For manipulating the hosts file you might want to look into the --add-host flag.

you can also probably do some volume mapping with -v in order to override other files.

But in essence you probably want to start the container in interactive mode. start with running zwift with DEBUG=1 zwift

This should show you your podman or docker command that it runs. Copy that and add the -it flag and --entrypoint=bash to make it run interactively (as described here #155)

you should then be running a bash terminal within the container, where you can experiment with zwift-offline.
Good luck!

You might want to check #34

When i run DEBUG=1 zwift i see this line:

podman run --rm --privileged --network bridge --name zwift-ich --security-opt label=disable --hostname ich-zwift -e DISPLAY=:0.0 -e ZWIFT_UID=1000 -e ZWIFT_GID=1000 -e PULSE_SERVER=/run/user/1000/pulse/native -v zwift-ich:/home/user/.wine/drive_c/users/user/Documents/Zwift -v /run/user/1000/pulse:/run/user/1000/pulse -d --device=/dev/dri:/dev/dri -e DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus -v /run/user/1000/bus:/run/user/1000/bus -e XAUTHORITY=/home/ich/.Xauthority -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix -v /home/ich/.Xauthority:/home/ich/.Xauthority --userns keep-id:uid=1000,gid=1000 docker.io/netbrain/zwift:latest

Then i run this command with INTERACTIVE=1 (INTERACTIVE=1 podman run ...)? As i understand this will add -it and --entrypoint=bash? When i do this zwift starts without any output in the terminal.

you can also probably do some volume mapping with -v in order to override other files.

is -v a option for the command zwift or podman?

No INTERACTIVE=1 is not a thing yet. Just a feature request.

You will have to add the flags yourself manually

But i don't understand where to add this flags? Is this a feature of Podman/Docker or your Zwift Container?

Seems to work.

I need this to edit the hosts file (the short version --add-hosts host1;host2;host3:192.168.10.38 didn't work)
--add-host=us-or-rly101.zwift.com:192.168.10.38 --add-host=secure.zwift.com:192.168.10.38 --add-host=launcher.zwift.com:192.168.10.38

volume mapping works with this:
-v /home/$USER/cacert.pem:/home/user/.wine/drive_c/'Program Files (x86)'/Zwift/data/cacert.pem

First i tried to edit the files directly in the container after running podman run -it --entrypoint=bash --rm ... but thats not possible??? The files will be deleted when i logout and start the container?

It was not easy to 'extract' the content of cacert.pem. To copy files from the container to the host i need the container id. But there is no id when i run podman container ls.

The container is by design autoremoved (--rm) on exit. Simply remove this flag if you want a persistent container.

The container is named, so it probably works as it's Id. Zwift-$USER