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I'm using the official Postgres Docker image trying to customize its configuration. For this purpose, I use the command sed to change max_connections for example:

sed -i -e"s/^max_connections = 100.*$/max_connections = 1000/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf

I tried two methods to apply this configuration. The first is by adding the commands to a script and copying it within the init folder "/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d". The second method is by running them directly within my Dockerfile with "RUN" command (this method worked fine with a non-official Postgresql image with a different path to the configuration file "/etc/postgres/..."). In both cases the changes fail because the configuration file is missing (I think it's not created yet).

How should I change the configuration?

Edit 1:

Here is the Dockerfile used to create the image:

# Database (http://www.cs3c.ma/)

FROM postgres:9.4
MAINTAINER Sabbane <contact@cs3c.ma>

ENV TERM=xterm

RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y nano

ADD scripts /scripts
# ADD scripts/setup-my-schema.sh /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/

# Allow connections from anywhere.
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#listen_addresses =.*$/listen_addresses = '*'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN echo "host    all    all    0.0.0.0/0    md5" >> /var/lib/postgresql/data/pg_hba.conf

# Configure logs
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#logging_collector = off.*$/logging_collector = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_directory = 'pg_log'.*$/log_directory = '\/var\/log\/postgresql'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_filename = 'postgresql-\%Y-\%m-\%d_\%H\%M\%S.log'.*$/log_filename = 'postgresql_\%a.log'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_file_mode = 0600.*$/log_file_mode = 0644/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_truncate_on_rotation = off.*$/log_truncate_on_rotation = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_rotation_age = 1d.*$/log_rotation_age = 1d/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_min_duration_statement = -1.*$/log_min_duration_statement = 0/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_checkpoints = off.*$/log_checkpoints = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_connections = off.*$/log_connections = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_disconnections = off.*$/log_disconnections = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^log_line_prefix = '\%t \[\%p-\%l\] \%q\%u@\%d '.*$/log_line_prefix = '\%t \[\%p\]: \[\%l-1\] user=\%u,db=\%d'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_lock_waits = off.*$/log_lock_waits = on/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#log_temp_files = -1.*$/log_temp_files = 0/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#statement_timeout = 0.*$/statement_timeout = 1800000        # in milliseconds, 0 is disabled (current 30min)/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^lc_messages = 'en_US.UTF-8'.*$/lc_messages = 'C'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf

# Performance Tuning
RUN sed -i -e"s/^max_connections = 100.*$/max_connections = 1000/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^shared_buffers =.*$/shared_buffers = 16GB/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#effective_cache_size = 128MB.*$/effective_cache_size = 48GB/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#work_mem = 1MB.*$/work_mem = 16MB/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#maintenance_work_mem = 16MB.*$/maintenance_work_mem = 2GB/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#checkpoint_segments = .*$/checkpoint_segments = 32/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#checkpoint_completion_target = 0.5.*$/checkpoint_completion_target = 0.7/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#wal_buffers =.*$/wal_buffers = 16MB/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
RUN sed -i -e"s/^#default_statistics_target = 100.*$/default_statistics_target = 100/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf


VOLUME ["/var/lib/postgresql/data", "/var/log/postgresql"]

CMD ["postgres"]

With this Dockerfile the build process shows the error: sed: can't read /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf: No such file or directory

Answers

The postgres:9.4 image you've inherited from declares a volume at /var/lib/postgresql/data. This essentially means you can't copy any files to that path in your image; the changes will be discarded.

You have a few choices:

• You could just add your own configuration files as a volume at run-time with docker run -v postgresql.conf:/var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf .... However, I'm not sure exactly how that will interact with the existing volume.

• You could copy the file over when the container is started. To do that, copy your file into the build at a location which isn't underneath the volume then call a script from the entrypoint or cmd which will copy the file to the correct location and start Postgres.

• Clone the project behind the Postgres official image and edit the Dockerfile to add your own config file in before the VOLUME is declared (anything added before the VOLUME instruction is automatically copied in at run-time).

• Pass all config changes in command option in docker-compose file

Like this:

services:
  postgres:
    ...
    command:
      - "postgres"
      - "-c"
      - "max_connections=1000"
      - "-c"
      - "shared_buffers=3GB"
      - "-c"
      ...