[Bug]: Passing --platform=xxx causes Podman to pull image

[fishy]

Issue Description

Passing --platform=linux/amd64 on linux/amd64 machine makes podman run significantly slower.

See also #12682 & #14197.

See the outputs below:

# First run to warm up the local cache
$ podman run --rm --platform=linux/amd64 ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
<output omitted>
$ time podman run --rm --platform=linux/amd64 ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
Thrift version 0.17.0

real    0m1.760s
user    0m0.229s
sys     0m0.045s

# First run to warm up the local cache
$ podman run --rm ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
<output omitted>
$ time podman run --rm ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
Thrift version 0.17.0

real    0m0.310s
user    0m0.067s
sys     0m0.038s

Steps to reproduce the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. run podman run --rm --platform=linux/amd64 ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
2. also run podman run --rm ghcr.io/reddit/thrift-compiler:0.17.0 --version
3. compare the time it took for the above two runs

Describe the results you received

The one with --platform=linux/amd64 is significantly slower then the one without.

Describe the results you expected

They should take roughly the same time to run.

podman info output

host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.28.0
  cgroupControllers:
  - cpu
  - memory
  - pids
  cgroupManager: systemd
  cgroupVersion: v2
  conmon:
    package: conmon_2.1.3+ds1-1_amd64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.1.3, commit: unknown'
  cpuUtilization:
    idlePercent: 99.06
    systemPercent: 0.3
    userPercent: 0.64
  cpus: 12
  distribution:
    codename: bookworm
    distribution: debian
    version: unknown
  eventLogger: journald
  hostname: perch
  idMappings:
    gidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 100000
      size: 65536
    uidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 100000
      size: 65536
  kernel: 6.0.0-6-amd64
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 7720050688
  memTotal: 16377122816
  networkBackend: cni
  ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun_1.5+dfsg-1+b1_amd64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version 1.5
      commit: 54ebb8ca8bf7e6ddae2eb919f5b82d1d96863dea
      spec: 1.0.0
      +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +YAJL
  os: linux
  remoteSocket:
    exists: true
    path: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock
  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: true
    seccompEnabled: true
    seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
    selinuxEnabled: false
  serviceIsRemote: false
  slirp4netns:
    executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
    package: slirp4netns_1.2.0-1_amd64
    version: |-
      slirp4netns version 1.2.0
      commit: 656041d45cfca7a4176f6b7eed9e4fe6c11e8383
      libslirp: 4.7.0
      SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 4
      libseccomp: 2.5.4
  swapFree: 14998302720
  swapTotal: 16773017600
  uptime: 100h 31m 34.00s (Approximately 4.17 days)
plugins:
  authorization: null
  log:
  - k8s-file
  - none
  - passthrough
  - journald
  network:
  - bridge
  - macvlan
  - ipvlan
  volume:
  - local
registries: {}
store:
  configFile: /home/fishy/.config/containers/storage.conf
  containerStore:
    number: 0
    paused: 0
    running: 0
    stopped: 0
  graphDriverName: overlay
  graphOptions:
    overlay.mount_program:
      Executable: /usr/bin/fuse-overlayfs
      Package: fuse-overlayfs_1.9-1_amd64
      Version: |-
        fusermount3 version: 3.12.0
        fuse-overlayfs: version 1.9
        FUSE library version 3.12.0
        using FUSE kernel interface version 7.31
  graphRoot: /home/fishy/.local/share/containers/storage
  graphRootAllocated: 233595908096
  graphRootUsed: 165090025472
  graphStatus:
    Backing Filesystem: extfs
    Native Overlay Diff: "false"
    Supports d_type: "true"
    Using metacopy: "false"
  imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
  imageStore:
    number: 4
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  volumePath: /home/fishy/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:
  APIVersion: 4.3.1
  Built: 0
  BuiltTime: Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969
  GitCommit: ""
  GoVersion: go1.19.4
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 4.3.1

### Podman in a container

No

### Privileged Or Rootless

Rootless

### Upstream Latest Release

Yes

### Additional environment details

_No response_

### Additional information

_No response_

[vrothberg]

Thanks for filing. Podman will pull an image if the user specified a custom platform (see #10682). I will see whether we can optimize something.

[vrothberg]

Opened containers/common#1287 to fix/optimize for this specific case where the platforms match.

[vrothberg]

Closing since containers/common#1287 got merged. The fix will make it into the upcoming Podman 4.4 release.

[vrothberg]

Note that it turned out having caused issues (see containers/common#1299), so we had to revert the change.

[fishy]

should we reopen this issue then?

[vrothberg]

Yes, good idea.

So at the moment this is "expected behavior". But I am sure we can improve on that.

[github-actions]

A friendly reminder that this issue had no activity for 30 days.