Dockerized Polarion: Pull, Run, Reproduce - macOS, Windows, Linux

One of my key motivations for this project was simple: I wanted to run Polarion locally on my Mac, including Apple-silicon machines. That’s possible now and works well for day-to-day testing. A caveat up front: developer tooling on macOS is still more limited than on Windows, so for deep development tasks Windows remains ahead. For reproducing bugs, evaluating behavior, and demos, the Docker approach is fast and stable.

The recurring problem

I frequently hit the same wall: “I need to reproduce a bug in this exact Polarion version.” Traditionally that means hunting for installers, preparing a machine, and a lot of clicks. It’s slow and distracts from the job.

The pragmatic solution

With Docker, that friction disappears. You can spin up a fresh Polarion instance in under 5 minutes (internet-speed dependent) without a single click—fully scriptable and repeatable.

I publish ready-to-run Polarion Docker images publicly on Docker Hub and looking forward to update them frequently:

https://hub.docker.com/r/phillipboesger/polarion-docker

You can pull specific versions or simply use the latest tag.

Quick Start (no clicks, just CLI)

macOS with Apple silicon: install Rosetta once

softwareupdate --install-rosetta

Option A: Pin a specific version (example: v2506)

docker run -d --name polarion-v2506 --platform linux/amd64 \
  -p 80:80 \
  -e JAVA_OPTS="-Xmx4g -Xms4g" \
  -e ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1,0.0.0.0" \
  docker.io/phillipboesger/polarion-docker:v2506

Option B: Track the newest

docker run -d --name polarion-latest --platform linux/amd64 \
  -p 80:80 \
  -e JAVA_OPTS="-Xmx4g -Xms4g" \
  -e ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1,0.0.0.0" \
  docker.io/phillipboesger/polarion-docker:latest

Access

• URL: http://localhost
• Default login: admin / admin

Common use cases

• Reproduce an issue in a specific Polarion version
• Compare versions or verify behavior
• Spin up short-lived demo environments

Practical notes

I run and test this regularly on macOS with Apple silicon. Performance is solid; the images run as linux/amd64 via Rosetta.

• Memory: 4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended (tune with JAVA_OPTS).
• Ports: default -p 80:80. If port 80 is taken, use -p 8080:80 -p 8443:443 and open http://localhost:8080.

Everyday commands

# Start / stop
docker start  polarion-vXXXX
docker stop   polarion-vXXXX

# Logs
docker logs -f polarion-vXXXX

# Remove container (volumes persist)
docker rm polarion-vXXXX

Available tags

• latest — current stable build
• v2410, v2506 — specific Polarion releases (Major ≥ 2310)

Pull exactly what you need:

docker pull docker.io/phillipboesger/polarion-docker:v2410

If something goes sideways

• Ports 80/443 in use: remap ports (-p 8080:80 -p 8443:443).
• Not enough RAM: increase Docker memory and raise JAVA_OPTS.
• Apple silicon: ensure Rosetta is installed.

This setup exists to remove friction when you “just need Version XY.” Pull the tag you need, start the container, and get back to the work that matters. If you hit issues anywhere, reach out.