Table of Contents
WriteFreely Database Issues
WriteFreely fails to start or uses SQLite instead of MySQL.
Symptom
WriteFreely container restarts repeatedly. Logs show “Connecting to sqlite3 database” instead of MySQL. Migration errors about missing tables. Admin user creation fails.
Cause
WriteFreely is not configured to use MariaDB. It defaults to SQLite if no database connection is properly configured.
Fix
Add MariaDB container and configure WriteFreely to use MySQL.
Steps:
1. Add MariaDB container to docker-compose.yml:
```yaml folkzone-write-db:
image: mariadb:10.11
container_name: folkzone_write_db
restart: unless-stopped
networks: [folkzone_net]
environment:
MARIADB_DATABASE: writefreely
MARIADB_USER: writefreely
MARIADB_PASSWORD: ${WRITE_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${WRITE_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
volumes:
- folkzone_write_db:/var/lib/mysql
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
```
2. Update WriteFreely service with database connection:
```yaml folkzone-write:
image: algernon/writefreely:latest
container_name: folkzone_write
restart: unless-stopped
networks: [folkzone_net]
environment:
WRITEFREELY_BIND_HOST: 0.0.0.0
WRITEFREELY_BIND_PORT: "8080"
WRITEFREELY_SITE_NAME: folk.write
WRITEFREELY_HOST: https://write.folk.zone
WRITEFREELY_DB_HOST: folkzone-write-db
WRITEFREELY_DB_USER: writefreely
WRITEFREELY_DB_PASSWORD: ${WRITE_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
WRITEFREELY_DB_NAME: writefreely
WRITEFREELY_DB_TYPE: mysql
volumes:
- folkzone_write_data:/data
depends_on:
folkzone-write-db:
condition: service_healthy
```
3. Update config.ini to use MySQL:
```bash docker run –rm -v folkzone_write_data:/data alpine sh -c 'cat > /data/config.ini « EOF [database] type = mysql username = writefreely password = <your-password> database = writefreely host = folkzone-write-db port = 3306 EOF ' ```
4. Clear old SQLite data:
```bash docker run –rm -v folkzone_write_data:/data alpine sh -c 'rm -f /data/writefreely.db /data/keys/*.aes256' docker run –rm -v folkzone_write_data:/data alpine sh -c 'touch /data/writefreely.db' ```
5. Reset MySQL database:
```bash docker exec folkzone_write_db mysql -u root -p<root-password> -e 'DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS writefreely; CREATE DATABASE writefreely;' ```
6. Restart services:
```bash docker compose up -d folkzone-write-db folkzone-write ```
7. Create admin user:
```bash docker exec -w /data folkzone_write /writefreely/writefreely –create-admin <username>:<password> ```
Prevention
Configure database connection during initial WriteFreely setup. The username “admin” is reserved in WriteFreely, use a different username like “folkadmin”.