Apache Err 403 on static files from a docker volume

Question

I am struggling with staticfiles and, since I'm new to docker and not quite fluent with Apache, I am not sure whether the problem comes from the former or the latter.

[the set up] I have a dockerized app with a WSGI server and I am using a non dockerized Apache as a proxy pass. The proxy works but since the WSGI server cannot serve static files, Apache has to do it. Here is the conf:

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName my.domain.name

        ProxyPass /staticfiles !
        <Location />
                ProxyPass http://localhost:8000/
                ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:8000/
        </Location>

        Alias /staticfiles "/var/lib/docker/volumes/app_static_volume/_data/"

        <Directory "/var/lib/docker/volumes/app_static_volume/_data">
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
                Require all granted
        </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Despite all the directive I tried in the Directory, I am still getting 403 errors. the log mentions an Permission issue.

[Mon May 06 17:06:27.531541 2019] [core:error] [pid 73031:tid 139870919952128] (13)Permission denied: [client 127.0.0.1:55892] AH00035: access to /staticfiles/jengu/jquery.datetimepicker.full.min.js denied (filesystem path '/var/lib/docker/volumes/app_static_volume') because search permissions are missing on a component of the path, referer: http://my.domain.name/

This makes sense:

ls -la /var/lib/docker/volumes/app_static_volume/_data 
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 mai    6 14:33 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 mai    6 14:33 ..
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 mai    6 14:33 admin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 mai    6 14:33 app

ls -la /var/lib/docker 
total 84
drwx--x--x  15 root root  4096 mai    6 10:19 .
drwxr-xr-x  60 root root  4096 janv.  9 19:43 ..
drwx------   2 root root  4096 août  13  2018 builder
.........
drwx------   6 root root  4096 mai    6 14:33 volumes

#docker-compose
version: '3.7'

services:
  web:
    build:
      context: ./app
      dockerfile: Dockerfile.prod
    command: gunicorn my_app.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000
    volumes:
      - static_volume:/usr/src/app/staticfiles
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:8000:8000
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: postgres:11.2-alpine
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
    env_file: .env.db

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  static_volume: 

[What I tried] Sure I could change the path on which the volume is monted (and I tried it, just have to say : - ./web-app/application:/usr/src/jengu/staticfiles), I could point it to somewhere in /home/myuser but, anyhow, at one point, one component of the path will not be searchable.

[Mon May 06 17:53:18.038814 2019] [core:error] [pid 78453:tid 140402917062400] (13)Permission denied: [client 127.0.0.1:34708] AH00035: access to /staticfiles/app/jquery.datetimepicker.full.min.js denied (filesystem path '/home/david/Documents') because search permissions are missing on a component of the path, referer: http://my.domain.name/

Is there an elegant workaround so I wouldn't have to change massively the rights on my system? Did I understand docker volumes properly? Is my problem merely docker related or did I miss something in my apache conf file? Any help appreciated

[edit] I tried to use a symbolic link to overcome the issue.

ln -s /var/lib/docker/volumes/app_static_volume/_data/ /var/www/html/app/staticfiles

Does not seem to solve much

[Tue May 07 00:55:05.192193 2019] [core:error] [pid 5345:tid 140310969526016] [client 127.0.0.1:40766] AH00037: Symbolic link not allowed or link target not accessible: /var/www/html/app/staticfiles, referer: http://my.domain.name/

Answer 1

The easiest way I could find was to mount the volume in a place where all components of the PATH were allow for search (such as /usr/local/share/). Here is the docker compose file

version: '3.7'

services:
  web:
    build:
      context: ./app
      dockerfile: Dockerfile.prod
    command: gunicorn my_app.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000
    volumes:
      - /usr/local/share/app/staticfiles:/usr/src/app/staticfiles
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:8000:8000
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: postgres:11.2-alpine
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
    env_file: .env.db

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  static_volume: