (Disclosure below.)

Sparking innovation with accessible, cloud-native developer tools

For Red Hat, enabling developers to adopt cloud-native technologies more efficiently is a key priority, according to LeMeur, who noted that Podman Desktop, one of Red Hat’s most popular tools, has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. Its enthusiastic embrace underscores the tool’s role in simplifying workflows and increasing productivity.

“We’re very excited and very happy to be able to work on tools that help other developers on the way they are shaping their applications,” LeMeur said. “It’s really about how we can move this forward and continue on this exciting journey.”

Red Hat’s commitment to simplifying developer workflows is evident in tools such as Podman Desktop, which reduces configuration complexity through a user-friendly interface. Meanwhile, bootc technology builds on Red Hat’s experience to make operating system image-building more accessible, according to Russell. By adapting familiar container image-building techniques, bootc allows developers to streamline deployment and management, seamlessly integrating with Kubernetes and container environments.

“Bootc is … based on 10 years of experience and battle-tested code,” Russell said. “But what bootc does is … takes all that experience, but brings it to that docker file container image-building block. Now, you know how to configure, build and update an operating system, too, using all the same tools and techniques.”

Red Hat’s roadmap for Podman emphasizes usability and scalability, with updates that include expanded support for open container initiative artifacts and faster container update speeds, according to Russell. These enhancements are designed to make Podman more adaptable for diverse workloads and improve artifact management within container registries.

“This, hopefully, will raise some ears … the speed of updating containers and the last bandwidth over the wire by only pulling new and changed files when you’re updating a container image,” Russell said. “[For Podman Machine], we want to … bring in some enterprise features and more customizability for that virtual machine that’s used on Mac and Windows.”

Red Hat’s roadmap for Podman Desktop includes user experience improvements and interface customization options, according to Russell. Planned updates will allow developers to integrate tailored workflows with Kubernetes, containers and system tools.

“We have the public roadmap … but it’s multiple folds,” Russell explained. “The first one is about setting up and configuring all the tools and the environment for developers. Then, it’s all about … Kubernetes: ‘How can I quickly access the logs [and] get terminals?’ The last fold will be about the extensibility of the tool itself … so you can customize the entire user interface with specific workflows and experiences.”

Bootc’s planned release in Red Hat Enterprise Linux by the second quarter of 2025 reinforces Red Hat’s open-source ethos, bridging Linux operating system management with cloud-native developer tools within the Kubernetes ecosystem, according to Russell. This progression aligns with Red Hat’s vision for a unified approach that brings operating system management closer to Kubernetes and container ecosystems.

“Operations and … the core Linux stuff and cloud-native have kind of lived in separate worlds,” Russell said. “So bootc allows you to kind of pull that all in and have a consistent view.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA:

(* Disclosure: Red Hat Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Red Hat nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE