Fixing Podman Start issues with Krunkit on MacOS

Podman on macOS can run its Linux VM through libkrun via the krunkit binary (installed from Homebrew). When required shared libraries are missing, krunkit crashes immediately and Podman reports an unhelpful abort-trap error instead of the underlying dyld failure.

This guide documents the symptoms, troubleshooting steps, fix, and prevention for that failure mode.

Symptoms

Starting a libkrun-backed Podman machine fails:

podman machine start

Example output:

Starting machine "podman-machine-default"
Error: krunkit was terminated by signal: abort trap

Related indicators:

• podman machine list shows the machine in stopped state with Never under Last Up
• podman version fails with a socket/SSH connection error because the VM never started
• The machine was created with VM type libkrun (default when krunkit is installed)

podman machine list
# NAME                     VM TYPE     ...
# podman-machine-default*  libkrun     ...  Never

Root Cause

krunkit depends on a chain of Homebrew libraries (libkrun-efi, virglrenderer, and others). If any link in that chain is missing, macOS dynamic linker (dyld) aborts the process before Podman can surface a clear error.

In this case, two libraries were not installed:

Podman only reported the generic abort trap because krunkit exited before the VM could boot.

Troubleshooting

Work through these steps to isolate the failure.

1. Confirm machine state and provider

podman machine list
podman machine inspect podman-machine-default

Look for VM TYPE: libkrun and State: stopped.

2. Run krunkit directly

This usually reveals the real dyld error:

which krunkit
krunkit --version

If krunkit crashes with Library not loaded, note the missing .dylib path.

3. Check Homebrew dependency tree

brew deps krunkit
brew deps --installed krunkit libkrun-efi

Compare installed deps against what krunkit --version reports as missing.

4. Inspect linked libraries (optional)

otool -L "$(which krunkit)"

Follow the chain into /opt/homebrew/Cellar/ if multiple libraries are missing.

Resolution

Install the missing libraries reported by krunkit --version, then start the machine.

For the missing libepoxy and molten-vk libraries:

brew install libepoxy molten-vk

Verify krunkit runs:

krunkit --version
# krunkit 1.1.1

Start the Podman machine:

podman machine start

If dependencies are still broken or versions are mismatched, reinstall the krunkit stack so Homebrew relinks everything:

brew reinstall krunkit libkrun-efi
podman machine start

Verification

Confirm client–server connectivity:

podman version

Run a test container:

podman run --rm hello-world

Expected: image pulls successfully and prints the Podman hello-world banner.

Prevention

• Install krunkit from the maintained tap so Homebrew tracks dependencies:

  brew tap slp/krun
  brew install krunkit

• Avoid orphaning dependencies — if you run brew cleanup or manually remove packages, check that krunkit --version still works before starting Podman.

• After major macOS or Homebrew upgrades, verify the stack:

  krunkit --version && podman machine start

• Rootless vs rootful — the default machine runs rootless. If you need ports below 1024 or hit Docker-client compatibility issues:

  podman machine set --rootful

Environment (reference)

This issue was diagnosed on:

References

• containers/krunkit — libkrun VM launcher for macOS; Homebrew install instructions
• krunkit usage docs — VM configuration and device options