diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2505.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2505.section.md
index 06345d9e2e16..351cba01c58a 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2505.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2505.section.md
@@ -470,6 +470,9 @@
 
 <!-- To avoid merge conflicts, consider adding your item at an arbitrary place in the list instead. -->
 
+- `virtualisation.containers` with backend "podman" now supports rootless containers and `sd_notify(3)`-integration
+  based on container healthchecks.
+
 - Cinnamon has been updated to 6.4, please check the [upstream announcement](https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php) for more details.
   - Following [changes in Mint 22](https://github.com/linuxmint/mintupgrade/commit/f239cde908288b8c250f938e7311c7ffbc16bd59) we are no longer overriding Qt application styles. You can still restore the previous default with `qt.style = "gtk2"` and `qt.platformTheme = "gtk2"`.
   - Following [changes in Mint 20](https://github.com/linuxmint/mintupgrade-legacy/commit/ce15d946ed9a8cb8444abd25088edd824bfb18f6) we are replacing xplayer with celluloid since xplayer is no longer maintained.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
index 642e3a5e6d76..8f24eee80a83 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ let
     { name, ... }:
     {
 
+      config = {
+        podman = mkIf (cfg.backend == "podman") { };
+      };
+
       options = {
 
         image = mkOption {
@@ -287,6 +291,43 @@ let
           '';
         };
 
+        podman = mkOption {
+          type = types.nullOr (
+            types.submodule {
+              options = {
+                sdnotify = mkOption {
+                  default = "conmon";
+                  type = types.enum [
+                    "conmon"
+                    "healthy"
+                    "container"
+                  ];
+                  description = ''
+                    Determines how `podman` should notify systemd that the unit is ready. There are
+                    [three options](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-run.1.html#sdnotify-container-conmon-healthy-ignore):
+
+                    * `conmon`: marks the unit as ready when the container has started.
+                    * `healthy`: marks the unit as ready when the [container's healthcheck](https://docs.podman.io/en/stable/markdown/podman-healthcheck-run.1.html) passes.
+                    * `container`: `NOTIFY_SOCKET` is passed into the container and the process inside the container needs to indicate on its own that it's ready.
+                  '';
+                };
+                user = mkOption {
+                  default = "root";
+                  type = types.str;
+                  description = ''
+                    The user under which the container should run.
+                  '';
+                };
+              };
+            }
+          );
+          default = null;
+          description = ''
+            Podman-specific settings in OCI containers. These must be null when using
+            the `docker` backend.
+          '';
+        };
+
         pull = mkOption {
           type =
             with types;
@@ -379,16 +420,20 @@ let
             ${container.imageStream} | ${cfg.backend} load
           ''}
           ${optionalString (cfg.backend == "podman") ''
-            rm -f /run/podman-${escapedName}.ctr-id
+            rm -f /run/${escapedName}/ctr-id
           ''}
         '';
       };
+
+      effectiveUser = container.podman.user or "root";
+      dependOnLingerService =
+        cfg.backend == "podman" && effectiveUser != "root" && config.users.users.${effectiveUser}.linger;
     in
     {
       wantedBy = [ ] ++ optional (container.autoStart) "multi-user.target";
-      wants = lib.optional (
-        container.imageFile == null && container.imageStream == null
-      ) "network-online.target";
+      wants =
+        lib.optional (container.imageFile == null && container.imageStream == null) "network-online.target"
+        ++ lib.optional dependOnLingerService "linger-users.service";
       after =
         lib.optionals (cfg.backend == "docker") [
           "docker.service"
@@ -398,9 +443,15 @@ let
         ++ lib.optionals (container.imageFile == null && container.imageStream == null) [
           "network-online.target"
         ]
-        ++ dependsOn;
+        ++ dependsOn
+        ++ lib.optional dependOnLingerService "linger-users.service";
       requires = dependsOn;
-      environment = proxy_env;
+      environment = lib.mkMerge [
+        proxy_env
+        (mkIf (cfg.backend == "podman" && container.podman.user != "root") {
+          HOME = config.users.users.${container.podman.user}.home;
+        })
+      ];
 
       path =
         if cfg.backend == "docker" then
@@ -424,9 +475,9 @@ let
         ++ optional (container.entrypoint != null) "--entrypoint=${escapeShellArg container.entrypoint}"
         ++ optional (container.hostname != null) "--hostname=${escapeShellArg container.hostname}"
         ++ lib.optionals (cfg.backend == "podman") [
-          "--cidfile=/run/podman-${escapedName}.ctr-id"
-          "--cgroups=no-conmon"
-          "--sdnotify=conmon"
+          "--cidfile=/run/${escapedName}/ctr-id"
+          "--cgroups=enabled"
+          "--sdnotify=${container.podman.sdnotify}"
           "-d"
           "--replace"
         ]
@@ -454,13 +505,13 @@ let
 
       preStop =
         if cfg.backend == "podman" then
-          "podman stop --ignore --cidfile=/run/podman-${escapedName}.ctr-id"
+          "podman stop --ignore --cidfile=/run/${escapedName}/ctr-id"
         else
           "${cfg.backend} stop ${name} || true";
 
       postStop =
         if cfg.backend == "podman" then
-          "podman rm -f --ignore --cidfile=/run/podman-${escapedName}.ctr-id"
+          "podman rm -f --ignore --cidfile=/run/${escapedName}/ctr-id"
         else
           "${cfg.backend} rm -f ${name} || true";
 
