How to pass a pasta argument containing a comma when using --network=pasta ?

[eriksjolund]

This is more of a curious question. I don't have any specific use case in mind.

Is is possible to pass pasta argument containing a comma when using --network=pasta ?

The problem is that --network=pasta uses commas to separate arguments.

Quote:
"Options described in pasta(1) can be specified as comma-separated arguments."
from
https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-run.1.html

Experiment

Is it possible to achieve pasta -T 3000,3001 ?

I did an experiment where I added a backslash in front of the comma.

1. Run command

   podman run --rm --network 'pasta:-T,3000\,3001' -d --name test2  docker.io/library/alpine sleep 60
   

2. In another shell run command

   ps axuw| grep /usr/bin/pasta
   

   The following output is printed

   test3       1687  0.0  0.0 191696  2496 pts/2    S+   07:00   0:00 /usr/bin/pasta --config-net -T 3000\ 3001 --dns-forward 169.254.1.1 -t none -u none -U none --no-map-gw --quiet --netns /run/user/1003/netns/netns-6490543a-7838-0ce3-0111-3872436e7631 --map-guest-addr 169.254.1.2
   test3       1762  0.0  0.0   3800  1912 pts/5    S+   07:15   0:00 grep --color=auto /usr/bin/pasta
   

result: In the output from ps auxw there is -T 3000\ 3001

I had hoped to see -T 3000,3001

Side note 1: There was a question about this in the podman chat https://discord.com/channels/852634929845239818/852634929845239824/1428451075069055097

Side note 2:
Looking at the source code it seems it is not possible to pass a pasta argument containing a comma:

podman/pkg/specgen/namespaces.go

Line 394 in f2a559a

networkOptions[key] = strings.Split(options, ",")

[Luap99]

Yeah it is not possible via cli, I guess you can make it work via containers.conf.

Adding escaping would be required though IMO it makes the thing much more awkward and complicates the parsing a fair bit. Is there actually a strong need for comma in pasta(1) arguments? You can always specific -T multiple times for several ports which should have the same effect?

cc @sbrivio-rh

[eriksjolund]

Is there actually a strong need for comma in pasta(1) arguments?

I don't have any specific use case in mind. I was just curious.