Dockerfile to build a LimeSurvey Image for the Docker container platform.
- Maintained by: https://github.com/martialblog/
- Where to get help: GitHub Issues
6-apache,6.<BUILD-NUMBER>-apache,latest6-fpm,6.<BUILD-NUMBER>-fpm6-fpm-alpine,6.<BUILD-NUMBER>-fpm-alpine5-apache,5.<BUILD-NUMBER>-apache,latest5-fpm,5.<BUILD-NUMBER>-fpm5-fpm-alpine,5.<BUILD-NUMBER>-fpm-alpine
The apache image comes with an Apache Webserver and PHP installed.
This image is also available in a rootless variant with www-data as default user and Apache listening on 8080. Starting from 5.0, the rootless variant is the default for Apache images.
To change to Apache Webserver configuration, mount a Volume into the Container at:
/etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf
See the example configuration provided.
The Apache port can be specified by setting the environment variable LISTEN_PORT (e.g. LISTEN_PORT=8080). Starting from 5.0, Apache defaults to listening on a non-privilged port (8080) in inside the container.
To use the fpm image, you need an additional web server that can proxy http-request to the fpm-port of the container. See docker-compose.fpm.yml for example.
If you would like to run the fpm setup with https, you can get a free certificate from Letsencrypt. As an example, the configuration in docker-compose.fpm-certbot.yml will take care of getting a certificate and installing it. Please note that you will have to adjust the domain name in the file examples/nginx-certbot.conf to match the domain used in the HOSTNAMES variable in the docker-compose configuration file. If you added both the a domain and the hostname www within the domain, nginx-certbot.conf needs to contain the domain without the hostname. E.g. if you set "HOSTNAMES=example.org www.example.org", the path in nginx-certbot.conf needs to contain example.org.
LimeSurvey requires an external database (MySQL, PostgreSQL) to run. See docker-compose.yml for example.
To preserve the uploaded files assign the upload folder into a volume. See docker-compose.yml for example.
Path: /var/www/html/upload/surveys
Hint: The mounted directory must be owned by the webserver user (e.g. www-data)
The entrypoint will create a new config.php if none is provided and run the LimeSurvey command line interface for installation.
Hint: Changing the ADMIN_ configuration has no effect after the initial configuration. It's best to do this within the application.
To change to LimeSurvey configuration, you can mount a Volume into the Container at:
/my-data/config.php:/var/www/html/application/config/config.php
Hint: If this configuration is present before the installation, the LimeSurvey Web Installer will not run automatically.
LimeSurvey version 4.0 and newer support data encryption, this image give you these options:
- Provide a security.php file directly (volume)
- Provide encryption keys for the
security.phpfile (environment variables) - Provide nothing and get a non-persistent
security.phpfile
For further details on the settings see: https://manual.limesurvey.org/Data_encryption
If you are running LimeSurvey behind a Reverse Proxy you might need some additional configuration in the Proxy. For example:
- Apache:
ProxyPreserveHost On - Nginx:
fastcgi_param HTTP_HOST my-survey.example.local; - Traefik: Set the Host Header explicitly via a customRequestHeaders
Hint: if you want to deploy LimeSurvey on a sub-path (e.g. https://example.com/limesurvey) you have to set the BASE_URL and adjust the Containers Webservers. See the docker-compose Traefik example in the repository.
