containers/podman

podman machine: image override files need user-write access

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#27576 opened on Nov 20, 2025

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Good First Issuekind/bugmachinetriaged

Description

Issue Description

While doing some testing today, I learned that at least for qemu machines, qemu-img requires user write access or we get an error. This is probably true for all providers but we need to check that.

❯ podman machine init --image builds/latest/x86_64/rhcos-10.1.20251017-0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2 test
Extracting compressed file: test-amd64.qcow2: done  
qemu-img: Could not open '/home/baude/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/qemu/test-amd64.qcow2': Could not open '/home/baude/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/qemu/test-amd64.qcow2': Permission denied
Error: resizing image: "exit status 1"

and

❯ ls -l builds/latest/x86_64/rhcos-10.1.20251017-0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2
-r--r--r--. 1 baude baude 1950744576 Nov 20 15:21 builds/latest/x86_64/rhcos-10.1.20251017-0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2

Steps to reproduce the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue 1. 2. 3.

Describe the results you received

Describe the results you received

Describe the results you expected

Describe the results you expected

podman info output

If you are unable to run podman info for any reason, please provide the podman version, operating system and its version and the architecture you are running.

Podman in a container

No

Privileged Or Rootless

None

Upstream Latest Release

Yes

Additional environment details

Additional environment details

Additional information

Additional information like issue happens only occasionally or issue happens with a particular architecture or on a particular setting

Contributor guide

Tech stack
go
Domain
cli
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
blocked
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Go basicsUnderstanding of file permissionsPodman machine concepts
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
25
Research direction
Investigate how podman machine handles image override files, specifically in the qemu provider. The issue is that qemu img requires user write access, so the file permission should be changed before resizing. Look at the code in pkg/machine/qemu to see where the file is opened or copied, and ensure that the file is made writable if necessary. Also check other providers (e.g., HyperV, WSL) to see if they have similar requirements.