podman rm: Remove Containers in CI
podman rm removes one or more containers, freeing the name and any anonymous volumes if asked.
Cleaning up containers keeps a runner from accumulating cruft and avoids name clashes on reused runners. -f stops and removes in one step.
What it does
podman rm deletes stopped containers by name or ID. With -f it stops a running container first; with -a it targets all containers. --volumes also removes anonymous volumes created with the container.
Common usage
podman rm db
podman rm -f app
podman rm -a -f
podman rm --volumes dbOptions
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
| -f, --force | Stop and remove a running container |
| -a, --all | Remove all containers |
| -v, --volumes | Also remove anonymous volumes of the container |
| -i, --ignore | Ignore errors for containers that do not exist |
| --time <n> | Seconds to wait before killing on force |
In CI
Prefer --rm on podman run so containers self-clean. When that is not possible, use podman rm -f --ignore in a cleanup step so a missing container does not fail the job. On reused runners, a leftover container causes the next run name conflict.
Common errors in CI
"Error: cannot remove container ... as it is running, stop or use -f" means the container is still up; add -f. "Error: no container with name or ID ... found" is cleared with --ignore in teardown. A name conflict on the next run ("the container name ... is already in use") means a prior container was never removed; rm it first or use --replace on run.