.env variables are not making it inside the container

[tueboesen]

⚠️ Please verify that this bug has NOT been reported before.

• I checked and didn't find similar issue

🛡️ Security Policy

• I agree to have read this project Security Policy

Description

I have the following docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3"

services:
  pihole:
    container_name: pihole
    image: pihole/pihole:latest
    ports:
      - "53:53/tcp" # DNS TCP
      - "53:53/udp" # DNS UDP
      - "${PORT_PIHOLE}:80/tcp" # Comment out this line when traefik is working to close the port.
      #- "67:67/udp" # Only required if you are using Pi-hole as your DHCP server
    environment:
      TZ: ${TZ}
      WEBPASSWORD: '1234'
    volumes:
      - ${LOCAL_BASE_PATH}/pihole/data:/etc/pihole
      - ${LOCAL_BASE_PATH}/pihole/dnsmasq:/etc/dnsmasq.d
#    cap_add:
#      - NET_ADMIN # Required if you are using Pi-hole as your DHCP server, else not needed
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      - proxy
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.docker.network=proxy"
      - "traefik.http.routers.${TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME}.rule=Host(`pihole.${DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.${TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME}.entrypoints=https"
      - "traefik.http.routers.${TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME}.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.${TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME}.loadbalancer.server.port=80" # This has to be the internal docker port, not the external port
      - "traefik.http.middlewares.admin-add-prefix.addprefix.prefix=/admin"
      - "traefik.http.routers.${TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME}.middlewares=admin-add-prefix"

networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

And the following .env file, both in the same folder

DOMAIN=mydomain.com
PUID=568
PGID=568
TZ=Europe/Copenhagen
NAS_BASE_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/docker/data # Location on the nas for all docker configs, this is not meant to hold large data amounts.
LOCAL_BASE_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/docker/data # Location on the local storage for all docker configs, this is meant for databases and similar that should not exist on nfs mounted drives.
NAS_MEDIA_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/media
NAS_PHOTOS_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/photos/
NAS_BOOKS_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/media/books
NAS_DOCUMENTS_PATH=/mnt/DataStore/Documents
SSD_TRANSCODING_PATH=/mnt/SSD/Transcoding
PORT_IMMICH=2283
PORT_CALIBRE=2284
PORT_CALIBRE_WEB=2285
PORT_NEXTCLOUD=2286
PORT_TRAEFIK=2287
PORT_TANDOOR=2288
PORT_JOPLIN=2289
PORT_PROWLARR=2290
PORT_RADARR=2291
PORT_LIDARR=2292
PORT_BAZARR=2293
PORT_SONARR=2294
PORT_READARR=2295
PORT_JELLYFIN=2296
PORT_JELLYSEERR=2297
PORT_QBITTORRENT_VPN=2298
PORT_QBITTORRENT_NO_VPN=2299
PORT_PIHOLE=22999
PORT_RADARR4k=3000
PORT_SONARR4k=3001
TORRENTING_PORT_NO_VPN=53108
TRAEFIK_SERVICE_NAME=pihole

Both the files are placed in a folder called pihole, inside a folder called docker_stack:

tue@truenas:/mnt/DataStore/docker/docker_stack/pihole$ ls -la
total 23
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    5 Nov  1 13:16 .
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root   16 Oct 30 20:57 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1143 Nov  1 09:48 .env
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1294 Oct 30 20:56 README.md
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1338 Nov  1 13:16 docker-compose.yml

I have Dockge running and I can make it start pihole without any problems. However, when I start pihole inside dockge, I can then step into the container using the little bash icon. Inside the container I print the environment and get:

root@ed1c7645e536:/# env
S6_BEHAVIOUR_IF_STAGE2_FAILS=2
HOSTNAME=ed1c7645e536
S6_CMD_WAIT_FOR_SERVICES_MAXTIME=0
PWD=/
TZ=Etc/UTC
HOME=/root
FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4=0.0.0.0
TERM=xterm
FTL_CMD=no-daemon
IPv6=True
PHP_ERROR_LOG=/var/log/lighttpd/error-pihole.log
SHLVL=1
phpver=php
DNSMASQ_USER=pihole
WEBPASSWORD=1234
PATH=/opt/pihole:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
S6_KEEP_ENV=1
_=/usr/bin/env

But note how TZ=Etc/UTC, even though it should be set to Europe/Copenhagen according to the .env file. If I shut down the container and instead spin up the container using sudo docker compose up -d inside the pihole folder I instead get the correct env variables when I test it inside the container.

👟 Reproduction steps

See the above for a step by step guide

👀 Expected behavior

I expected that the variables from the environment: section of the docker-compose.yml file were loaded correctly into the container.

😓 Actual Behavior

It does not load the env variables

Dockge Version

1.0.17

💻 Operating System and Arch

Truenas scale 24.10

🌐 Browser

Firefox 132.0

🐋 Docker Version

27.1.1

🟩 NodeJS Version

No response

📝 Relevant log output

No response

[Hoempi]

I noticed the same thing. Adding env_file: - .env works as a workaround for me.

[tachnoraki]

I noticed it also, with a slight variance ...

It appears that variables like $PATH are effectively utilized without the need to specify env_file: - .env, whereas variables such as PUID, PGID, and TZ do not work in the same manner and require the inclusion of env_file: - .env as a workaround.

Clearly, I do reference the $PATH variable within the Docker Compose file, indicating that .env is indeed referenced, albeit not functioning as one might expect.

[louislam]

Yes, it is also by default docker compose behavior.