⚙️ Requirements & supported platforms

Documentation

System Requirements

The minimum requirements to run RF Swift are:

CPU: Any dual-core CPU (quad-core recommended for better performance)
RAM: 4GB minimum (8GB or more recommended)
Storage: 10GB free space (20GB+ recommended for multiple container images)
Container Engine: Docker or Podman (automatically installed by the one-line installer)
Internet Connection: Required for initial setup and image downloads

Container Engine Support

RF Swift supports both Docker and Podman as container engines. All RF Swift images are OCI-compatible and work identically with either engine.

	Docker	Podman
Architecture	Client-server (daemon)	Daemonless (fork-exec)
Root required	Yes (daemon runs as root)	No (rootless by default)
Linux	✅ Fully supported	✅ Fully supported
Windows	✅ Docker Desktop	✅ Via WSL2 or Podman Desktop
macOS	✅ Docker Desktop	✅ `podman machine` or Podman Desktop
SBCs (ARM64/RISC-V)	✅ Supported	✅ Supported
Best for	Broad ecosystem, Windows/macOS	Security-focused, air-gapped, embedded

RF Swift auto-detects the available container engine at startup. If both are installed, you can force a specific one with rfswift --engine docker or rfswift --engine podman. See the engine command reference for details.

Quick Docker setup:

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh

# Add your user to the docker group (avoid sudo)
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Verify
docker run hello-world

Quick Podman setup:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install podman slirp4netns fuse-overlayfs uidmap

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install podman slirp4netns fuse-overlayfs

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S podman slirp4netns fuse-overlayfs crun

# macOS
brew install podman
# RF Swift will automatically init and start the Podman machine when needed

# Configure rootless (Linux)
sudo usermod --add-subuids 100000-165535 $USER
sudo usermod --add-subgids 100000-165535 $USER

# Verify
podman run hello-world

Or let the RF Swift installer handle everything:

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PentHertz/RF-Swift/refs/heads/main/get_rfswift.sh" | sh

The installer will prompt you to choose Docker, Podman, or both if no engine is detected.

Supported Platforms

RF Swift is designed to work across multiple platforms and architectures to suit your specific environment.

Operating Systems

Platform	x86_64/amd64	arm64/v8	riscv64
Windows	✅ Fully supported	❓ Limited testing	❌ Not supported
Linux	✅ Fully supported	✅ Fully supported	✅ Fully supported
macOS	❓ Limited support	✅ Supported (better inside a VM for USB devices)	❌ Not supported

Tested Single-Board Computers

SBC	Status	Container Engine	Comments
Raspberry Pi 5	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools
Milk-V Jupiter	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools, but slower than Raspberry Pi 5
Orange Pi RV2	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools, but slower than Milk-V Jupiter
Milk-V Mars	❌	❌	Software support is currently unavailable. Docker/Podman installation is problematic
UP Squared Series	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools
Nano Pi T6	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools
Orange pi 5 ultra	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools
Radxa ROCK 5B+	✅	Docker ✅ Podman ✅	Works perfectly with most tools

And more!

On resource-constrained SBCs, Podman can be a better choice than Docker since it has no background daemon consuming memory and CPU.

Feature Compatibility Matrix

Feature	Linux	Windows	macOS
Container Execution (Docker)	✅	✅	✅
Container Execution (Podman)	✅	✅ (via WSL2)	✅ (via podman machine)
GUI Applications	✅	✅	✅ (with XQuartz)
USB Device Forwarding	✅	✅ (with usbipd)	❌
Rootless Containers	✅ (Podman)	✅ (Podman in WSL2)	✅ (Podman)
Audio Support	✅	✅ (with PulseAudio)	❓ Limited
Hardware Acceleration	✅	❓ Limited	❓ Limited
Cross-Compilation	✅	✅ (in WSL)	✅
One-Line Installer	✅	❌	✅