diff --git a/_modules/scripts/core.sh b/_modules/scripts/core.sh
index 576967a48f..d7fd98595a 100644
--- a/_modules/scripts/core.sh
+++ b/_modules/scripts/core.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ NC='\e[0m'
 caller="${BASH_SOURCE[1]##*/}"
 
 get_installed_tools(){
-    for bin in openssl curl docker git awk sha1sum grep cut jq; do
+    for bin in openssl curl git awk sha1sum grep cut jq; do
         if [[ -z $(command -v ${bin}) ]]; then
           echo "Error: Cannot find command '${bin}'. Cannot proceed."
           echo "Solution: Please review system requirements and install requirements. Then, re-run the script."
@@ -26,15 +26,45 @@ get_installed_tools(){
         fi
     done
 
+    if [[ -z $(command -v docker) ]] && [[ -z $(command -v podman) ]]; then
+        echo "Error: Cannot find 'docker' or 'podman'. Cannot proceed."
+        echo "Solution: Please install Docker or Podman. Then, re-run the script."
+        echo "See System Requirements: https://docs.mailcow.email/getstarted/install/"
+        echo "Exiting..."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
     if grep --help 2>&1 | head -n 1 | grep -q -i "busybox"; then echo -e "${LIGHT_RED}BusyBox grep detected, please install gnu grep, \"apk add --no-cache --upgrade grep\"${NC}"; exit 1; fi
     # This will also cover sort
     if cp --help 2>&1 | head -n 1 | grep -q -i "busybox"; then echo -e "${LIGHT_RED}BusyBox cp detected, please install coreutils, \"apk add --no-cache --upgrade coreutils\"${NC}"; exit 1; fi
     if sed --help 2>&1 | head -n 1 | grep -q -i "busybox"; then echo -e "${LIGHT_RED}BusyBox sed detected, please install gnu sed, \"apk add --no-cache --upgrade sed\"${NC}"; exit 1; fi
 }
 
-get_docker_version(){
-    # Check Docker Version (need at least 24.X)
-    docker_version=$(docker version --format '{{.Server.Version}}' | cut -d '.' -f 1)
+detect_container_runtime(){
+    # Detect whether Podman or Docker is in use and set DOCKER_SOCKET accordingly
+    if command -v podman > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        # Prefer Podman socket: rootless first, then root
+        if [[ -S "/run/user/$(id -u)/podman/podman.sock" ]]; then
+            DOCKER_SOCKET="/run/user/$(id -u)/podman/podman.sock"
+        elif [[ -S "/run/podman/podman.sock" ]]; then
+            DOCKER_SOCKET="/run/podman/podman.sock"
+        else
+            echo -e "${YELLOW}Podman detected but no running socket found. Falling back to Docker socket.${NC}"
+            DOCKER_SOCKET="/var/run/docker.sock"
+        fi
+        echo -e "${GREEN}Podman detected. Using socket: ${DOCKER_SOCKET}${NC}"
+        docker_version=$(podman version --format '{{.Server.Version}}' 2>/dev/null | cut -d '.' -f 1 || echo "0")
+    else
+        DOCKER_SOCKET="/var/run/docker.sock"
+        echo -e "${GREEN}Docker detected. Using socket: ${DOCKER_SOCKET}${NC}"
+        docker_version=$(docker version --format '{{.Server.Version}}' | cut -d '.' -f 1)
+        if [[ $docker_version -lt 24 ]]; then
+            echo -e "${RED}Cannot find Docker with a Version higher or equals 24.0.0${NC}"
+            echo -e "${YELLOW}mailcow needs a newer Docker version to work properly...${NC}"
+            echo -e "${RED}Please update your Docker installation... exiting${NC}"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    fi
 }
 
 get_compose_type(){
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/acme/reload-configurations.sh b/data/Dockerfiles/acme/reload-configurations.sh
index 8d194b68ba..47c860287e 100644
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/acme/reload-configurations.sh
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/acme/reload-configurations.sh
@@ -2,32 +2,32 @@
 
