I hosted searxng on portainer and receive PermissionError
and no python application found
error
Log:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/etc/searxng/settings.yml'
unable to load app 0 (mountpoint='') (callable not found or import error)
*** no app loaded. going in full dynamic mode ***
--- no python application found, check your startup logs for errors ---
[pid: 19|app: -1|req: -1/1] 127.0.0.1 () {28 vars in 330 bytes} [Sat May 17 05:06:00 2025] HEAD /healthz => generated 21 bytes in 0 msecs (HTTP/1.1 500) 3 headers in 102 bytes (0 switches on core 0)
I tried removing cap_drop (as instructed on https://github.com/searxng/searxng-docker/issues/115) but no luck
version: "3.7"
services:
# caddy:
# container_name: caddy
# image: docker.io/library/caddy:2-alpine
# network_mode: host
# restart: unless-stopped
# volumes:
# - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
# - caddy-data:/data:rw
# - caddy-config:/config:rw
# environment:
# # - SEARXNG_HOSTNAME=${SEARXNG_HOSTNAME:-http://localhost/}
# - SEARXNG_TLS=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL:-internal}
# cap_drop:
# - ALL
# cap_add:
# - NET_BIND_SERVICE
# logging:
# driver: "json-file"
# options:
# max-size: "1m"
# max-file: "1"
redis:
container_name: redis
image: docker.io/valkey/valkey:8-alpine
command: valkey-server --save 30 1 --loglevel warning
restart: unless-stopped
networks:
- searxng
volumes:
- valkey-data2:/data
# cap_drop:
# - ALL
cap_add:
- SETGID
- SETUID
- DAC_OVERRIDE
logging:
driver: "json-file"
options:
max-size: "1m"
max-file: "1"
searxng:
container_name: searxng
image: docker.io/searxng/searxng:latest
restart: unless-stopped
networks:
- searxng
ports:
# - "127.0.0.1:8080:8080"
- "20054:8080"
volumes:
- ./searxng:/etc/searxng:rw
environment:
# - SEARXNG_BASE_URL=https://${SEARXNG_HOSTNAME:-localhost}/
- SEARXNG_BASE_URL="http://mydomain:20054/"
- UWSGI_WORKERS=${SEARXNG_UWSGI_WORKERS:-4}
- UWSGI_THREADS=${SEARXNG_UWSGI_THREADS:-4}
# cap_drop:
# - ALL
cap_add:
- CHOWN
- SETGID
- SETUID
logging:
driver: "json-file"
options:
max-size: "1m"
max-file: "1"
networks:
searxng:
volumes:
# caddy-data:
# caddy-config:
valkey-data2:
thx a lot!
I’ve never used portainer sorry.
If you see the published port for a very short time then something might be crashing when it tries to start.
docker logs searxng
from cli might be revealingedit: I do have a searxng container and my compose.yml is very similar to yours. I guess we both copied the example. The only difference I can see is that you still have the env variables for UWSGI_WORKERS and UWSGI_THREADS. I just set both of those to 4 instead of using the SEARXNG_ env vars
Listen on [::]:8080
doesn’t give 20054, could this be the reason?Listen on [::]:8080 [uWSGI] getting INI configuration from /etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini open("/etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini"): Permission denied [core/io.c line 525] SearXNG version 2025.5.16+1b08324 Use existing /etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini Use existing /etc/searxng/settings.yml Listen on [::]:8080 [uWSGI] getting INI configuration from /etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini open("/etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini"): Permission denied [core/io.c line 525] SearXNG version 2025.5.16+1b08324 Use existing /etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini Use existing /etc/searxng/settings.yml Listen on [::]:8080 [uWSGI] getting INI configuration from /etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini open("/etc/searxng/uwsgi.ini"): Permission denied [core/io.c line 525]
I think here is your problem. Make sure that file exists and is readable from inside of the docker.
I tried removing cap_drop (as instructed on https://github.com/searxng/searxng-docker/issues/115) but no luck, the permission error still exists. And also there occurs a new error
no python application found
try opening a shell with ’ docker exec -it searxng sh" and see if you can cat the file from inside docker, if yes then I’m not sure of a solution ,if no then the problem is with permissions on your filesystem outside of docker where you have " - ./data/searxng:/etc/searxng" You need to go to ./data/searxng and correct the permissions so they can be read inside the docker.
u are right its not writable, the files are read only, that is wierd
Yep Probably you need to change ownership and/or permissions of the files outside of docker.
I dont want to give the wrong suggestion from memory so hopefully thats enough info to get you going in the direction of a fix. Basically see what user id owns the files inside of docker, make it the same uid outside of docker in the folder you are bind mounting.
SN_FR_@SN:~$ sudo docker exec -it searxng sh -c "id" uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
container is running as root, so there shouldn’t be any permission error?
I’m opening those files with windows but the user permission inside docker shouldn’t cause that problem.
I’m scratching my head nw
~ # ls /etc/searxng settings.yml uwsgi.ini ~ # cat settings.yml cat: can't open 'settings.yml': No such file or directory ~ # cat /etc/searxng/settings.yml general: # Debug mode, only for development. Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_DEBUG} debug: false # displayed name instance_name: "searxng" # For example: https://example.com/privacy
I think I do have the permission?
If you have permissions then try editibg uwsgi.ini and see if it lets you save.
Im going from memory but i think i had a similar issue and i had to manually create the file, yours shows the file already exists but it might not be writable.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Awesome.
You not only solved your problem but learned a heap along the way.
I love searxng too btw. It’s the best way to search for the time being.
I do have learnt a lot but I haven’t solved the problem 😱 🤓 🫠