Environment POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE issue

[accent-afk]

This is my compose file

services:
  Nextcloud-DB:
    image: postgres:latest
    container_name: Nextcloud-DB
    user: 1000:1000
    networks:
      - Nextcloud-DB
    volumes:
      - "./Postgres-Data/:/var/lib/postgresql/"
      - "./Postgres-Secrets/:/Secrets/"
      - "/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Rome:/etc/localtime:ro"
    shm_size: 128mb
    environment:
      - "POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE=/Secrets/.Postgres-Password"
      - "POSTGRES_USER=Nextcloud"
      - "POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS=--data-checksums"
      - "PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql/"

  Nextcloud:
    image: nextcloud:latest
    container_name: Nextcloud
    user: 1000:1000
    networks:
      - proxy
      - Nextcloud-DB
    volumes:
      - "./Nextcloud-Data/:/var/www/html/data/"
      - "./Nextcloud-Config/:/var/www/html/"
      - "./Postgres-Secrets/:/Secrets/"
      - "/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Rome:/etc/localtime:ro"
    environment:
      - "POSTGRES_HOST=Nextcloud-DB"
      - "POSTGRES_DB=Nextcloud"
      - "POSTGRES_USER=Nextcloud"
      - "POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE=/Secrets/.Postgres-Password"
      - "OVERWRITEPROTOCOL=https"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud-rtr.rule=Host(`nextcloud.mydomain.org`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud-rtr.service=nextcloud-svc"
      - "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud-rtr.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud-rtr.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud-rtr.tls.certresolver=le"

      - "traefik.http.services.nextcloud-svc.loadbalancer.server.port=80"

networks:
 proxy:
   name: proxy
   external: true
 Nextcloud-DB:
   name: Nextcloud-DB
   external: false

When i try to start this container in the nextcloud web interface i recive the warning in the photo

but if in place of POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE i use POSTGRES_PASSWORD=1234 i recive

[joshtrichards]

If I had to take a while guess, permissions. There may be some clues in your container startup logs.

See:

• Secrets
• Getting Help

[accent-afk]

I also thought it could be a permissions issue but even giving the folder (and files inside it) all permissions for everyone

> eza
drwxrwxrwx    - strin 22 May 17:14  Postgres-Secrets

> eza -a
.rwxrwxrwx 17 strin 15 May 12:43  .Postgres-Password

Nothing changed

Furthermore the directory also have the same owner of the container

> id
'uid=1000(strin) gid=1000(strin) groups=1000(strin)

and the .Postgres-Password isn't empty

> cat .Postgres-Password
cq0239u897cyn287

In the container start up there's no errors

Nextcloud     | => Configuring PHP session handler...
Nextcloud     | ==> Using default PHP session handler
Nextcloud     | => Searching for hook scripts (*.sh) to run, located in the folder "/docker-entrypoint-hooks.d/before-starting"
Nextcloud     | ==> Skipped: the "before-starting" folder is empty (or does not exist)
Nextcloud     | AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 172.20.0.2. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
Nextcloud     | AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 172.20.0.2. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
Nextcloud     | [Fri May 22 17:27:50.171552 2026] [mpm_prefork:notice] [pid 1:tid 1] AH00163: Apache/2.4.67 (Debian) PHP/8.4.21 configured -- resuming normal operations
Nextcloud     | [Fri May 22 17:27:50.171577 2026] [core:notice] [pid 1:tid 1] AH00094: Command line: 'apache2 -D FOREGROUND'

But seems like the directory didn't get mounted insiede the container if i try to execute

docker exec Nextcloud ls

There's no directory named Secrets

I also tried to remove everything insiede the Nextcloud-Data and Nextcloud-Config directory to start a new installation but that didn't work

(The Secrets directory along side his content gets mounted insiede the Postgres database container and the .Postgres-Password contains the password)