 # Reading container IDs
 # Wrapping as array to ensure trimmed content when calling $NGINX etc.
-NGINX=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"nginx-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
-DOVECOT=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"dovecot-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
-POSTFIX=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"postfix-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
+NGINX=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id} | select(.name==\"nginx-mailcow\") | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
+DOVECOT=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id} | select(.name==\"dovecot-mailcow\") | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
+POSTFIX=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id} | select(.name==\"postfix-mailcow\") | .id" | tr "\n" " "))
 
 reload_nginx(){
   echo "Reloading Nginx..."
-  NGINX_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${NGINX}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"nginx"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
+  NGINX_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${NGINX}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"nginx"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
   [[ ${NGINX_RELOAD_RET} != 'success' ]] && { echo "Could not reload Nginx, restarting container..."; restart_container ${NGINX} ; }
 }
 
 reload_dovecot(){
   echo "Reloading Dovecot..."
-  DOVECOT_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${DOVECOT}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"dovecot"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
+  DOVECOT_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${DOVECOT}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"dovecot"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
   [[ ${DOVECOT_RELOAD_RET} != 'success' ]] && { echo "Could not reload Dovecot, restarting container..."; restart_container ${DOVECOT} ; }
 }
 
 reload_postfix(){
   echo "Reloading Postfix..."
-  POSTFIX_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${POSTFIX}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"postfix"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
+  POSTFIX_RELOAD_RET=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${POSTFIX}/exec -d '{"cmd":"reload", "task":"postfix"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json' | jq -r .type)
   [[ ${POSTFIX_RELOAD_RET} != 'success' ]] && { echo "Could not reload Postfix, restarting container..."; restart_container ${POSTFIX} ; }
 }
 
 restart_container(){
   for container in $*; do
     echo "Restarting ${container}..."
-    C_REST_OUT=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${container}/restart --silent | jq -r '.msg')
+    C_REST_OUT=$(curl -X POST --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${container}/restart --silent | jq -r '.msg')
     echo "${C_REST_OUT}"
   done
 }
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/dockerapi/main.py b/data/Dockerfiles/dockerapi/main.py
index bf197bd61f..876dba311c 100644
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/dockerapi/main.py
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/dockerapi/main.py
@@ -39,8 +39,9 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     redis_client = redis = await aioredis.from_url("redis://redis-mailcow:6379/0", password=os.environ['REDISPASS'])
 
   # Init docker clients
-  sync_docker_client = docker.DockerClient(base_url='unix://var/run/docker.sock', version='auto')
-  async_docker_client = aiodocker.Docker(url='unix:///var/run/docker.sock')
+  docker_socket = os.environ.get('DOCKER_SOCKET', '/var/run/docker.sock')
+  sync_docker_client = docker.DockerClient(base_url=f'unix:/{docker_socket}', version='auto')
+  async_docker_client = aiodocker.Docker(url=f'unix://{docker_socket}')
 
   dockerapi = DockerApi(redis_client, sync_docker_client, async_docker_client, logger)
 
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/dovecot/sa-rules.sh b/data/Dockerfiles/dovecot/sa-rules.sh
index e948d438ce..770afabaf0 100755
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/dovecot/sa-rules.sh
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/dovecot/sa-rules.sh
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@ sed -i -e 's/\([^\\]\)\$\([^\/]\)/\1\\$\2/g' /etc/rspamd/custom/sa-rules
 
