babim/postgresql repository overview

⁠babim/postgresql:alpine

(thanks: onjin)

⁠How to use this image

⁠start a postgres instance

$ docker run --name some-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword -d babim/postgresql:alpine

This image includes EXPOSE 5432 (the postgres port), so standard container linking will make it automatically available to the linked containers. The default postgres user and database are created in the entrypoint with initdb.

⁠connect to it from an application

$ docker run --name some-app --link some-postgres:postgres -d application-that-uses-postgres

⁠... or via psql

$ docker run -it --link some-postgres:postgres --rm babim/postgresql:alpine sh -c 'exec psql -h "$POSTGRES_PORT_5432_TCP_ADDR" -p "$POSTGRES_PORT_5432_TCP_PORT" -U postgres'

⁠Environment Variables

The PostgreSQL image uses several environment variables which are easy to miss. While none of the variables are required, they may significantly aid you in using the image.

⁠DB_PASS

This environment variable is recommended for you to use the PostgreSQL image. This environment variable sets the superuser password for PostgreSQL. The default superuser is defined by the DB_USER environment variable. In the above example, it is being set to "mysecretpassword".

⁠DB_USER

This optional environment variable is used in conjunction with DB_PASS to set a user and its password. This variable will create the specified user with superuser power and a database with the same name. If it is not specified, then the default user of postgres will be used.

⁠PGDATA

This optional environment variable can be used to define another location - like a subdirectory - for the database files. The default is /var/lib/postgresql, but if the data volume you're using is a fs mountpoint (like with GCE persistent disks), Postgres initdb recommends a subdirectory (for example /var/lib/postgresql/pgdata ) be created to contain the data.

⁠DB_NAME

This optional environment variable can be used to define a different name for the default database that is created when the image is first started. If it is not specified, then the value of DB_USER will be used.

⁠LANG

This optional environment variable can be used to define a different locale for created cluster. The default is en_US.UTF-8.