Permissions error with docker compose on macOS

Question

I'm trying to spin up a postgresl database using docker compose on my mac running macOS 12.4.

My docker-compose.yml file is

version: '3.8'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:latest
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: gymbro
    ports:
      - 5438:5432
    volumes:
      - ./pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

Running docker-compose up results in the container exiting with status 1. Here is the relevant output

Attaching to docker-compose-gymbro-db-1
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "postgres".
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | This user must also own the server process.
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | 
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | The database cluster will be initialized with locale "en_US.utf8".
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | The default database encoding has accordingly been set to "UTF8".
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | The default text search configuration will be set to "english".
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | 
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | Data page checksums are disabled.
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | 
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | fixing permissions on existing directory /var/lib/postgresql/data ... ok
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | creating subdirectories ... ok
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | selecting dynamic shared memory implementation ... posix
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | selecting default max_connections ... 100
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | selecting default shared_buffers ... 128MB
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | selecting default time zone ... Etc/UTC
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | creating configuration files ... ok
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | running bootstrap script ... ok
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | performing post-bootstrap initialization ... 2022-12-24 17:42:20.791 UTC [40] FATAL:  data directory "/var/lib/postgresql/data" has invalid permissions
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | 2022-12-24 17:42:20.791 UTC [40] DETAIL:  Permissions should be u=rwx (0700) or u=rwx,g=rx (0750).
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | child process exited with exit code 1
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | initdb: removing contents of data directory "/var/lib/postgresql/data"
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1 exited with code 1

Seems like there is a permissions issue,

docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | performing post-bootstrap initialization ... 2022-12-24 17:42:20.791 UTC [40] FATAL:  data directory "/var/lib/postgresql/data" has invalid permissions
docker-compose-gymbro-db-1  | 2022-12-24 17:42:20.791 UTC [40] DETAIL:  Permissions should be u=rwx (0700) or u=rwx,g=rx (0750).

I can spin up the db using a docker volume, but I'm just curious as to why this is happening and if there is a possible solution.

Especially on MacOS, I might use a named volume here and not worry about this: it will be significantly faster than the bind-mounted directory, and you can't usefully do anything with the opaque on-disk database files. The error message suggests some very specific permission requirements, though; does using chmod(1) from a host terminal window help? — David Maze
– David Maze, Commented Dec 24, 2022 at 18:06
@DavidMaze it does not help. If the recommended approach is just to use the named volume, then that's what I'll do. The reason I want to use this approach is because I'm currently developing an app locally that I will eventually send to a Raspberry pi. — Demetri Pananos
– Demetri Pananos, Commented Dec 24, 2022 at 18:16

was1209 · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-24 19:39:02Z

1

On Linux here, so this might not work on Mac. However, why not avoid using the local volum?

Like:

version: '3'

services:

  db:
    image: postgres:13.2
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  data: {}

This is a solution I always use and solved my issues once and for all when I used to have it.

However, there is a more interesting discussion on this here that you can go through: https://forums.docker.com/t/data-directory-var-lib-postgresql-data-pgdata-has-wrong-ownership/17963/22

I have seen some items I honestly won't recommend like changing the PG_DATA, but if you're comfortable with it, have a go.

Let me know what you think :)

edited Dec 24, 2022 at 19:39

answered Dec 24, 2022 at 19:04

was1209

2881 silver badge9 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Demetri Pananos Over a year ago

Specifying PGDATA: /tmp in the environment variables fixes the issue. I don't think this is great either, but at least the container doesn't exit with status 1 now. I'lll go through that thread, thanks.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Permissions error with docker compose on macOS

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related