Common Issues

Overview

This guide covers the most common issues users encounter and their solutions. If you don't find your issue here, check out our Getting Help guide for community and professional support options.

Permission Issues

Permission problems are one of the most common issues when working with Docker containers. They typically manifest as "Permission denied" errors when trying to write files.

Understanding the Problem

By default, these images run as a non-root user (www-data) for security. When your host machine uses a different user ID (UID) or group ID (GID), file permission conflicts can occur.

If your command is failing during build, then you likely need to switch to root to perform root tasks.

FROM serversideup/php:8.4-fpm-nginx

USER root

# Install system packages
RUN install-php-extensions intl bcmath

# Switch back to www-data
USER www-data

If your container is failing to run during runtime, then you may have a more advanced permissions issue. See our guide on understanding file permissions.

Port Already in Use

Error Message

Error starting xyz service: listen tcp 0.0.0.0:80: bind: address already in use

Solution

Another process is using the port. Find and stop it, or use a different port:

Find what's using the port:

# On Linux/macOS
sudo lsof -i :80

# On Windows
netstat -ano | findstr :80

If you must use a different port:

services:
  php:
    image: serversideup/php:8.4-fpm-nginx
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"  # Use port 8080 instead
      - "8443:8443"

Access your application at http://localhost:8080.

Getting More Help

If your issue isn't covered here:

1. Search GitHub Discussions - Someone may have encountered the same problem
2. Check the Documentation - Review guides specific to your setup
3. Ask the Community - Post in GitHub Discussions or Discord
4. Review Container Logs - Most issues show helpful error messages