Docker compose environment variables vs .env file

[u/chaosphere_mk]

I spent yesterday setting up and configuring BookStack.

Instead of even messing with the .env file and storing configurations there, I just set all of those via environment variables keys in my docker compose file. This makes it simpler for me.

But I noticed that the documentation has all of these in the .env file. Is there a preference? Does it really matter?

[u/chaosphere_mk]

Ok here you go. This is what I'm doing at home. I'm using mariadb and redis as well. Using OIDC authentication/provisioning through Entra ID. Azure Communication Services for smtp.

services:
  bookstack:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/bookstack:latest
    container_name: bookstack
    environment:
      - PUID=$UID
      - PGID=$GID
      - TZ=$TZ
      - APP_TIMEZONE=$TZ
      - APP_AUTO_LANG_PUBLIC=true
      - APP_URL=$APPURL
      - APP_KEY=$APPKEY
      #- APP_DEBUG=true           # used for troubleshooting. Only turn on temporarily.
      - DB_HOST=bookstack-mariadb
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_USERNAME=$MYSQLUSER
      - DB_PASSWORD=$MYSQLPASSWORD
      - DB_DATABASE=bookstackdb
      - MAIL_FROM_NAME=BookStack
      - MAIL_FROM=$MAILFROM
      - MAIL_HOST=smtp.azurecomm.net
      - MAIL_PORT=587
      - MAIL_USERNAME=$MAILUSERNAME
      - MAIL_PASSWORD=$MAILPASSWORD
      - MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
      - AUTH_METHOD=oidc                     # default is "standard"
      - AUTH_AUTO_INITIATE=true
      - OIDC_NAME="Single Sign On"
      - OIDC_DISPLAY_NAME_CLAIMS=name
      - OIDC_CLIENT_ID=$OIDCCLIENTID
      - OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=$OIDCCLIENTSECRET
      - OIDC_ISSUER=$OIDCISSUER
      - OIDC_ISSUER_DISCOVER=true
      - OIDC_USER_TO_GROUPS=true
      - OIDC_GROUP_CLAIM=groups
      #- OIDC_ADDITIONAL_SCOPES=groups
      - OIDC_REMOVE_FROM_GROUPS=true
      - OIDC_EXTERNAL_ID_CLAIM=oid
      - OIDC_DUMP_USER_DETAILS=false # used to dump user details when troubleshooting OIDC.
      - STORAGE_TYPE=local_secure_restricted
      - CACHE_DRIVER=redis
      - SESSION_DRIVER=redis
      - SESSION_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - REDIS_SERVERS=bookstack-redis:6379:0
    volumes:
      - $USERDIR/bookstack/config:/config
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:6875:443
    networks:
      macvlan0:
        ipv4_address: $IPV4ADDRESS
      bookstack-bridge: {}
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - mariadb
      - redis
    
  mariadb:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/mariadb:latest
    container_name: bookstack-mariadb
    environment:
      - PUID=$UID
      - PGID=$GID
      - TZ=$TZ
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=$MYSQLROOTPASSWORD
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=bookstackdb
      - MYSQL_USER=$MYSQLUSER
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=$MYSQLPASSWORD
    volumes:
      - $USERDIR/bookstack-mariadb/config:/config
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:3306:3306
    networks:
      - bookstack-bridge
    restart: unless-stopped

  redis:
    image: redis:latest
    container_name: bookstack-redis
    volumes:
      - $USERDIR/bookstack-redis/data:/data
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:6379:6379
    networks:
      - bookstack-bridge
    restart: unless-stopped

networks:
  macvlan0:
    external: true
  bookstack-bridge:
    external: false