Change the default value of PHP_MAX_MEMORY from 256M (256 Mb) to …

…2G (2 Gb)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Container image version
 # Note: the version here is from `ELABIMG_VERSION` present in Dockerfile, not the tagged one
 
+# 4.8.0
+
+* Change the default value of ``PHP_MAX_MEMORY`` from 256M (256 Mb) to 2G (2 Gb).
+
 # 4.7.0
 
 * Add a GH Action to push a `stable` image tag (https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/discussions/4779)

Dockerfile

@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ RUN abuild-keygen -n -a && abuild && find /home/builder/packages -type f -name '
 FROM alpine:3.18
 
 # this is versioning for the container image
-ENV ELABIMG_VERSION=4.6.2
+ENV ELABIMG_VERSION=4.8.0
 
 # the target elabftw version is passed with --build-arg
 # it is a mandatory ARG

src/docker-compose.yml-EXAMPLE

@@ -106,9 +106,16 @@ services:
         #- PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME=120
 
         # optional: adjust the amount of memory available to PHP, increase it if you run into issues
-        # example value: 512M
-        # default value: 256M
-        #- MAX_PHP_MEMORY=256M
+        # information: 2G of memory available to PHP might seem a lot. But realize this: it's not 2003 anymore. PHP is not just a few "if" and "foreach" in some html page.
+        # We use it to generate huge PDF files and archives, to manipulate potentially big images, and do complicated operations on thousands of objects fast.
+        # So yeah, the conservative 128 Mb default is obsolete when a simple photo taken with a phone can be 10 Mb.
+        # Most of the servers that run eLabFTW will run ONLY eLab and will easily have at least 4 Gb of RAM dedicated to this task.
+        # What is the point of having 4 Gb of RAM and let the main application use only a few percents of it...
+        # This doesn't mean that eLabFTW will consume that much memory all the time. 99% of the time it will have very low memory footprint.
+        # But from time to time, users will export many entries at once in PDF with big images in them and that's when you want to have some headroom!
+        # example value: 4G
+        # default value: 2G
+        #- MAX_PHP_MEMORY=2G
 
         # optional: set a password to get access to /php-status, which will display various metrics about the php-fpm processes
         # also works for /nginx-status, for metrics about nginx process

src/init/prepare.sh

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ getEnv() {
     enable_letsencrypt=${ENABLE_LETSENCRYPT:-false}
     secret_key=${SECRET_KEY:-}
     unset SECRET_KEY
-    max_php_memory=${MAX_PHP_MEMORY:-256M}
+    max_php_memory=${MAX_PHP_MEMORY:-2G}
     max_upload_size=${MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE:-100M}
     # CIS benchmark nginx 2.0.0 2.4.3
     keepalive_timeout=${KEEPALIVE_TIMEOUT:-10s}