phpBB3 docker image

Lightweight Alpine-based phpBB image with nginx and PHP 8.4 FPM.

Bundled phpBB 3.3.17 with support for SQLite, MariaDB/MySQL (mysqli), and PostgreSQL.

Quick start with Docker Compose

The included compose.yml runs phpBB with MariaDB LTS:

$ docker compose up -d --build

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000. For a fresh install, start once with the installer enabled:

$ PHPBB_INSTALL=true docker compose up --build

During installation, use these database settings:

Field	Value
Database type	MySQL with MySQLi Extension
Database server	mariadb
Database name	phpbb (or your MARIADB_DATABASE)
Username	phpbb (or your MARIADB_USER)
Password	phpbb (or your MARIADB_PASSWORD)

Default MariaDB credentials can be overridden with environment variables:

• MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD (default: changeme)
• MARIADB_DATABASE (default: phpbb)
• MARIADB_USER (default: phpbb)
• MARIADB_PASSWORD (default: phpbb)

After installation, restart without PHPBB_INSTALL so the install/ directory is removed on startup. Optionally enable automatic migrations:

$ docker compose up -d
$ PHPBB_DB_AUTOMIGRATE=true docker compose up -d

When PHPBB_INSTALL is not set in the environment, the startup script deletes install/ automatically.

Standalone container

Build and run the image without Compose:

$ docker build -t phpbb .
$ docker run -p 8000:80 --name phpbb-install -e PHPBB_INSTALL=true -d phpbb

By default the standalone image uses SQLite. Set the DSN field to /phpbb/sqlite/sqlite.db during installation and leave username, password, and database name blank.

For an external database:

$ docker run --name phpbb \
    -e PHPBB_DB_DRIVER=mysqli \
    -e PHPBB_DB_HOST=dbhost \
    -e PHPBB_DB_PORT=3306 \
    -e PHPBB_DB_NAME=phpbb \
    -e PHPBB_DB_USER=phpbb \
    -e PHPBB_DB_PASSWD=pass \
    -p 8000:80 -d phpbb

Environment variables

Most variables are written into phpBB's config.php or read by the startup script.

PHPBB_INSTALL

If true, removes config.php and keeps the /install/ directory for a fresh setup.

PHPBB_DB_DRIVER

Supported drivers in this image: sqlite3, mysqli, postgres.

Default: sqlite3

PHPBB_DB_HOST

Database hostname, or SQLite file path for the sqlite3 driver.

Default: /phpbb/sqlite/sqlite.db

PHPBB_DB_PORT

Database port (required for PHPBB_DB_WAIT with network databases).

PHPBB_DB_NAME / PHPBB_DB_USER / PHPBB_DB_PASSWD

Database credentials.

PHPBB_DB_TABLE_PREFIX

Default: phpbb_

PHPBB_DB_AUTOMIGRATE

If true, runs bin/phpbbcli.php db:migrate on startup. Requires an existing database schema.

PHPBB_DB_WAIT

If true, waits for the database host/port to accept connections before running migrations. Not used with SQLite.

PHPBB_DISPLAY_LOAD_TIME / PHPBB_DEBUG / PHPBB_DEBUG_CONTAINER

Enable phpBB debug and diagnostics output when set to true.

Volumes

Persistent data paths:

• /phpbb/www/files
• /phpbb/www/store
• /phpbb/www/images/avatars/upload
• /phpbb/sqlite (SQLite only)

Updating phpBB version

$ ./update.sh 3.3

This updates PHPBB_VERSION and its checksum in the Dockerfile.

Custom configuration

Drop PHP settings into /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d and nginx site config into /etc/nginx/http.d by extending the image:

FROM your-image/phpbb:latest

COPY custom.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/
COPY custom.conf /etc/nginx/http.d/

To pass the client IP through a reverse proxy, configure nginx real_ip directives in a custom server block.