diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 0b99a88cb5..2b7fb7d447 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ COURSES_DIRECTORY_ON_HOST=../ww-docker-data/courses
 WEBWORK2_HTTP_PORT_ON_HOST=8080
 WEBWORK_DB_USER=webworkWrite
 WEBWORK_DB_PASSWORD=passwordRWsetItBeforeFirstStartingTheDBcontainer
+WEBWORK_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=sqlRootPasswordSetThisPasswordBEFOREfirstStartingTheDBcontainer
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 58aa926198..906c39d60a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *.conf
 *-config
+.env
 applets
 tmp
 logs
diff --git a/README b/README
index 5994eb525b..e5f5f5c736 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
                         Branch:  github.com/openwebwork 
 
 	          http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Release_notes_for_WeBWorK_2.16
-                    Copyright 2000-2019, The WeBWorK Project
+                    Copyright 2000-2021, The WeBWorK Project
+
                              http://webwork.maa.org
                               All rights reserved.                              
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 8acac6cf91..7a9dbec30a 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ services:
       # When the MariaDB container is first started it will set the
       # the MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD if there is no mysql database in the
       # data volume.
-      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: sqlRootPasswordSetThisPasswordBEFOREfirstStartingTheDBcontainer
+      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${WEBWORK_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
 
       # When the MariaDB container is first started it will create
       #    the WW database and WW DB user based on:
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ services:
             - PG_BRANCH=PG-2.16
 
         # If you are using the 2 stage build process uncomment the next line
-        #dockerfile: DockerfileStage2
+        dockerfile: DockerfileStage2
         # and first run
         #     docker build --tag webwork-base:forWW216 -f DockerfileStage1 .
         # and then
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ services:
       #ADD_LOCALES: "he_IL ISO-8859-8\nhe_IL.UTF-8 UTF-8\n"
 
       # Extra Ubuntu packages to install during startup
-      #ADD_APT_PACKAGES: vim telnet
+      ADD_APT_PACKAGES: nano less 
 
       # The system timezone for the container can be set using
       #SYSTEM_TIMEZONE: zone/city
diff --git a/docker-config/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-config/docker-entrypoint.sh
index a63628fa94..462238114b 100755
--- a/docker-config/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker-config/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -79,16 +79,30 @@ if [ "$1" = 'apache2' ]; then
                     -e 's/^\$database_username ="webworkWrite"/$database_username =$ENV{"WEBWORK_DB_USER"}/' \
                     -e 's/^\$database_password ='\''passwordRW'\''/$database_password =$ENV{"WEBWORK_DB_PASSWORD"}/' \
                     -e 's/mail{smtpServer} = '\'''\''/mail{smtpServer} = $ENV{"WEBWORK_SMTP_SERVER"}/' \
-                    -e 's/mail{smtpSender} = '\'''\''/mail{smtpSender} = $ENV{"WEBWORK_SMTP_SENDER"}/' \
                     -e 's/siteDefaults{timezone} = "America\/New_York"/siteDefaults{timezone} = $ENV{"WEBWORK_TIMEZONE"}/' \
                     -e 's/^# $server_userID     = '\''www-data/$server_userID     = '\''www-data/'  \
-                    -e 's/^# $server_groupID    = '\''www-data/$server_groupID    = '\''www-data/' \
-                    $WEBWORK_ROOT/conf/site.conf
+                    -e 's/^# $server_groupID    = '\''www-data/$server_groupID    = '\''www-data/' $WEBWORK_ROOT/conf/site.conf
+                
+                echo "$WEBWORK_ROOT/conf/$i has been modified."
+            fi
+
+            if [ $i == 'localOverrides.conf' ]; then
+                sed -i -e 's/#$pg{specialPGEnvironmentVars}{Rserve} = {host => "r"};/$pg{specialPGEnvironmentVars}{Rserve} = {host => "r"};/' \
+                       -e 's/#$problemLibrary{showLibraryLocalStats} = 0;/$problemLibrary{showLibraryLocalStats} = 0;/' $WEBWORK_ROOT/conf/localOverrides.conf
+                echo "$WEBWORK_ROOT/conf/$i has been modified."
             fi
         fi
+        
     done
     # create admin course if not existing
-    if [ ! -d "$APP_ROOT/courses/admin"  ]; then
+    # check first if the admin courses directory exists then check that at 
+    # least one of the tables associated with the course (the admin_user table) exists
+    
+    echo "check admin course and admin tables"
+    wait_for_db
+    ADMIN_TABLE_EXISTS=`mysql -u $WEBWORK_DB_USER  -p$WEBWORK_DB_PASSWORD -B -N -h db -e "select count(*) from information_schema.tables where table_schema='webwork' and table_name = 'admin_user';"  2>/dev/null`
+ 
+    if [ ! -d "$APP_ROOT/courses/admin" ]; then
         newgrp www-data
         umask 2
         cd $APP_ROOT/courses
@@ -96,7 +110,26 @@ if [ "$1" = 'apache2' ]; then
         $WEBWORK_ROOT/bin/addcourse admin --db-layout=sql_single --users=$WEBWORK_ROOT/courses.dist/adminClasslist.lst --professors=admin
         chown www-data:www-data -R $APP_ROOT/courses
         echo "Admin course is created."
+        echo "user: admin password: admin added to course admin and tables upgraded"
+    elif [ $ADMIN_TABLE_EXISTS == 0 ]; then
+        echo "admin course db tables need updating"
+        $WEBWORK_ROOT/bin/upgrade_admin_db.pl
+        $WEBWORK_ROOT/bin/wwsh admin $WEBWORK_ROOT/bin/addadmin
+        echo "admin course tables created with one user: admin   whose password is admin"
+    else 
+        echo "using pre-existing admin course and admin tables"
     fi
+    
+    # use case for the extra check for the admin:
+    # In rebuilding a docker box one might clear out the docker containers, 
+    # images and volumes including mariaDB, BUT leave the 
+    # contents of ww-docker-data directory in place.  It now holds the shell of the courses 
+    # including the admin course directory. This means that once you rebuild the box 
+    # you can't access the admin course (because the admin_user table is missing) 
+    # and you need to run bin/upgrade_admin_db.pl from inside the container. 
+    # This check insures that if the admin_user table is missing the whole admin course is rebuilt 
+    # even if the admin directory is in place. 
+
     # modelCourses link if not existing
     if [ ! -d "$APP_ROOT/courses/modelCourse" ]; then
       echo "create modelCourse subdirectory"
@@ -208,8 +241,14 @@ if [ "$1" = 'apache2' ]; then
     # This change significantly speeds up Docker startup time on production
     # servers with many files/courses (on Linux).
 
-    chown -R www-data:www-data logs tmp DATA
-    chmod -R ug+w logs tmp DATA
+    chown -R www-data:www-data logs tmp DATA 
+    chmod -R ug+w logs tmp DATA 
+    chown  www-data:www-data htdocs/tmp
+    chmod ug+w htdocs/tmp
+    
+    # even if the admin and courses directories already existed their permissions might not have been correct
+    # chown www-data:www-data  $APP_ROOT/courses
+    chown www-data:www-data  $APP_ROOT/courses/admin/*    
 
     # Symbolic links which have no target outside the Docker container
     # cause problems duringt the rebuild process on some systems.