diff --git a/docs/Feature-container-for-bootstrap.md b/docs/Feature-container-for-bootstrap.md
index fde22fc01..2eff724af 100644
--- a/docs/Feature-container-for-bootstrap.md
+++ b/docs/Feature-container-for-bootstrap.md
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ We come up with a nice feature. Mock will not install bootstrap chroot itself. I
 
 Using this feature, **any** incompatible feature in either RPM or DNF can be used in the target chroot. Now or in future. And you will be able to install the final chroot. You do not even need to have RPM on a host. So this should work on any system. Even Debian based. The only requirement for this feature is [Podman](https://podman.io/). Do not forget to install the `podman` package.
 
-This feature is now disabled by default. You can enable it using:
+This feature is available since 1.4.20 and enabled by default from 5.0. You can disable it using:
 
-    config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = True
+    config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = False
 
 It can be enabled or disabled on the command line using `--use-bootstrap-image` or `--no-bootstrap-image` options.
 
diff --git a/mock/docs/site-defaults.cfg b/mock/docs/site-defaults.cfg
index a981e1321..36f8ff571 100644
--- a/mock/docs/site-defaults.cfg
+++ b/mock/docs/site-defaults.cfg
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@
 # case, you may need to have "bootstrap" chroot pre-populated from a container
 # image first (where the package manager stack is already pre-installed, so
 # mock doesn't have to).
-#config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = False
+#config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = True
 #config_opts['bootstrap_image'] = 'fedora:latest'
 
 # Mock in a nutshell needs to have the selected config_opts["package_manager"]
diff --git a/mock/mock.spec b/mock/mock.spec
index 14649836d..dd40bce4c 100644
--- a/mock/mock.spec
+++ b/mock/mock.spec
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ Recommends: btrfs-progs
 Recommends: dnf-utils
 Suggests: qemu-user-static
 Suggests: procenv
-Suggests: podman
+Recommends: podman
 
 %if %{with tests}
 BuildRequires: python%{python3_pkgversion}-distro
diff --git a/mock/py/mockbuild/config.py b/mock/py/mockbuild/config.py
index 3fa0db72a..a9c461810 100644
--- a/mock/py/mockbuild/config.py
+++ b/mock/py/mockbuild/config.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def setup_default_config_opts():
     config_opts['use_container_host_hostname'] = True
 
     config_opts['use_bootstrap'] = True
-    config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = False
+    config_opts['use_bootstrap_image'] = True
     config_opts['bootstrap_image'] = 'fedora:latest'
     config_opts['bootstrap_image_ready'] = False
 
diff --git a/mock/py/mockbuild/package_manager.py b/mock/py/mockbuild/package_manager.py
index af8cf359e..829a7bf9c 100644
--- a/mock/py/mockbuild/package_manager.py
+++ b/mock/py/mockbuild/package_manager.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class _PackageManager(object):
     @classmethod
     def get_command(cls, config):
         command = config.get(f"{cls.name}_command")
-        if config.get("use_bootstrap_image", False):
+        if config.get("use_bootstrap_image", True):
             return command
         if config.get("use_bootstrap", False):
             sys_command = config.get(f"system_{cls.name}_command")