[Request]: explicitly proxy to external tool for compose

[kvokka]

Feature or enhancement request details

Basing on #2123 (comment) it was revealed that this project has no intent to implement docker compose feature (unfortunately this is the only place i found that, without any replies in discussions)

Then can it be done explicit and supporting the syntax of other tools, so the user could call container compose the same way as podman compose, docker compose, etc.

some env var setting like APPLE_CONTAINER_COMPOSE_TOOL that will allow to set it would be just enough, that will just proxy this feature.

Also it bring a boundary for this project scope giving the signal to other devs that this piece of complexity will not be implemented, closing #194

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[afbjorklund]

You need a Docker API, in order to use an external Docker Compose. (which is not implemented, see #66)

Podman didn't have one originally (v1), so there was volunteer efforts to make a podman-compose plugin that implemented parts of it. Similar to the ones available for container now.

[kvokka]

Yep, and my point is that since the maintainers decided that it's not in the scope of this tool, it would be great to explicitly set it in the code, and the user will decide what plugin to use via the same entry point, keeping the scripts simple with consistent syntax, allowing easy switching between Apple container, Docker container, or whenever. It's a cheap addition in terms of code/maintenance

[afbjorklund]

Basically all that podman compose does, it to set the DOCKER_HOST variable and then call docker-compose

But in order to do that, you need to first implement something that listens on a docker.sock and translates those calls into something that the container runtime understands.