The fresh-install restart loop reported by @MrGabri (and confirmed by
@AloePacci with the user:0:0 workaround) had a clear root cause:
- Dockerfile pinned USER nodejs (UID 1001) before the entrypoint
ran, so the existing chown branch in init-production.sh:13 was
dead code.
- wait-for-db.sh (the actual entrypoint, not init-production.sh)
silently swallowed mkdir/EACCES on bind mounts with || true,
then a downstream migration error surfaced as the visible failure.
- Net effect on a typical Linux host where the bind-mount dir is
owned by UID 1000: container can't write, exits non-zero,
restarts forever with no clear error.
Switch to the standard Docker drop-privileges pattern:
1. Install su-exec, drop `USER nodejs` from the Dockerfile —
container now starts as root.
2. wait-for-db.sh: if running as root, chown /app/storage,
/app/data, /app/logs to nodejs and re-exec self via
su-exec nodejs:nodejs. App still ends up running as UID 1001.
3. Preflight check for non-root invocations (compose `user:`
overrides): verify the bind mounts are actually writable
before continuing. If not, exit 1 immediately with an
actionable error pointing at the docs — no more silent
restart loops.
Also:
- Delete backend/init-production.sh. It was an orphan — no caller
in the Dockerfile, compose, or anywhere else. Its chown logic
looked authoritative enough that @MrGabri ran it manually trying
to debug, which is what finally surfaced the EACCES.
- docker-compose.yml: drop user: + PUID/PGID env. The pattern-B
UID-matching workaround they implemented is obsolete now that
pattern A (root-then-drop) is in place.
- .env.example + README: drop PUID/PGID documentation.
- Add fresh-install smoke test workflow. Boots backend + postgres
against bind mounts owned by UID 1000 (the GitHub runner UID,
and the common-mismatch case on Linux hosts) and verifies:
+ container reaches healthy without restart-looping
+ chown happened (dirs now owned by 1001 inside the container)
+ node runs as nodejs, not root (su-exec drop worked)
+ /health returns status:ok
+ with --user 5005:5005 + unwritable mounts, preflight exits
loud with the expected error string
Verified locally end-to-end against a fresh Postgres + UID-501-owned
bind mount: backend reaches healthy in ~20s, chown applied, node
runs as nodejs, no restart loop. Docs in picpeak-docs cover the new
behavior + a Troubleshooting section for the install-path bugs
fixed in #484/#494/#511/#488.
Refs: #484
Paul Nothaft
1505775678