Huge Performance Difference Importing MySQL Dump: Docker vs Podman on macOS #27216
Description
Description
I am experiencing a massive difference in execution time. Podman is 12x slower than Docker when importing a MySQL, even though:
- Same host machine (macOS)
- The same Docker image is used
mysql:8.0 - The same database schema and data are imported
- Both Docker and Podman have the same CPU and memory resources allocated (10 cores and 8GB memory)
Steps to Reproduce
The sql schema is a single table with three integer or float fields. Data is 40M rows.
podman pull mysql:8.0
podman run -d --name test-database-1 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=123 -p 3306:3306 mysql:8.0
podman exec -i test-database-1 mysql -u root -p123 main < data.sql
The exec command runs in 59m 57s
docker pull mysql:8.0
docker run -d --name test-database-1 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=123 -p 3306:3306 mysql:8.0
docker exec -i test-database-1 mysql -u root -p123 main < data.sql
The exec command runs in 4m 58s
Also tried copying the file into the container and running from there but same outcome.
podman info
Client:
APIVersion: 5.6.0
BuildOrigin: pkginstaller
Built: 1755272846
BuiltTime: Fri Aug 15 17:47:26 2025
GitCommit: da671ef6cfa3fc9ac6225c18f1dd0a70a951e43f
GoVersion: go1.25.0
Os: darwin
OsArch: darwin/arm64
Version: 5.6.0
host:
arch: arm64
buildahVersion: 1.41.5
cgroupControllers:
- cpuset
- cpu
- io
- memory
- pids
- rdma
- misc
- dmem
cgroupManager: systemd
cgroupVersion: v2
conmon:
package: conmon-2.1.13-1.fc42.aarch64
path: /usr/bin/conmon
version: 'conmon version 2.1.13, commit: '
cpuUtilization:
idlePercent: 94.31
systemPercent: 1.95
userPercent: 3.75
cpus: 5
databaseBackend: sqlite
distribution:
distribution: fedora
variant: coreos
version: "42"
emulatedArchitectures:
- linux/386
- linux/amd64
- linux/arm64be
eventLogger: journald
freeLocks: 2046
hostname: localhost.localdomain
idMappings:
gidmap: null
uidmap: null
kernel: 6.15.10-200.fc42.aarch64
linkmode: dynamic
logDriver: journald
memFree: 52695040
memTotal: 2038239232
networkBackend: netavark
networkBackendInfo:
backend: netavark
dns:
package: aardvark-dns-1.16.0-1.fc42.aarch64
path: /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns
version: aardvark-dns 1.16.0
package: netavark-1.16.1-1.fc42.aarch64
path: /usr/libexec/podman/netavark
version: netavark 1.16.1
ociRuntime:
name: crun
package: crun-1.23.1-1.fc42.aarch64
path: /usr/bin/crun
version: |-
crun version 1.23.1
commit: d20b23dba05e822b93b82f2f34fd5dada433e0c2
rundir: /run/crun
spec: 1.0.0
+SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +LIBKRUN +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
os: linux
pasta:
executable: /usr/bin/pasta
package: passt-0^20250805.g309eefd-2.fc42.aarch64
version: |
pasta 0^20250805.g309eefd-2.fc42.aarch64-pasta
Copyright Red Hat
GNU General Public License, version 2 or later
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
remoteSocket:
exists: true
path: unix:///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: true
serviceIsRemote: true
slirp4netns:
executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
package: slirp4netns-1.3.1-2.fc42.aarch64
version: |-
slirp4netns version 1.3.1
commit: e5e368c4f5db6ae75c2fce786e31eef9da6bf236
libslirp: 4.8.0
SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 5
libseccomp: 2.5.5
swapFree: 0
swapTotal: 0
uptime: 0h 17m 3.00s
variant: v8
plugins:
authorization: null
log:
- k8s-file
- none
- passthrough
- journald
network:
- bridge
- macvlan
- ipvlan
volume:
- local
registries:
search:
- docker.io
store:
configFile: /usr/share/containers/storage.conf
containerStore:
number: 1
paused: 0
running: 1
stopped: 0
graphDriverName: overlay
graphOptions:
overlay.additionalImageStores:
- /usr/lib/containers/storage
overlay.imagestore: /usr/lib/containers/storage
overlay.mountopt: nodev,metacopy=on
graphRoot: /var/lib/containers/storage
graphRootAllocated: 106769133568
graphRootUsed: 7555829760
graphStatus:
Backing Filesystem: xfs
Native Overlay Diff: "false"
Supports d_type: "true"
Supports shifting: "true"
Supports volatile: "true"
Using metacopy: "true"
imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
imageStore:
number: 1
runRoot: /run/containers/storage
transientStore: false
volumePath: /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes
version:
APIVersion: 5.6.2
BuildOrigin: 'Copr: packit/containers-podman-27198'
Built: 1759190400
BuiltTime: Tue Sep 30 02:00:00 2025
GitCommit: 9dd5e1ed33830612bc200d7a13db00af6ab865a4
GoVersion: go1.24.7
Os: linux
OsArch: linux/arm64
Version: 5.6.2
Host info
CPU Apple M1
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 26.0.1
BuildVersion: 25A362