RStudio rootless

[AlexisC]

Hello,
I installed RStudio-server in a container Docker with a Dockerfile (based on ubuntu 24.04). To install rstudio-server, I used the user root in the Dockerfile.
Now I want to run the container Docker and the rstudio-server but with a user rootless in the Docker image. I failed to run rstudio-server with a rootless user, I have errors. Is it a way to run rstudio-server with a rootless user ?
Thanks

[MarcusAlvarez]

I had a similar situation, but I'm using Apptainer instead of Docker (I think it will work for Docker too). It took me a while to figure out how to do it, but it's quite simple.
First, install r-base and rstudio-server from scratch in the container (I used an Ubuntu 24.04 image too). Then, edit two main files:

• As root, add these lines to /etc/rstudio/rserver.conf

server-daemonize=0
server-user=your_username
server-data-dir=/home/your_username/.rserver/datadir

• As root, add these lines to /etc/rstudio/database.conf

directory="/home/your_username/.rserver/db"
auto-create="1"

• Finally, as your rootless user, just create the directories before the first rserver run

mkdir -p /home/your_username/.rserver/db
mkdir -p /home/your_username/.rserver/datadir
rstudio-server start

In summary, you just need to change these two paths to a location where the user has write permissions.

Notes:

1. Running Rstudio Server in rootless mode will disable multi-user stuff, so I opted to use with daemon mode disabled, but I think this change is not required.
2. I'm using this on Windows 11 with WSL2 through Apptainer/Singularity container, including --contain option and it's working properly.
3. I strongly recommend setting www-address=127.0.0.1 or another specific IP in rserver.conf. If it is left too open, anyone could connect without authentication and run commands as your user, even in containerized environments like mine.

[AlexisC]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply but I have always the same issue.
I followed your instructions and when I start rstudio-server, I have no issues. But when I connect with a web browser to http://localhost:8787, i have in the web browser the following error : ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS. And in the logs of my container, I have the following issue
rserver[21]: ERROR system error 2 (No such file or directory) [description: User not found., user-value: ]; OCCURRED AT rstudio::core::Error rstudio::core::system::User::Impl::populateUser(rstudio::core::system::User::Impl::GetPasswdFunc&, T) [with T = const char* rstudio::core::system::User::Impl::GetPasswdFunc = std::function<int(const char*, passwd*, char*, long unsigned int, passwd**)>] src/cpp/shared_core/system/User.cpp:94; LOGGED FROM: void rstudio::server::auth::handler::ensureDatabaseUser(const string&) src/cpp/server/auth/ServerAuthHandler.cpp:910
Do you have the same error ?
Thanks

[AlexisC]

Hello,
I understood my error.
At the end of my dockerfile, I use the user coder ("USER coder"). When my container starts, it uses directly this user without using a real login session. So some environment variables are not correctly defined and RStudio cannot start correctly. RStudio needs a complete login session.
I just add the environment variable "ENV USER=coder" in my dockerfile and now it is ok.
Thanks for your help.