From 5706d2a61efeeab12ee56e1909928d5409d9eecf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Holzinger Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2025 12:35:51 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] make machine --user-mode-networking docs more clear The docs were outdated mentioning the qemu backed for Mac and I find the way they are written to be a bit confusing. I think it is best to start with that this option is not supported on all the providers except WSL. Fixes: #26780 Signed-off-by: Paul Holzinger --- .../markdown/options/user-mode-networking.md | 19 +++++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/source/markdown/options/user-mode-networking.md b/docs/source/markdown/options/user-mode-networking.md index f71ed07030..0969be4f09 100644 --- a/docs/source/markdown/options/user-mode-networking.md +++ b/docs/source/markdown/options/user-mode-networking.md @@ -4,18 +4,21 @@ ####> are applicable to all of those. #### **--user-mode-networking** -Indicates that this machine relays traffic from the guest through a user-space -process running on the host. In some VPN configurations the VPN may drop -traffic from alternate network interfaces, including VM network devices. By -enabling user-mode networking (a setting of `true`), VPNs observe all -podman machine traffic as coming from the host, bypassing the problem. +This option can only be used for the WSL provider on Windows. On all other +platforms this option is ignored and user mode networking will always be +`true` there because these providers always depend on gvproxy (our user +mode networking tool for the VMs) -When the qemu backend is used (Linux, Mac), user-mode networking is -mandatory and the only allowed value is `true`. In contrast, The Windows/WSL -backend defaults to `false`, and follows the standard WSL network setup. +In contrast, The Windows/WSL backend defaults to `false`, and follows the +standard WSL network setup. Changing this setting to `true` on Windows/WSL informs Podman to replace the WSL networking setup on start of this machine instance with a user-mode networking distribution. Since WSL shares the same kernel across distributions, all other running distributions reuses this network. Likewise, when the last machine instance with a `true` setting stops, the original networking setup is restored. + +In some VPN configurations the VPN may drop traffic from alternate network +interfaces, including VM network devices. By enabling user-mode networking +VPNs observe all podman machine traffic as coming from the host, bypassing +the problem.