Open Journal Systems (OJS) Docker Container

Dockerized deployment of Open Journal Systems based on the Islandora Buildkit nginx base image.

Quick Start

1. Generate secrets:

docker compose up init

2. Start the containers:

docker compose up -d

3. Access OJS at http://localhost

The installation will run automatically on first startup. The default admin credentials are:

• Username: admin (configurable via OJS_ADMIN_USERNAME)
• Password: Contents of ./secrets/OJS_ADMIN_PASSWORD
• Email: [email protected] (configurable via OJS_ADMIN_EMAIL)

Configuration

OJS Configuration

Environment Variable	Default	Source	Description
DB_HOST	mariadb	environment	MariaDB/MySQL hostname
DB_PORT	3306	environment	MariaDB/MySQL port
DB_NAME	ojs	environment	Database name
DB_USER	ojs	environment	Database user
DB_PASSWORD	(generated)	secret	Database password (stored in ./secrets/OJS_DB_PASSWORD)
OJS_SALT	(generated)	secret	Salt for password hashing (stored in ./secrets/OJS_SALT)
OJS_API_KEY_SECRET	(generated)	secret	Secret for API key encoding (stored in ./secrets/OJS_API_KEY_SECRET)
OJS_SECRET_KEY	(generated)	secret	Internally this is used for any encryption (specifically cookie encryption if enabled) (stored in ./secrets/OJS_SECRET_KEY)
OJS_ADMIN_USERNAME	admin	environment	Initial admin username
OJS_ADMIN_EMAIL	[email protected]	environment	Initial admin email
OJS_ADMIN_PASSWORD	(generated)	secret	Initial admin password (stored in ./secrets/OJS_ADMIN_PASSWORD)
OJS_LOCALE	en	environment	Primary locale/language
OJS_TIMEZONE	UTC	environment	System timezone
OJS_FILES_DIR	/var/www/files	environment	Directory for uploaded files
OJS_OAI_REPOSITORY_ID	ojs.localhost	environment	OAI-PMH repository identifier
OJS_ENABLE_BEACON	1	environment	Enable PKP usage statistics beacon (1=enabled, 0=disabled)
OJS_SESSION_LIFETIME	30	environment	How long to stay logged in (in days)
OJS_X_FORWARDED_FOR	Off	environment	Trust X-Forwarded-For header. Enable PKP usage statistics beacon (Off, On)

Nginx and PHP Settings

See https://github.com/Islandora-Devops/isle-buildkit/tree/main/nginx#nginx-settings

Secrets Management

Secrets are stored in the ./secrets/ directory and mounted into the container at runtime. The generate-secrets.sh script creates secure random values for:

• DB_ROOT_PASSWORD - MariaDB root password
• OJS_DB_PASSWORD - OJS database user password
• OJS_ADMIN_PASSWORD - OJS admin user password
• OJS_API_KEY_SECRET - Secret for API key encoding/decoding
• OJS_SALT - Salt for password hashing

Customization

You can customize the installation by:

1. Setting environment variables in docker-compose.yaml
2. Overriding default values in the Dockerfile
3. Adding custom plugins to rootfs/var/www/ojs/plugins/

Adding Plugins

Place plugin directories in the appropriate subdirectory under rootfs/var/www/ojs/plugins/:

• blocks/ - Block plugins
• gateways/ - Gateway plugins
• generic/ - Generic plugins
• importexport/ - Import/export plugins
• metadata/ - Metadata plugins
• oaiMetadataFormats/ - OAI metadata format plugins
• paymethod/ - Payment method plugins
• pubIds/ - Public identifier plugins
• reports/ - Report plugins
• themes/ - Theme plugins

Plugins with composer.json files will automatically have their dependencies installed during the build.

Volumes

The following volumes are created for data persistence:

• mariadb-data - MariaDB database files
• ojs-cache - OJS cache files
• ojs-files - Uploaded files (submissions, etc.)
• ojs-public - Public files

Updating OJS Version

To update the OJS version, modify the OJS_VERSION build argument in the Dockerfile:

ARG OJS_VERSION=3_5_0-1

Version tags follow the format used in the PKP OJS repository.

Troubleshooting

Installation Logs

If the automatic installation fails, check the container logs:

docker compose logs ojs

Database Connection Issues

Ensure the MariaDB container is healthy before the OJS container starts:

docker compose ps

Resetting Installation

To completely reset and reinstall:

docker compose down -v
./scripts/generate-secrets.sh
docker compose up -d

License

This Docker implementation is provided as-is. Open Journal Systems is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3. See the OJS repository for details.