Setting path to .env in home folder instead of with compose - "No such file"

General
,
1

I have a Docker stack running Transmission, which I want to password protect. I know how to pass the Environment variables to the stack using the compose.yaml file, but this leaves the passwords in plain text in a spot where anyone can see them if they have access to the file.

I looked into .env files, and I was able to set up an .env file with the variables I want, and it works if the file is in the same folder as the compose file. However, I’d like to move the .env file to a more secure location, where the local config files for Transmission are, so that everything for this stack is in one place and I can easily recreate / restore it from backup if needed, instead of chasing down files in multiple locations.

I’ve set up a “test” user & stack to figure this out and debug before I set this up in a more stable environment. (This is on TrueNAS 20.10.1, Electric Eel, for the record.)

The path to the (preferred) location for the .env file is:

/mnt/data/home/test/Apps/transmission/transmission.env

When I try to launch the stack, I get the following message:

Failed to load /mnt/data/home/test/Apps/transmission/transmission.env: open /mnt/data/home/test/Apps/transmission/transmission.env: no such file or directory

The directory with the .env file in it also contains the config files for Transmission itself, and the stack and app run if I don’t reference the .env file (or reference it in another location), so I know the directory is accessible by Docker.

What could I be missing, that it can’t find the .env file in my test home directory, even though it can find the other config files for Transmission?

Compose file for reference:

services:
  transmission:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/transmission:latest
    container_name: transmission-test
    env_file:
      - transmission.env
      # - /mnt/data/home/test/Apps/transmission/transmission.env
    environment:
      - PUID=568
      - PGID=568
      - TZ=America/New_York
    volumes:
      - /mnt/data/home/test/Apps/transmission:/config
      - /mnt/data/home/test/Torrents:/downloads
      - /mnt/data/home/test/Torrents/watch:/watch
    ports:
      - 30097:9091
      - 51414:51413
      - 51414:51413/udp
    restart: unless-stopped
networks: {}
2

Check the file permissions and compare to the permissions of the working file.

3

Good call. Both files are -rwxrwx—

I changed the owner on the one in the home folder to root:root to match the one in the Stacks folder, but the error is persisting. I did verify the owner, group, and permissions are identical.

4

With the official Docker, you wouldn’t have problem with accessing a dot env file anywhere, but you say you use TrueNAS. I don’t know what Docker version is instaled on TrueNAS and what the difference between the official Docker. If I’m correct, new TrueNAS versions use K3s or maybe the switched back? I don’t really know, but you use 20.10 so it doesn’t matter. Can you reproduce it when you install an official Docker?

5

Unfortunately, I can’t install another version of Docker due to OS restrictions. I can try taking this question to the TrueNAS community, though.

6

I meant on any machines you have access to. IT could be even Docker Desktop if you have only desktop machines. But of course the best would be if you could try the same docker version on another machien even if that is a virtual machine but with Docker installed from the official repository. I can only say it works perfectly well for me in a VM, but I have the latest Docker CE and I don’t know if there were any bug related to the env files before.

7

I figured it out as I was posting it to the TrueNAS forums - I was using Dockge to maintain the stacks. When I tried it in the native TrueNAS Compose function, it worked fine.

Looks like it’s time to ditch Dockge and go native on TrueNAS.

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8

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