# BASE_URL = /limesurvey
"traefik.http.routers.limesurvey.rule=PathPrefix(`/limesurvey`)",
"traefik.http.routers.limesurvey.middlewares=strip-limesurvey@docker",
"traefik.http.middlewares.strip-limesurvey.stripprefix.prefixes=/limesurvey",
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| DB_TYPE | Database Type to use. mysql or pgsql |
| DB_HOST | Database server hostname |
| DB_PORT | Database server port |
| DB_SOCK | Database unix socket instead of host/port |
| DB_NAME | Database name |
| DB_TABLE_PREFIX | Database table prefix; set this to a single whitespace if you don't want a table prefix. |
| DB_MYSQL_ENGINE | MySQL engine used for survey tables (values: MyISAM, InnoDB, default: MyISAM) |
| DB_USERNAME | Database user |
| DB_PASSWORD | Database user's password |
| ADMIN_USER | Initial LimeSurvey Admin Username (for signing into admin panel) |
| ADMIN_NAME | Initial LimeSurvey Admin Name |
| ADMIN_EMAIL | Initial LimeSurvey Admin Email |
| ADMIN_PASSWORD | Initial LimeSurvey Admin Password (for signing into admin panel) |
| PUBLIC_URL | Public URL for public scripts |
| BASE_URL | Application Base URL |
| URL_FORMAT | URL Format. path or get |
| TABLE_SESSION | Enable table sessions (true) |
| SHOW_SCRIPT_NAME | Script name in URL (true|false). Default: true |
| DEBUG | Debug level (0, 1, 2). Default: 0 |
| DEBUG_SQL | SQL Debug level (0, 1, 2). Default 0 |
| ENCRYPT_KEYPAIR | Data encryption keypair |
| ENCRYPT_PUBLIC_KEY | Data encryption public key |
| ENCRYPT_SECRET_KEY | Data encryption secret key |
| ENCRYPT_NONCE | Data encryption nonce (used in 5.0 and higher) |
| ENCRYPT_SECRET_BOX_KEY | Data encryption secret box key (used in 5.0 and higher) |
| LISTEN_PORT | Apache: Listen port. Default: 8080 |
Sensitive information can also be passed _FILE to the following environment variables to load the values from the given file path. Example DB_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/db_password.
DB_PASSWORD_FILE
ADMIN_PASSWORD_FILE
ENCRYPT_KEYPAIR_FILE
ENCRYPT_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE
ENCRYPT_SECRET_KEY_FILE
ENCRYPT_NONCE_FILE
ENCRYPT_SECRET_BOX_KEY_FILE
For further details on the settings see: https://manual.limesurvey.org/Optional_settings#Advanced_Path_Settings
The easiest way to get a fully featured and functional setup is using a docker-compose file. Several examples are provided in the repository.
Hint: You need to configure a database and Limesurvey password in the docker-compose files before starting. No defaults are provided to discourage production use with default passwords.
docker-compose up
# Frontend
http://localhost:8080/
# Backend
http://localhost:8080/index.php/admin
A Helm Chart for this Image can be used for deployments. Please refer to the Helm Repository for further details:
https://github.com/martialblog/helm-charts
These guides are only referring to the Docker Image, for details on the application users should consult the official LimeSurvey documentation for details.
If you are using docker-compose to run the FPM Images, you need to stop the application and webserver Containers and delete the application volume:
$ docker volume ls
DRIVER VOLUME NAME
local docker-limesurvey_lime
$ docker volume rm docker-limesurvey_lime
The LimeSurvey 6 Images will use PHP 8.1 as Base Images.
LimeSurvey 5 will become the new LTS. LimeSurvey 3 is deprecated and will no longer be supported.
The default user in the Container will now be www-data (uid 33 in Debian, uid 82 in Alpine), any volumes mounted need the corresponding permissions:
# Debian
$ ls -ln upload/
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 3 33 33 4096 Jun 3 13:51 surveys
# Alpine
$ ls -ln upload/
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 3 82 82 4096 Jun 3 13:51 surveys
If you are using the Apache2 Images, the default port will now be 8080. Depending on your setup the port configurations might need adjustment.
When running LimeSurvey behind a reverse proxy with a subdirectory (i.e. example.com/limesurvey), the admin area might not be displayed correctly due to a routing issue. The application will forward you to the BASE URL regardless.
This might be fixed by setting the HTTP Host Header in the reverse proxy explicitly.
See: