Files
docker-seafile-client/README.md
T
Maxim Shulga eef0e453bf Authenticate from mounted secrets and stop passing the password to seaf-cli
The password could only be given through the PASSWORD variable, so Docker
Compose and Swarm secrets were unusable and the password sat in the container
environment.

PASSWORD_FILE and TOKEN_FILE read a secret from a mounted file. Only trailing
newlines are stripped, since secret files are usually written with one and a
password that silently carries it just fails to authenticate; everything else,
including surrounding spaces, belongs to the secret. Setting both a variable
and a file for one secret is rejected rather than resolved by precedence,
because the two are meant to be the same value and quietly picking one hides
the mistake until authentication fails.

The installed seaf-cli supports token authentication and ignores the password
when a token is given, so sync now passes -T instead of -p. The account
password no longer appears in any command line. The token does, because
seaf-cli accepts credentials only as arguments, but a token can be revoked on
the server. This is documented in the README.

Both secrets are masked before a command is logged.

Tests cover newline handling, empty and missing files, conflicting sources,
and that neither secret reaches the logs. Requests are now blocked in tests:
the client retries with backoff, so a test that reached the network appeared
to hang instead of failing.
2026-08-02 17:21:46 -07:00

118 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown

# docker-seafile-client
Docker image for [Seafile CLI client](https://help.seafile.com/syncing_client/linux-cli/).
Image on Docker Hub:
[snegov/seafile-client](https://hub.docker.com/r/snegov/seafile-client).
### Docker-compose example:
Also available as a ready-to-use [`compose.example.yaml`](compose.example.yaml).
```yaml
services:
seafile-client:
restart: always
image: snegov/seafile-client:0.0.13
environment:
LIBRARY_ID: "79867cbf-2944-488d-9105-852463ecdf9e:my_library"
SERVER_HOST: seafile.example.com
USERNAME: user
PASSWORD: password
SEAFILE_UID: 1000
SEAFILE_GID: 100
hostname: dsc
volumes:
- /home/johndow/seafile:/dsc/seafile
- sync-data:/dsc/seafile-data
container_name: seafile-client
volumes:
sync-data:
```
### Environment variables:
- `LIBRARY_ID` - library to sync, ID or name. Multiple libraries could be
separated by colon `:`.
- `SERVER_HOST` - hostname of your Seafile server, eg: _seafile.example.com_.
If you're using non-standard port, you can specify it here,
eg: _seafile.example.com:8080_.
- `USERNAME` / `PASSWORD` - credentials to access Seafile server.
- `PASSWORD_FILE` - path to a file holding the password, for Docker Compose
and Swarm secrets. Use either `PASSWORD` or `PASSWORD_FILE`, never both.
- `TOKEN` / `TOKEN_FILE` - an API token to authenticate with instead of a
password. A token takes precedence over a password and can be revoked on the
server. Use either `TOKEN` or `TOKEN_FILE`, never both.
- `SEAFILE_UID` / `SEAFILE_GID` - UID/GID of user inside container. You can
use it to set permissions on synced files. Default values are _1000_ / _1000_.
- `DELETE_CONFIRM_THRESHOLD` - represents the number of files that require
confirmation before being deleted simultaneously. Default value is _500_.
- `DISABLE_VERIFY_CERTIFICATE` - set to _true_ to disable server's certificate
verification. Default value is _false_.
- `UPLOAD_LIMIT` / `DOWNLOAD_LIMIT` - upload/download speed limit in B/s
(bytes per second). Default values are _0_ (unlimited).
### Using Docker secrets:
Mount the secret and point `PASSWORD_FILE` at it, so the password never enters
the environment:
```yaml
services:
seafile-client:
environment:
PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/seafile_password
secrets:
- seafile_password
secrets:
seafile_password:
file: ./seafile_password.txt
```
A trailing newline in the file is ignored; everything else, including
surrounding spaces, is part of the secret.
The client authenticates `seaf-cli` with an API token rather than the account
password, so the password never appears in a command line. The token does
appear there, and command lines are visible to any process in the container.
This is a limitation of `seaf-cli`, which accepts credentials only as
arguments. A token can at least be revoked on the server.
### Volumes:
- `/dsc/seafile-data` Seafile client data directory (sync status, etc).
- `/dsc/seafile` Seafile libraries content.
### Some notes
`LIBRARY_ID` could be library ID or library name. Library ID is a 36-character
string, which is a part of URI when you open library in webUI. Library name is
a name you gave to library when you created it.
Libraries will be synced in subdirectories of `/dsc/seafile` directory inside
container. You can mount it to host directory to access files.
The subdirectory is named after the library, with whitespace replaced by
underscores. A library is skipped with a warning when its name cannot be a
directory of its own: an empty name, `.`, `..`, or a name containing `/`. Two
libraries whose names would produce the same directory both get their library
ID appended, so they never share one. Everything is created under the
libraries directory (`/dsc/seafile`, or the deprecated `/data` when that
exists); a library name can never place it elsewhere.
The container stops gracefully on `docker stop`: it shuts the Seafile daemon
down and exits with code 0. It exits with a nonzero code and an explanatory
message when the daemon fails to start or stop within its timeout, instead of
waiting forever.
`hostname` parameter is optional, but it's recommended to set it to some unique
value, it will be shown in Seafile webUI as client name (`terminal-dsc` in
given example).
`sync-data` volume is optional too, but it's recommended to use it. Otherwise,
sync status will be lost when container is recreated.
At the moment there is no suitable way to confirm deletion of large number of
files. So, if you're going to delete a lot of files, you should set
`DELETE_CONFIRM_THRESHOLD` to some larger value.
### Links
- [Official Seafile CLI client documentation](https://help.seafile.com/syncing_client/linux-cli/)