@@ -490,6 +541,9 @@ let
           Environment = "PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=podman-${name}.service";
           Type = "notify";
           NotifyAccess = "all";
+          Delegate = mkIf (container.podman.sdnotify == "healthy") true;
+          User = effectiveUser;
+          RuntimeDirectory = escapedName;
         };
     };
 
@@ -536,17 +590,46 @@ in
 
         assertions =
           let
-            toAssertion =
-              _:
-              { imageFile, imageStream, ... }:
+            toAssertions =
+              name:
               {
-                assertion = imageFile == null || imageStream == null;
-
-                message = "You can only define one of imageFile and imageStream";
-              };
+                imageFile,
+                imageStream,
+                podman,
+                ...
+              }:
+              [
+                {
+                  assertion = imageFile == null || imageStream == null;
 
+                  message = "virtualisation.oci-containers.containers.${name}: You can only define one of imageFile and imageStream";
+                }
+                {
+                  assertion = cfg.backend == "docker" -> podman == null;
+                  message = "virtualisation.oci-containers.containers.${name}: Cannot set `podman` option if backend is `docker`.";
+                }
+              ];
           in
-          lib.mapAttrsToList toAssertion cfg.containers;
+          concatMap (name: toAssertions name cfg.containers.${name}) (lib.attrNames cfg.containers);
+
+        warnings = mkIf (cfg.backend == "podman") (
+          lib.foldlAttrs (
+            warnings: name:
+            { podman, ... }:
+            let
+              inherit (config.users.users.${podman.user}) linger;
+            in
+            warnings
+            ++ lib.optional (podman.user != "root" && linger && podman.sdnotify == "conmon") ''
+              Podman container ${name} is configured as rootless (user ${podman.user})
+              with `--sdnotify=conmon`, but lingering for this user is turned on.
+            ''
+            ++ lib.optional (podman.user != "root" && !linger && podman.sdnotify == "healthy") ''
+              Podman container ${name} is configured as rootless (user ${podman.user})
+              with `--sdnotify=healthy`, but lingering for this user is turned off.
+            ''
+          ) [ ] cfg.containers
+        );
       }
       (lib.mkIf (cfg.backend == "podman") {
         virtualisation.podman.enable = true;
@@ -556,5 +639,4 @@ in
       })
     ]
   );
-
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/oci-containers.nix b/nixos/tests/oci-containers.nix
index ed83446b44b9..073f62cf5155 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/oci-containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/oci-containers.nix
@@ -63,8 +63,65 @@ let
       '';
     };
 
+  podmanRootlessTests = lib.genAttrs [ "conmon" "healthy" ] (
+    type:
+    makeTest {
+      name = "oci-containers-podman-rootless-${type}";
+      meta.maintainers = lib.teams.flyingcircus.members;
+      nodes = {
+        podman =
+          { pkgs, ... }:
+          {
+            environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.redis ];
+            users.groups.redis = { };
+            users.users.redis = {
+              isSystemUser = true;
+              group = "redis";
+              home = "/var/lib/redis";
+              linger = type == "healthy";
+              createHome = true;
+              subUidRanges = [
+                {
+                  count = 65536;
+                  startUid = 2147483646;
+                }
+              ];
+              subGidRanges = [
+                {
+                  count = 65536;
+                  startGid = 2147483647;
+                }
+              ];
+            };
+            virtualisation.oci-containers = {
+              backend = "podman";
+              containers.redis = {
+                image = "redis:latest";
+                imageFile = pkgs.dockerTools.examples.redis;
+                ports = [ "6379:6379" ];
+                podman = {
+                  user = "redis";
+                  sdnotify = type;
+                };
+              };
+            };
+          };
+      };
+
+      testScript = ''
+        start_all()
+        podman.wait_for_unit("podman-redis.service")
+        ${lib.optionalString (type != "healthy") ''
+          podman.wait_for_open_port(6379)
+        ''}
+        podman.wait_until_succeeds("set -eo pipefail; echo 'keys *' | redis-cli")
+      '';
+    }
+  );
 in
-lib.foldl' (attrs: backend: attrs // { ${backend} = mkOCITest backend; }) { } [
-  "docker"
-  "podman"
-]
+{
+  docker = mkOCITest "docker";
+  podman = mkOCITest "podman";
+  podman-rootless-conmon = podmanRootlessTests.conmon;
+  podman-rootless-healthy = podmanRootlessTests.healthy;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix b/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
index 683c8255ca05..5edc1db78ee8 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
@@ -110,6 +110,16 @@ rec {
 
     runAsRoot = ''
       mkdir -p /data
+      cat >/bin/healthcheck <<-'EOF'
+      set -x
+      probe="$(/bin/redis-cli ping)"
+      echo "$probe"
+      if [ "$probe" = 'PONG' ]; then
+        exit 0
+      fi
+      exit 1
+      EOF
+      chmod +x /bin/healthcheck
     '';
 
     config = {
@@ -118,6 +128,15 @@ rec {
       Volumes = {
         "/data" = { };
       };
+      Healthcheck = {
+        Test = [
+          "CMD-SHELL"
+          "/bin/healthcheck"
+        ];
+        Interval = 30000000000;
+        Timeout = 10000000000;
+        Retries = 3;
+      };
     };
   };