Image value not used for health-startup-cmd #27724
Description
Issue Description
For health-cmd we have:
For health-startup-cmd there's no documentation that the configuration from the image would be used and this matches how at least 5.4.2 seems to behave https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/ed132b7a720e6562d54646081f80f685338f15c5/docs/source/markdown/options/health-startup-cmd.md
Steps to reproduce the issue
Given an image built with buildkit:
$ docker inspect -f '{{json .Config.Healthcheck}}' $IMAGE
{"Test":["CMD-SHELL","pg_isready -U postgres"],"Interval":3600000000000,"StartPeriod":60000000000,"StartInterval":1000000000}
Describe the results you received
With docker pg_isready is run every second:
"Health": {
"Status": "healthy",
"FailingStreak": 0,
"Log": [
{
"Start": "2025-12-09T12:03:03.836191549Z",
"End": "2025-12-09T12:03:04.227778507Z",
"ExitCode": 2,
"Output": "/var/run/postgresql:5432 - no response\n"
},
{
"Start": "2025-12-09T12:03:05.229269716Z",
"End": "2025-12-09T12:03:05.4471183Z",
"ExitCode": 2,
"Output": "/var/run/postgresql:5432 - no response\n"
},
{
"Start": "2025-12-09T12:03:06.448626008Z",
"End": "2025-12-09T12:03:06.691341842Z",
"ExitCode": 0,
"Output": "/var/run/postgresql:5432 - accepting connections\n"
}
]
}With podman it's only run once and then scheduled
2025-12-09 11:14:41.340943129 +0000 UTC container health_status feeb1bb73a5b00ea57ace734c4d4def9a4cb76631f1a2b2877d0655fc47a0005 (image=IMAGE, name=postgres, health_status=starting, health_failing_streak=0, health_log=, PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=postgres.service)
Describe the results you expected
Podman behavior should match Docker.
podman info output
host:
arch: amd64
buildahVersion: 1.39.3
cgroupControllers:
- cpuset
- cpu
- io
- memory
- hugetlb
- pids
- rdma
- misc
cgroupManager: systemd
cgroupVersion: v2
conmon:
package: conmon_2.1.12-4_amd64
path: /usr/bin/conmon
version: 'conmon version 2.1.12, commit: unknown'
cpuUtilization:
idlePercent: 98.53
systemPercent: 0.5
userPercent: 0.96
cpus: 2
databaseBackend: sqlite
distribution:
codename: trixie
distribution: debian
version: "13"
eventLogger: journald
freeLocks: 2046
hostname: postgres
idMappings:
gidmap: null
uidmap: null
kernel: 6.12.41+deb13-cloud-amd64
linkmode: dynamic
logDriver: journald
memFree: 1439248384
memTotal: 4012314624
networkBackend: netavark
networkBackendInfo:
backend: netavark
dns:
package: Unknown
package: netavark_1.14.0-2_amd64
path: /usr/lib/podman/netavark
version: netavark 1.14.0
ociRuntime:
name: crun
package: crun_1.21-1_amd64
path: /usr/bin/crun
version: |-
crun version 1.21
commit: 10269840aa07fb7e6b7e1acff6198692d8ff5c88
rundir: /run/user/0/crun
spec: 1.0.0
+SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
os: linux
pasta:
executable: ""
package: ""
version: ""
remoteSocket:
exists: true
path: /run/podman/podman.sock
rootlessNetworkCmd: pasta
security:
apparmorEnabled: false
capabilities: CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_FOWNER,CAP_FSETID,CAP_KILL,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_SETFCAP,CAP_SETGID,CAP_SETPCAP,CAP_SETUID,CAP_SYS_CHROOT
rootless: false
seccompEnabled: true
seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
selinuxEnabled: false
serviceIsRemote: false
slirp4netns:
executable: ""
package: ""
version: ""
swapFree: 0
swapTotal: 0
uptime: 0h 44m 50.00s
variant: ""
plugins:
authorization: null
log:
- k8s-file
- none
- passthrough
- journald
network:
- bridge
- macvlan
- ipvlan
volume:
- local
registries: {}
store:
configFile: /usr/share/containers/storage.conf
containerStore:
number: 1
paused: 0
running: 1
stopped: 0
graphDriverName: overlay
graphOptions: {}
graphRoot: /var/lib/containers/storage
graphRootAllocated: 39990112256
graphRootUsed: 1925476352
graphStatus:
Backing Filesystem: extfs
Native Overlay Diff: "true"
Supports d_type: "true"
Supports shifting: "true"
Supports volatile: "true"
Using metacopy: "false"
imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
imageStore:
number: 1
runRoot: /run/containers/storage
transientStore: false
volumePath: /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes
version:
APIVersion: 5.4.2
BuildOrigin: Debian
Built: 1753478586
BuiltTime: Fri Jul 25 21:23:06 2025
GitCommit: ""
GoVersion: go1.24.4
Os: linux
OsArch: linux/amd64
Version: 5.4.2Podman in a container
No
Privileged Or Rootless
None
Upstream Latest Release
Yes
Additional environment details
Additional environment details
Additional information
If later release has fixed the behaviour, at minimum the documentation in main need updating.