Can't change dir to '/var/lib/mysql/' (Errcode: 13 "Permission denied")

[samueljacobjackson]

Hello,
I cannot get past this error when starting a container. I have set the permissions to every possible combination.
�/usr/sbin/mariadbd: Can't change dir to '/var/lib/mysql/' (Errcode: 13 "Permission denied")

It is in a file with Firefly III and an alpine container. Both of those start and run without error.

Container YAML

services:
  app:
    image: fireflyiii/core:latest
    hostname: app
    container_name: firefly_iii_core
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /volume1/VSS/FireflyIII/firefly_iii_upload:/var/www/html/storage/upload
      - /volume1/VSS/FireflyIII/firefly_iii_mariadb:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      - PUID=# My admin user ID
      - PGID=# Adminuser group ID. I've also used a new user and group ID
      - TZ=America/Detroit
      - USE_RUNNING_BALANCE=false
      - FIREFLY_III_LAYOUT=v1
      - APP_NAME=FireflyIII
      - BROADCAST_DRIVER=log
      - QUEUE_DRIVER=sync
      - CACHE_PREFIX=firefly
      - DKR_BUILD_LOCALE=false
      - DKR_CHECK_SQLITE=true
      - QUERY_PARSER_IMPLEMENTATION=legacy
      - DB_CONNECTION=mysql
      - DB_HOST=db
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_DATABASE=#DATABASE_NAME
      - DB_USERNAME=#USERNAME
      - DB_PASSWORD=#PASSWORD
      - APP_KEY=#32_CHAR_TOKEN
      - APP_URL=https://localhost
    ports:
      - 8082:8080
    depends_on:
      - db
     
  db:
    image: mariadb:latest
    hostname: db
    container_name: firefly_iii_mariadb
    restart: always
    environment:
      - PUID=1026
      - PGID=101
      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=#PASSWORD
      - TZ="America/Detroit"
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=#DATABASE_NAME
      - MYSQL_USER=#USERNAME
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=#PASSWORD
      - MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE=true
    volumes:
      - /volume1/VSS/FireflyIII/firefly_iii_mariadb:/var/lib/mysql
  
  cron:
    #
    # To make this work, set STATIC_CRON_TOKEN in your .env file or as an environment variable and replace REPLACEME below
    # The STATIC_CRON_TOKEN must be *exactly* 32 characters long
    #
    image: alpine
    restart: always
    container_name: firefly_iii_cron
    environment:
      - PUID=# My admin user ID
      - PGID=# Adminuser group ID. I've also used a new user and group ID
      - TZ=America/Detroit
      - STATIC_CRON_TOKEN=# 32_CHAR_TOKEN
    command: 
      sh -c "apk add tzdata
      && ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/${TZ} /etc/localtime
      | echo \"0 3 * * * wget -qO- http://app:8080/api/v1/cron/#32_CHAR_TOKEN;echo\" 
      | crontab - 
      && crond -f -L /dev/stdout"

volumes:
   firefly_iii_upload:
   firefly_iii_mariadb:

Log

2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	at https://mariadb.org/jira
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	Please check all of the above before submitting a bug report
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	the MariaDB discuss email list at https://lists.mariadb.org/postorius/lists/discuss.lists.mariadb.org/
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	You can find the latest source at https://downloads.mariadb.org and
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installing-system-tables-mysql_install_db
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	The latest information about mariadb-install-db is available at
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	--general-log gives you a log in /var/lib/mysql/ that may be helpful.
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	Try '/usr/sbin/mariadbd --help' if you have problems with paths.  Using
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	    MariaDB> show tables;
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	    shell> /usr/bin/mariadb -u root mysql
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	to connect to the mysql database and look at the grant tables:
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	and use the command line tool /usr/bin/mariadb
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	    shell> /usr/sbin/mariadbd --skip-grant-tables --general-log &
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	You can also try to start the mariadbd daemon with:
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	    shell> /usr/bin/mariadb-install-db --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	my.cnf files. You can ignore these by doing:
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	The problem could be conflicting information in an external
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	/var/lib/mysql/ for more information.
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	Installation of system tables failed!  Examine the logs in
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	2025-07-01 13:39:52 0 [ERROR] Aborting
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	�/usr/sbin/mariadbd: Can't change dir to '/var/lib/mysql/' (Errcode: 13 "Permission denied")
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	2025-07-01 13:39:52 0 [Warning] Can't create test file '/var/lib/mysql/db.lower-test' (Errcode: 13 "Permission denied")
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	2025-07-01 13:39:52-04:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Initializing database files
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	2025-07-01 13:39:52-04:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Entrypoint script for MariaDB Server 1:11.8.2+maria~ubu2404 started.
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stdout	2025-07-01 13:39:52-04:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Switching to dedicated user 'mysql'
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	"1:name=systemd:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b/memory.pressure not writable	 functionality unavailable to MariaDB
"
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	2:name=synomonitor:/system.slice/pkg-ContainerManager-dockerd.service
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	3:blkio:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	4:memory:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	5:cpuset:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	6:freezer:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	7:devices:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	8:cpuacct:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:52	stderr	2025-07-01 13:39:52-04:00 [Warn] [Entrypoint]: /sys/fs/cgroup/pu:/docker/7ced489ce28f9b178cd2d9ce9a69e3195934b385f3a0fea3633647a9196e962b
2025/07/01 10:39:51	stdout	2025-07-01 13:39:51-04:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Entrypoint script for MariaDB Server 1:11.8.2+maria~ubu2404 started.
2025/07/01 10:38:49	stdout	

[grooverdan]

Only Linux Server container images use PUID / PGUID afaik, MariaDB certainly doesn't.

firefly_iii_mariadb:/var/lib/mysql is a correct volume mount for a named volume. A full path mounts it but in a way the container user cannot change its permission, hence use named volumes. Changing this will give the container a change to change ownership correctly on the container.

Your application container doesn't need access to the firefly_iii_mariadb volume.