Can PHP settings be controlled by environment variables?

[basnappl]

I'd like to be able to attach larger files. Thank you!

[mattwire]

Also PHP memory_limit

[michaelmcandrew]

The recommended way to set php settings, in the PHP image that this image is based on, is via a PHP settings file. I think we should try and follow this convention.

We are mounting the PHP image's default production config here: https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-docker/blob/main/build/civicrm/Dockerfile#L27

Some thoughts on how we could approach altering these settings:

1. Create a new file civicrm.ini that contains all settings that we want to alter and reference this in the Dockerfile.

COPY civicrm.ini "$PHP_INI_DIR/civicrm.ini"

2. Try and set a sensible default that will suit most people (feel free to propose a default for a setting you care about). This is a good way to define best practice.

3. If we think there is a use case for allowing people to adjust settings themselves, allow them to be adjusted by an environment variable of the form PHP_SETTING_NAME (also set our recommended default). See https://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.file.php

Environment variables can be referenced within configuration values in php.ini as shown below. As of PHP 8.3.0, a fallback value can be specified that will be used when the referenced variable is not defined.

; PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT is taken from environment
memory_limit = ${PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT}
; If PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME is not defined, it will fall back to 30
max_execution_time = ${PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME:-30}

4. Only define and allow customisation of 'common' settings. Don't try and cater for all/esoteric settings. We are only trying to meet the needs of 80% of the people. Others can easily build a custom image with something like the following:

# Dockerfile
FROM civicrm/civicrm

COPY custom.ini "$PHP_INI_DIR/custom.ini"

or

# compose.yaml
    image: civicrm/civicrm
    volumes:
      - custom.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/custom.ini

Other methods are available.

Let me know what you think and see docker-library/php#765 for some background.

[wmortada]

We've made a start on this for the WordPress image in #40. We need to do the same for Standalone.

[dandrzejewski]

Max execution time should be adjustable as well. I can't even get up and running because the initial setup times out after 30 seconds.

[michaelmcandrew]

@dandrzejewski - unless there is a good reason why people might want to adjust it, we should just set a reasonable default.

max_execution_time seems to already be set up 300 seconds - see https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-docker/blob/main/build/common-base/php-conf-civicrm.ini#L3. Are you able to investigate / provide more specifics on

I can't even get up and running because the initial setup times out after 30 seconds.

[michaelmcandrew]

@dandrzejewski - actually - I think I know what has happened here - while the changes have been merged into the repo, they haven't made their way into the build system that publishes the docker images yet. That should happen shortly. Will update you here when that is done.

[basnappl]

The workaround I'm currently using is to just map my own php.ini file to the correct path in the container thus:

services:
  app:
    ...
    volumes:
      ...
      - ./php.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/php.ini

Hope that is helpful for someone.

[michaelmcandrew]

@basnappl - that sounds like a good approach!

One suggestion, rather than overwrite the php.ini file which we will update as time goes on, you could add a new file to the /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d directory with your overides. Files there are read in alphabetical order so something like z-config.ini would reliably be read last.

[dandrzejewski]

@michaelmcandrew I agree with your latest comment. Rather than providing for overrides of specific configs (which could end up being numerous), conf.d optionally mapped as a volume would probably be a better idea.

[michaelmcandrew]

hey @dandrzejewski - actually /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d is already there and has a few files in it that should be read. Mounting a file into the directory rather than overwriting the entire directory is a better way to go.

I've just published new images here: https://hub.docker.com/r/civicrm/civicrm which have better defaults, including a 300 second max_execution_time.

root@example:/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d# ls
civicrm.ini		   docker-php-ext-gd.ini       docker-php-ext-intl.ini	  docker-php-ext-opcache.ini  docker-php-ext-zip.ini
docker-php-ext-bcmath.ini  docker-php-ext-imagick.ini  docker-php-ext-mysqli.ini  docker-php-ext-sodium.ini
root@example:/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d# cat civicrm.ini 
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = -1
max_input_vars = 10000
date.timezone = ${PHP_DATE_TIMEZONE:-"UTC"}
log_errors = On
error_log = /dev/stderr

[basnappl]

Oh, rad! So, I should just map a my_overrides.ini into the conf.d directory, correct?

[michaelmcandrew]

@basnappl - yes - if you want to ensure your overrides to be loaded after the civicrm overrides then (since they are called in alphabetical order) naming the file civicrm-overrides.ini should do the trick. This feels like a reasonable best practice to document.

PS. if you find yourself wanting to add or override a php setting please feel free to create an issue so we can discuss whether it makes sense for us to set it as a default.