 if [[ "$(cat /etc/rspamd/custom/sa-rules | md5sum | cut -d' ' -f1)" != "${HASH_SA_RULES}" ]]; then
   CONTAINER_NAME=rspamd-mailcow
-  CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | \
+  CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | \
     jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | \
     jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"${CONTAINER_NAME}\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id")
   if [[ ! -z ${CONTAINER_ID} ]]; then
-    curl --silent --insecure -XPOST --connect-timeout 15 --max-time 120 https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/restart
+    curl --silent --insecure -XPOST --connect-timeout 15 --max-time 120 https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/restart
   fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/phpfpm/docker-entrypoint.sh b/data/Dockerfiles/phpfpm/docker-entrypoint.sh
index d7fa155562..a2ffb62186 100755
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/phpfpm/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/phpfpm/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ session.save_path = "tcp://'${REDIS_HOST}':'${REDIS_PORT}'?auth='${REDISPASS}'"
 # Check mysql_upgrade (master and slave)
 CONTAINER_ID=
 until [[ ! -z "${CONTAINER_ID}" ]] && [[ "${CONTAINER_ID}" =~ ^[[:alnum:]]*$ ]]; do
-  CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" 2> /dev/null | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"mysql-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" 2> /dev/null)
+  CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" 2> /dev/null | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"mysql-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" 2> /dev/null)
   echo "Could not get mysql-mailcow container id... trying again"
   sleep 2
 done
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ until [[ ${SQL_UPGRADE_STATUS} == 'success' ]]; do
     echo "Tried to upgrade MySQL and failed, giving up after ${SQL_LOOP_C} retries and starting container (oops, not good)"
     break
   fi
-  SQL_FULL_UPGRADE_RETURN=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/exec -d '{"cmd":"system", "task":"mysql_upgrade"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json')
+  SQL_FULL_UPGRADE_RETURN=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/exec -d '{"cmd":"system", "task":"mysql_upgrade"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json')
   SQL_UPGRADE_STATUS=$(echo ${SQL_FULL_UPGRADE_RETURN} | jq -r .type)
   SQL_LOOP_C=$((SQL_LOOP_C+1))
   echo "SQL upgrade iteration #${SQL_LOOP_C}"
@@ -69,12 +69,12 @@ done
 
 # doing post-installation stuff, if SQL was upgraded (master and slave)
 if [ ${SQL_CHANGED} -eq 1 ]; then
-  POSTFIX=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" 2> /dev/null | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"postfix-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" 2> /dev/null)
+  POSTFIX=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" 2> /dev/null | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"postfix-mailcow\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id" 2> /dev/null)
   if [[ -z "${POSTFIX}" ]] || ! [[ "${POSTFIX}" =~ ^[[:alnum:]]*$ ]]; then
     echo "Could not determine Postfix container ID, skipping Postfix restart."
   else
     echo "Restarting Postfix"
-    curl -X POST --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${POSTFIX}/restart | jq -r '.msg'
+    curl -X POST --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${POSTFIX}/restart | jq -r '.msg'
     echo "Sleeping 5 seconds..."
     sleep 5
   fi
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ fi
 # Check mysql tz import (master and slave)
 TZ_CHECK=$(mariadb --skip-ssl --socket=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock -u ${DBUSER} -p${DBPASS} ${DBNAME} -e "SELECT CONVERT_TZ('2019-11-02 23:33:00','Europe/Berlin','UTC') AS time;" -BN 2> /dev/null)
 if [[ -z ${TZ_CHECK} ]] || [[ "${TZ_CHECK}" == "NULL" ]]; then
-  SQL_FULL_TZINFO_IMPORT_RETURN=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/exec -d '{"cmd":"system", "task":"mysql_tzinfo_to_sql"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json')
+  SQL_FULL_TZINFO_IMPORT_RETURN=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/exec -d '{"cmd":"system", "task":"mysql_tzinfo_to_sql"}' --silent -H 'Content-type: application/json')
   echo "MySQL mysql_tzinfo_to_sql - debug output:"
   echo ${SQL_FULL_TZINFO_IMPORT_RETURN}
 fi
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/postfix-tlspol/postfix-tlspol.sh b/data/Dockerfiles/postfix-tlspol/postfix-tlspol.sh
index 407a08f6f1..416d7d8c89 100755
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/postfix-tlspol/postfix-tlspol.sh
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/postfix-tlspol/postfix-tlspol.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ server:
 
 dns:
   # must support DNSSEC
-  address: 127.0.0.11:53
+  # address: 127.0.0.11:53
 EOF
 
-/usr/local/bin/postfix-tlspol -config /etc/postfix-tlspol/config.yaml
\ No newline at end of file
+/usr/local/bin/postfix-tlspol -config /etc/postfix-tlspol/config.yaml
diff --git a/data/Dockerfiles/watchdog/watchdog.sh b/data/Dockerfiles/watchdog/watchdog.sh
index 020f3f8388..c19f12814f 100755
--- a/data/Dockerfiles/watchdog/watchdog.sh
+++ b/data/Dockerfiles/watchdog/watchdog.sh
@@ -200,12 +200,12 @@ get_container_ip() {
     else
       sleep 0.5
       # get long container id for exact match
-      CONTAINER_ID=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring == \"${1}\") | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id"))
+      CONTAINER_ID=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring == \"${1}\") | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id"))
       # returned id can have multiple elements (if scaled), shuffle for random test
       CONTAINER_ID=($(printf "%s\n" "${CONTAINER_ID[@]}" | shuf))
       if [[ ! -z ${CONTAINER_ID} ]]; then
         for matched_container in "${CONTAINER_ID[@]}"; do
-          CONTAINER_IPS=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${matched_container}/json | jq -r '.NetworkSettings.Networks[].IPAddress'))
+          CONTAINER_IPS=($(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${matched_container}/json | jq -r '.NetworkSettings.Networks[].IPAddress'))
           for ip_match in "${CONTAINER_IPS[@]}"; do
             # grep will do nothing if one of these vars is empty
             [[ -z ${ip_match} ]] && continue
@@ -1143,12 +1143,12 @@ while true; do
   elif [[ ${com_pipe_answer} =~ .+-mailcow ]]; then
     kill -STOP ${BACKGROUND_TASKS[*]}
     sleep 10
-    CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"${com_pipe_answer}\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id")
+    CONTAINER_ID=$(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/json | jq -r ".[] | {name: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.service\"], project: .Config.Labels[\"com.docker.compose.project\"], id: .Id}" | jq -rc "select( .name | tostring | contains(\"${com_pipe_answer}\")) | select( .project | tostring | contains(\"${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME,,}\")) | .id")
     if [[ ! -z ${CONTAINER_ID} ]]; then
       if [[ "${com_pipe_answer}" == "php-fpm-mailcow" ]]; then
-        HAS_INITDB=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/top | jq '.msg.Processes[] | contains(["php -c /usr/local/etc/php -f /web/inc/init_db.inc.php"])' | grep true)
+        HAS_INITDB=$(curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/top | jq '.msg.Processes[] | contains(["php -c /usr/local/etc/php -f /web/inc/init_db.inc.php"])' | grep true)
       fi
-      S_RUNNING=$(($(date +%s) - $(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/json | jq .State.StartedAt | xargs -n1 date +%s -d)))
+      S_RUNNING=$(($(date +%s) - $(curl --silent --insecure https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/json | jq .State.StartedAt | xargs -n1 date +%s -d)))
       if [ ${S_RUNNING} -lt 360 ]; then
         log_msg "Container is running for less than 360 seconds, skipping action..."
       elif [[ ! -z ${HAS_INITDB} ]]; then
@@ -1156,7 +1156,7 @@ while true; do
         sleep 60
       else
         log_msg "Sending restart command to ${CONTAINER_ID}..."
-        curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_mailcow-network/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/restart
+        curl --silent --insecure -XPOST https://dockerapi/containers/${CONTAINER_ID}/restart
         notify_error "${com_pipe_answer}"
         log_msg "Wait for restarted container to settle and continue watching..."
         sleep 35
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 0a9578de6d..d9a830b732 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ services:
         - ./data/conf/unbound/unbound.conf:/etc/unbound/unbound.conf:ro,Z
       restart: always
       tty: true
+      healthcheck:
+        test: ["CMD-SHELL", "[ -f /tmp/healthcheck_status ] && [ \"$(cat /tmp/healthcheck_status)\" -eq 0 ] || exit 1"]
+        interval: 30s
+        timeout: 10s
+        retries: 3
+        start_period: 10s
       networks:
         mailcow-network:
           ipv4_address: ${IPV4_NETWORK:-172.22.1}.254
@@ -17,7 +23,7 @@ services:
             - unbound
 
     mysql-mailcow:
-      image: mariadb:10.11
+      image: docker.io/mariadb:10.11
       depends_on:
         - unbound-mailcow
         - netfilter-mailcow
@@ -42,7 +48,7 @@ services:
             - mysql
 
