[Error] Cannot create i386 distrobox unless image is already pulled

[osalbahr]

Describe the bug

Cannot create i386/debian distrobox unless the image is already pulled.

To Reproduce

1. distrobox create -i i386/debian
2. podman pull --arch i386 i386/debian
3. distrobox create -i i386/debian

Expected behavior

The image gets "dynamically" pulled.

Logs

I couldn't upload a file. I'll try again after posting. Here is minimal "logs":

$ distrobox create -i i386/debian
Image i386/debian not found.
Do you want to pull the image now? [Y/n]: 
Resolved "i386/debian" as an alias (/home/nebula/.cache/containers/short-name-aliases.conf)
Trying to pull docker.io/i386/debian:latest...
Error: unable to copy from source docker://i386/debian:latest: choosing an image from manifest list docker://i386/debian:latest: no image found in image index for architecture "amd64", variant "", OS "linux"

$ podman pull --arch i386 docker.io/i386/debian
Trying to pull docker.io/i386/debian:latest...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob f1c1f592b556 done   | 
Copying config c03a87a4be done   | 
Writing manifest to image destination
c03a87a4be4cf8a42f6718c2878374c0de7d892b9d45a27d2d3d25dab7d33970

$ distrobox create -i i386/debian
Creating 'debian' using image i386/debian    WARNING: image platform (linux/386) does not match the expected platform (linux/amd64)
 [ OK ]
Distrobox 'debian' successfully created.
To enter, run:

distrobox enter debian

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• Are you using podman, docker or lilipod?

podman

• Which version or podman, docker or lilipod?

podman version 5.6.2

• Which version of distrobox?i

distrobox: 1.8.1.2

• Which host distribution?

Fedora Linux 43 (Workstation Edition Prerelease) x86_64

• How did you install distrobox?

dnf install distrobox

Additional context

I think distrobox-create would need a --arch toggle to fix this, so it gets passed to podman pull. I don't know if the architecture can be inferred.

I have installed qemu and qemu-user-static. But binfmt-support is not available. Not sure if this is related.

This also happens in Ubuntu 25.10 (development release) with qemu-user-static (qemu-user-binfmt) and binfmt-support installed (there is no package named qemu).

[osalbahr]

Here is the log (I needed an extension): typescript.txt

Note that podman logs is empty.

[osalbahr]

The same happens with arm64v8/fedora (official):

$ distrobox create -i arm64v8/fedora
Image arm64v8/fedora not found.
Do you want to pull the image now? [Y/n]: 
✔ docker.io/arm64v8/fedora:latest
Trying to pull docker.io/arm64v8/fedora:latest...
Error: unable to copy from source docker://arm64v8/fedora:latest: choosing an image from manifest list docker://arm64v8/fedora:latest: no image found in image index for architecture "amd64", variant "", OS "linux"

$ podman pull --arch arm64 arm64v8/fedora
✔ docker.io/arm64v8/fedora:latest
Trying to pull docker.io/arm64v8/fedora:latest...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 91085a6cff08 done   | 
Copying config 24c387e75b done   | 
Writing manifest to image destination
24c387e75b4b5daecdbbd25d157dfcb72ba75354665bc201d2b1d0cf0927f573

$ distrobox create -i arm64v8/fedora
Creating 'fedora' using image arm64v8/fedora	WARNING: image platform (linux/arm64/v8) does not match the expected platform (linux/amd64)
 [ OK ]
Distrobox 'fedora' successfully created.
To enter, run:

distrobox enter fedora