They do effectively the same, but most software is build with docker in mind. podman should work but be prepared for some frustration using it.

docker nor podman fix your firewall or port for you by the way

The container method used should be whatever you are more familiar with or prefer. They both have their own quirks, pros, & cons.

SELinux - If you don’t want to deal with SELinux then set it to permissive mode. If you want to keep in enforcing mode you need to create the appropriate policies, https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/using_selinux/configuring-selinux-for-applications-and-services-with-non-standard-configurations_using-selinux

Firewall - If you don’t want it’s protection then look up instructions to stop & disable it on your distro.

Port forwarding - From linux container side you either need to specify host networking or the ports you want to allow through, there is no avoiding that if it needs to be network accessible. If you want it internet accessible then you need to setup port forwarding on your router.

Have you looked into something like yunohost? It may be the kind of thing you’re looking for.

Like other commenter said, regardless of podman or docker you will need to handle port forwarding, and any firewall changes.

Port forwarding through docker or podman is pretty similar, if not identical.

I have heard good things about podman but I personally had some strange issues when moving from docker to podman, specifically transferring docker networks to the podman equivalent.

I have used Docker, currently using Podman. Using literally the same compose file.

I run Docker containers on a Pi 4 using the RPi OS. For the longest time I’ve been using Plex. I wanted to give Jellyfin a go though, so just created a new compose file and mounted my TV/Movies directories. Other than the first time setup of Jellyfin I don’t touch it now. Plex and Jellyfin run side by side. To update I just do a docker-compose pull every so often. Super simple.

I haven’t used Jellyfin with docker before, just with podman and as a pod in k3s. Both work great and are easy to maintain. If you’re more familiar with podman then docker, then I’d recommend using podman.

I just want it to work

Use the APT repository