     redis-mailcow:
-      image: redis:7.4.6-alpine
+      image: docker.io/redis:7.4.6-alpine
       entrypoint: ["/bin/sh","/redis-conf.sh"]
       volumes:
         - redis-vol-1:/data/
@@ -117,7 +123,11 @@ services:
             - rspamd
 
     php-fpm-mailcow:
-      image: ghcr.io/mailcow/phpfpm:8.2.29-2
+      # image: ghcr.io/mailcow/phpfpm:8.2.29-2 # temp local use:
+      build:
+        context: data/Dockerfiles/phpfpm
+        dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      image: localhost/mailcow/phpfpm-local
       command: "php-fpm -d date.timezone=${TZ} -d expose_php=0"
       depends_on:
         - redis-mailcow
@@ -382,10 +392,16 @@ services:
             - postfix
 
     postfix-tlspol-mailcow:
-      image: ghcr.io/mailcow/postfix-tlspol:1.8.23
+      # image: ghcr.io/mailcow/postfix-tlspol:1.8.23 # temp local use:
+      build:
+        context: data/Dockerfiles/postfix-tlspol
+        dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      image: localhost/mailcow/postfix-tlspol-local
       depends_on:
         unbound-mailcow:
           condition: service_healthy
+      cap_add:
+        - NET_RAW
       volumes:
         - postfix-tlspol-vol-1:/var/lib/postfix-tlspol
       environment:
@@ -404,7 +420,7 @@ services:
             - postfix-tlspol
 
     memcached-mailcow:
-      image: memcached:alpine
+      image: docker.io/memcached:alpine
       restart: always
       environment:
         - TZ=${TZ}
@@ -613,8 +629,9 @@ services:
         - REDIS_SLAVEOF_IP=${REDIS_SLAVEOF_IP:-}
         - REDIS_SLAVEOF_PORT=${REDIS_SLAVEOF_PORT:-}
         - REDISPASS=${REDISPASS}
+        - DOCKER_SOCKET=${DOCKER_SOCKET:-/var/run/docker.sock}
       volumes:
-        - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
+        - ${DOCKER_SOCKET:-/var/run/docker.sock}:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
       networks:
         mailcow-network:
           aliases:
@@ -640,7 +657,7 @@ services:
             - olefy
 
     ofelia-mailcow:
-      image: mcuadros/ofelia:latest
+      image: docker.io/mcuadros/ofelia:latest
       restart: always
       command: daemon --docker -f label=com.docker.compose.project=${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
       environment:
@@ -654,7 +671,7 @@ services:
       security_opt:
         - label=disable
       volumes:
-        - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
+        - ${DOCKER_SOCKET:-/var/run/docker.sock}:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
       networks:
         mailcow-network:
           aliases:
diff --git a/generate_config.sh b/generate_config.sh
index 420854eac4..70d1353d82 100755
--- a/generate_config.sh
+++ b/generate_config.sh
@@ -28,14 +28,7 @@ source _modules/scripts/ipv6_controller.sh
 set -o pipefail
 
 get_installed_tools
-get_docker_version
-
-if [[ $docker_version -lt 24 ]]; then
-  echo -e "\e[31mCannot find Docker with a Version higher or equals 24.0.0\e[0m"
-  echo -e "\e[33mmailcow needs a newer Docker version to work properly...\e[0m"
-  echo -e "\e[31mPlease update your Docker installation... exiting\e[0m"
-  exit 1
-fi
+detect_container_runtime
 
 detect_bad_asn
 
@@ -454,6 +447,11 @@ ENABLE_IPV6=${IPV6_BOOL}
 # Prevent netfilter from setting an iptables/nftables rule to isolate the mailcow docker network - y/n
 # CAUTION: Disabling this may expose container ports to other neighbors on the same subnet, even if the ports are bound to localhost
 DISABLE_NETFILTER_ISOLATION_RULE=n
+
+# Container runtime socket path
+# Auto-detected: Podman socket if available, otherwise Docker socket
+# Change this if your socket is at a non-standard location
+DOCKER_SOCKET=${DOCKER_SOCKET}
 EOF
 
 mkdir -p data/assets/ssl