README

docker-nginx-webdav-nononsense aims to be a Docker image that enables a no-nonsense WebDAV system on the latest available nginx, stable and mainline.

The image, and resulting container, is designed to run behind a reverse proxy (e.g., the great jc21/nginx-proxy-manager) to handle SSL. So, it runs on port 80 internally.

Why no-nonsense?

I'm taking it lightly: my own project is no-nonsense to me ;-) there is nothing wrong with other projects.

Here is what I think sets it apart from other nginx Docker images.

• Based on linuxserver.io Ubuntu. All their magic is here, too, including their handling of user and group permission.
  • Now with a working /config volume (see below).
• Takes inspiration from Rob Peck instructions to make WebDAV working well on nginx, which brings the following goodies:
  1. Includes the latest nginx-dav-ext-module (enables PROPFIND, OPTIONS, LOCK, UNLOCK).
  2. Includes the latest headers-more-nginx-module to handle broken and weird clients.
  3. Includes the latest ngx-fancyindex to make directory listing look good.
• No more NSPOSIXErrorDomain:100 Error with Safari 14+ on MacOS and on iOS 14+.
• Works out of the box with jc21/nginx-proxy-manager, no "Advanced" configuration needed, no proxy_hide_header Upgrade; needed.
• Works out of the box with macOS Finder.
• Works out of the box with Microsoft Windows Explorer (tested on Windows 11) with fixes adapted from rozhuk-im.
• CORS headers are all set.
• Some good configuration settings are automatized through env variables (see below).

Settings

Mount any of these two volumes:

• ./path/to/dir:/data is the root folder that nginx will serve for WebDAV content (/data).
• ./config:/config contains useful configuration files for nginx as well as the overall container. If you mount /config to an empty folder, the folder will be initialized with default empty files that you will be able to edit. See the next section for more information.

These are environment variables you can set, and what they do.

• PUID=1000 user id with read/write access to ./path/to/dir:/data volume. Nginx will use the same to be able to read/write to the folder.
• PGID=1000 group id with read/write access to ./path/to/dir:/data volume. Nginx will use the same to be able to read/write to the folder.
• TZ=Europe/Berlin specifies timezone for the underlying GNU/Linux system.
• WEBDAV_USERNAME=user to set a single username to access WebDAV. Ignored if WEBDAV_PASSWORDis not set, ignored if /config/nginx/htpasswd is provided.
• WEBDAV_PASSWORD=password to set the password to the single username to access WebDAV. Ignored if WEBDAV_USERNAMEis not set, ignored if /config/nginx/htpasswd is provided.
• SERVER_NAMES=localhost,ineed.coffee comma separated hostnames for the server.
• TIMEOUTS_S=1200 expressed as seconds, sets at the same time various nginx timeouts: send_timeout, client_body_timeout, keepalive_timeout, lingering_timeout.
• CLIENT_MAX_BODY_SIZE=120M limits file upload size to the expressed value, which must end wither with M(egabytes) or G(igabytes).

The /config volume

The container path /config is configured as unnamed/anonymous volume. Besides that, it contains the following paths and files:

• /config/custom-cont-init.d to host your own custom scripts that run at startup.
• /config/custom-services.d to host your own service files.
• /config/nginx to host custom configuration files for nginx, namely:
  • /config/nginx/http.conf included at the end of nginx.conf http directive.
  • /config/nginx/server.conf included at the end of nginx.conf server directive.
  • /config/nginx/http.conf included at the end of nginx.conf location directive.

Furthermore, if you provide an htpasswd file at /config/nginx/htpasswd, the container will use it for authentication. Tha htpasswd is the Apache HTTP compatible flat file to register usernames and passwords. If you provide one, you can tell the container who your username and passwords are. Please note that providing an htpasswd file will make the container ignore any supplied env variable WEBDAV_USERNAME and WEBDAV_PASSWORD. Please note that all users have the same access levels. Removing the file at /config/nginx/htpasswd will cause the container to use any provided WEBDAV_USERNAME and WEBDAV_PASSWORD variables.

Optional multi-user support

Multi-user support can be setup with only one container.

Be sure that:

• There is a htpasswd file with your users and passwords (more details can be found in The /config volume)
• A folder for each user (named exactly like the username)
• The right permissions (user/group of the nginx process) for these folders (as set with the env-variable)
• Add a custom-cont-init.d script:
  • Add a new volume in docker-compose: ./custom-cont-init.d:/custom-cont-init.d (more details can be found in The /config volume)
  • ... with the custom script 40-user_dir (from this repository)
• (Re-)Create the container: docker-compose up -d --force-recreate nginxwebdav

The log of the container should contain some information about the custom init-script:

cont-init: info: running /etc/cont-init.d/99-custom-files
[custom-init] Files found, executing
[custom-init] 40-user_dir: executing...
change root from /data to /data/$remote_user
[custom-init] 40-user_dir: exited 0
cont-init: info: /etc/cont-init.d/99-custom-files exited 0

WebDAV with basic login and custom folders per user tested with the integrated web-client, Filestash.app, Dolphin (KDE file manager; How-To from NextCloud documentation) and Linux mount (davfs; How-To from NextCloud documentation).

Usage

• Clone this repository, edit the included docker-compose.yml, and run docker-compose build && docker-compose up to build and run the container. Access it from http://localhost:32080; or
• Build the Dockerfile and run the container with docker; or
• Pull and run my docker image dgraziotin/nginx-webdav-nononsense and use it with docker-compose or docker.

If you are using a reverse proxy (you should!), and the reverse proxy is containerized, do not forget to connect the container to the reverse proxy with a network. Follow the instructions of your reverse proxy.

With jc21/nginx-proxy-manager, I add the following to the docker-compose.yml:

networks:
    default:
       external:
         name: reverseproxy

Consider also un-exposing the port if you use a reverse proxy.

Kindly note that this project is proxy-independent and requires you to be knowledgeable about reverse proxy to be used properly. 

A reverse proxy, if misconfigured, could become the weaker link that prevents proper functioning of the WebDAV functionalities. 

Examples include having the reverse configured with values for timeouts or max body size that are less than the one nginx-webdav-nononsense uses.

Some proxies might not forward important headers from-and-to nginx-webdav-nononsense, and you may need to whitelist these headers manually. Finally, a reminder that Cloudfare is a reverse proxy with its settings and limitations (example), some of which cannot be changed.

Feature requests

I will add features if I happen to need them. To name one, I do not need native SSL support, because I use a reverse proxy. However, I welcome pull requests.

Contributing to the Dockerfile

I use a small build system (refer to build.sh) that generates and updates the Dockerfile with each new release of nginx. Dockerfiles are updated based on Dockerfile.template.

If you plan to submit a pull request that modifies a Dockerfile, please ensure that you make the changes on Dockerfile.template.

Credits

Many thanks to dotWee for adding awesome CI features to the repo.

Credits to FlorianEndel for the optional multi-user support.