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Docker and Docker Compose

Dave Walker edited this page Jul 4, 2026 · 1 revision

Overview

The Fossil Tracker is available as a Docker container image. Please see the following Docker Hub repository for more information:

Create the Docker Compose file

  • The following is an example Docker Compose file that can be used to run the Fossil Tracker from the published Docker image
  • It should be saved as "docker-compose.yml" in a convenient location
services:
  fossiltracker:
    container_name: fossiltracker
    image: davewalker5/fossiltracker:latest
    platform: linux/amd64
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8095:8501"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/fossil/tracker/database/folder:/var/opt/fossiltracker/
  • Make sure the port number, 8095 in this example, is an unused port on the local machine
  • The example assumes that the fossil tracker database and the images and documents folders, where images and documents associated with specimens are uploaded, are in the folder:
/path/to/fossil/tracker/database/folder
  • This should be changed as appropriate
  • To start the application, open a terminal window, change to the folder and run the following command:
docker compose --project-directory . up -d
  • The output should look similar to this:
user@MY-MACHINE % docker compose --project-directory . up -d
[+] up 2/2
 ✔ Network fossiltracker_default Created                                                                            0.0s
 ✔ Container fossiltracker       Started                                                                            0.1s
  • With the application running, browsing to the following URL should show the login page:
http://localhost:8095
  • Replace the port number, 8095, with the port used in the Docker Compose file
  • To stop the application, from the same folder run the following command:
docker compose --project-directory . down
  • The output should look similar to this:
user@MY-MACHINE % docker compose --project-directory . up -d
[+] down 2/2
 ✔ Container fossiltracker       Removed                                                                            0.5s
 ✔ Network fossiltracker_default Removed                                                                            0.2s

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