Why is there no php.ini file when I install PHP in a docker container?

Question

I'm using docker-compose to setup a minimal nginx + php-fpm application but for some reason there is no php.ini file on the docker container (I know because phpinfo() says Loaded Configuration File: (none)).

Here's my docker-compose.yml file:

web:
  image: nginx
  ports:
    - "8080:80"
  volumes:
    - ./site.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/site.conf
  links:
    - php

php:
  image: php:5-fpm
  volumes:
    - .root:/var/www/html:ro
  command: bash -c "apt-get update && apt-get install -y php5-mysql && php-fpm"

site.conf is pretty straightforward as well:

server {
    index index.php;
    server_name local.myspicesage.com;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    root /var/www/html;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass php:9000;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    }
}

And finally I have the most basic index.php possible:

<?php
echo phpinfo();

I really don't want to start from scratch if I don't have to. Is there supposed to be a php.ini file included with the php:5-fpm docker image? If not, is there a generic file I could use to start with?

Solution 1

The container also has /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d and will read and parse every configuration file in that directory.

Notice that it will still say Loaded Configuration File => (none), but that it will also say Additional .ini files parsed and there you will see it walking through that directory ... and the various files that the container puts there: docker-php-ext-XXX.ini. (So it's rather misleading for it to say (none) ...)

It's useful to do things like this:

 php -r 'phpinfo();' | grep -i conf

... which in this case will very quickly show you only the lines in PHP's voluminous output that contain (in upper or lower case) the string conf.

Solution 2

You need to add php.ini file:

1. Run temporary php container

docker run -d --name php-tmp php:5-fpm

2. Copy php archive

docker cp php-tmp:/usr/src/php.tar.xz .

3. Extract php.ini-development or php.ini-production file to config dir. Example:

compose_root/php/php.ini-development

4. Add volume with php.ini in php container

   volumes:

   • .root:/var/www/html:ro
   • ./php/php.ini-development:/usr/local/etc/php/php.ini

Comments

[Admin]

Does the container you chose include a php.ini? What did the maintainer of the container tell you when you asked?

[Admin]

@Michael Hampton: Point taken. Let me ask and share back what I find.

[iwaseatenbyagrue]

Or you could extract the files and use a dockerfile to build your container.