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Apache Answer Apache Answer

Container

SocialWiki

Question-and-answer site for a community, product forum or team knowledge base, with voting, accepted answers, tags, reputation and badges. Source: https://github.com/apache/answer

Image details

Pulls: 3.9M
Architecture: amd64, arm64
Image size: 57 MB
Latest: 2.0.3
User: gmcdonald
Created: Nov 17, 2023
Updated: 8 days ago
Status: active

Source details

Repo: apache/answer
Stars: 15.7k
Forks: 1k
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
Latest: v2.0.3 · 7 days ago
Updated: 1 day ago
Website: answer.apache.org/

Configuration

Type
Container
Platform
linux
Image
apache/answer:latest
Ports
9080:80/tcp
Volumes
/data
Env vars
TZ=UTC
Restart
unless-stopped

Template by NotAFlightRisk

Report issue

Notes

Open http://<your-host>:9080 from the address you'll actually use, since the setup wizard saves it as the Site URL that links and uploads are built from. On the database step pick SQLite (it defaults to MySQL, which isn't there) and leave the file as /data/answer.db. The last step creates the admin, and whoever reaches the wizard first gets to, so do it straight away. Sign-ups stay open but need email verification, so new accounts can't post until you set up Admin --> Advanced --> SMTP, or close them under Advanced --> Login. The database, config and uploads all live in the volume. Docs: answer.apache.org/docs

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Apache Answer

Installation method

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

  1. Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
  2. Log into your Portainer web UI
  3. Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
  4. Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
  5. Select Apache Answer, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me demo

More install options in our documentation, or see apache/answer for app-specific guidance.

<img alt="logo" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/answer/HEAD/docs/img/logo.svg" height="99px">

Apache Answer - Build Q&A platform

A Q&A platform software for teams at any scales. Whether it’s a community forum, help center, or knowledge management platform, you can always count on Answer.
To learn more about the project, visit answer.apache.org.
LICENSE Language Language Go Report Card Discord

Screenshots

screenshot

Quick start

Running with docker

docker run -d -p 9080:80 -v answer-data:/data --name answer apache/answer:2.0.3

For more information, see Installation.

Plugins

Answer provides a plugin system for developers to create custom plugins and expand Answer’s features. You can find the plugin documentation here.
We value your feedback and suggestions to improve our documentation. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact us. We’re excited to see what you can create using our plugin system!
You can also check out the plugins here.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

  • Golang >= 1.25
  • Node.js >= 20
  • pnpm >= 9
  • mockgen >= 0.6.0
  • wire >= 0.5.0

Build

# Install wire and mockgen for building. You can run `make check` to check if they are installed.
$ make generate
# Install frontend dependencies and build
$ make ui
# Install backend dependencies and build
$ make build

Contributing

Contributions are always welcome!
See CONTRIBUTING for ways to get started.

License

Apache License 2.0

Serve Apache Answer on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxying apache-answer.example.com to http://apache-answer:80

Add this to your Caddyfile

apache-answer.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://apache-answer:80
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

  • In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs apache-answer
  • Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:9080 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

  • Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :9080
  • Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 9080:80 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

  • Use your server's real IP: http://your-server-ip:9080. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
  • Give it a minute after first deploy, apache-answer can take a while to initialise.
  • Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 9080

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull apache/answer:latest

  • "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists. This template uses latest, so try pinning a specific version instead.
  • "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
  • "no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

  • This image supports: amd64, arm64
  • Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The unless-stopped restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

  • Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
  • Get the exit code with docker inspect apache-answer --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
  • Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

A single container

Apache Answer runs as one container, the simplest kind of app here. Just the one image to pull and nothing else wired up alongside it.

The app image

An image is the app packed up ready to go, everything Apache Answer needs bundled into one download. This template pulls apache/answer:latest, which Docker fetches once (about 57 MB) and then starts your own copy from.

Where the image comes from

Docker pulls its images from registries, public libraries of ready-built apps. Apache Answer's comes from Docker Hub, published by apache.

Version tags

The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. Here it's latest, which always points at the newest build, so a redeploy can bump you to a newer release without you asking. Newest right now is 2.0.3. Pin a specific tag if you would rather stay on one version.

Which machines it runs on

Every image is built for particular CPU types. This one ships for amd64, arm64, so it runs on both regular x86 servers and ARM boards like a Raspberry Pi.

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 9080:80 means it's reachable on port 9080 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open http://your-server-ip:9080 in a browser. It opens:

  • 9080:80, likely the web interface

Volumes

A volume is where Apache Answer keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

  • /data as a volume Docker manages for you

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Apache Answer takes 1 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

  • TZ, defaults to UTC. Like Europe/London. The site starts on it, and you can change it later in the admin.

Restart policy

The restart policy here is unless-stopped, so Docker restarts Apache Answer after a crash or reboot, but leaves it off when you stop it on purpose. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Networking

Nothing custom is set, so Apache Answer sits on Docker's default bridge network: its own private space that reaches the outside world only through the ports it publishes.

Container name

Once it's deployed, Portainer names the container apache-answer. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs apache-answer.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Open source license

Apache Answer is open source, released under the Apache-2.0 license. In plain terms the code is out in the open, so you're free to run it and change it to fit what you need.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Apache Answer up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Apache Answer is a click rather than a wall of config.