writefreely-docker

This is a Docker image for WriteFreely, set up in a way that makes it easier to deploy it in production, including the initial setup step.

Forked from algernon/writefreely-docker

Overview

On default the image is set up to use SQLite for the database, it does not support MySQL out of the box - but you can always provide your own config.ini. The config file, the database, and the generated keys are all stored on the single volume the image uses, mounted on /data.

The primary purpose of the image is to provide a single-step setup and upgrade experience, where the initial setup and any upgrades are handled by the image itself. As such, the image will create a default config.ini unless one already exists, with reasonable defaults. It will also run database migrations, and save a backup before doing so (which it will delete, if no migrations were necessary).

Breaking change!

As of 2023, the image runs as the writefreely user (uid 5000), rather than root. Existing installs may need some permission changes to adjust to this.

Getting started

To get started, the easiest way to test it out is running the following command:

docker run -p 8080:8080 -it --rm -v /some/path/to/data:/data tourblion/writefreely

Then point your browser to http://localhost:8080, and you should see WriteFreely up and running.

Setup

The image will perform an initial setup, unless the supplied volume already contains a config.ini. Settings can be tweaked via environment variables, of which you can find a list below. Do note that these environment variables are only used for the initial setup as of this writing! If a configuration file already exists, the environment variables will be blissfully ignored.

Environment variables

• WRITEFREELY_BIND_HOST and WRITEFREELY_BIND_PORT determine the host and port WriteFreely will bind to. Defaults to 0.0.0.0 and 8080, respectively.
• WRITEFREELY_SITE_NAME is the site title one wants. Defaults to "A Writefreely blog".
• WRITEFREELY_SINGLE_USER, WRITEFREELY_OPEN_REGISTRATION, WRITEFREELY_MIN_USERNAME_LEN, WRITEFREELY_MAX_BLOG, WRITEFREELY_FEDERATION, WRITEFREELY_PUBLIC_STATS, WRITEFREELY_PRIVATE, WRITEFREELY_LOCAL_TIMELINE, and WRITEFREELY_USER_INVITES all correspond to the similarly named config.ini settings. See the WriteFreely docs for more information about them.
• WRITEFREELY_ADMIN_USER and WRITEFREELY_ADMIN_PASSWORD will be used to automatically create an admin user, if they're specified. If either is missing, and admin user will not be created.
• WRITEFREELY_DATABASE_DATABASE, WRITEFREELY_DATABASE_HOST, WRITEFREELY_DATABASE_PORT, WRITEFREELY_DATABASE_USER, and WRITEFREELY_DATABASE_PASSWORD are used to configure the database connection.

Build arguments

• WRITEFREELY_UID sets the default user (and group) id of the writefreely user created during build. Defaults to 5000, only used during the build.
• WRITEFREELY_VERSION controls which version of Writefreel the image is build from. Defaults to v0.13.2, can be any tag or branch, or commit id.
• WRITEFREELY_FORK sets which fork - if any - to use. Defaults to writefreely/writefreely, and must be a GitHub repository at the moment.