Data Directory not in default location after upgrading to Caddy 2

[dylanmcgowan]

1. Caddy version (caddy version):

v2.4.6

2. How I run Caddy:

a. System environment:

Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS

b. Command:

sudo systemctl start caddy

c. Service/unit/compose file:

I am using the default caddy.service

   
# caddy.service

[Unit]
Description=Caddy
Documentation=https://caddyserver.com/docs/
After=network.target network-online.target
Requires=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=notify
User=caddy
Group=caddy
ExecStart=/usr/bin/caddy run --environ --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
ExecReload=/usr/bin/caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
TimeoutStopSec=5s
LimitNOFILE=1048576
LimitNPROC=512
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=full
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

d. My complete Caddyfile or JSON config:

{
        on_demand_tls {
                ask https://xyzabc.herokuapp.com/api/domains
        }
}

:443 {
        encode gzip

        tls xyz@abc.com {
                on_demand
        }

        root * /var/www/xyzabc/dist
        file_server

        header {
                Permissions-Policy interest-cohort=()
                Strict-Transport-Security max-age=31536000;
                X-XSS-Protection 1; mode=block
                X-Content-Type-Options nosniff
                X-Frame-Options DENY
                Referrer-Policy no-referrer-when-downgrade
        }

        header /js/ Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000"
        header /css/ Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000"
        header /img/ Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000"

        # rewrite {
        #         regexp .*
        #         to {path} /
        # }

        # rewrite .* {path}/
}

3. The problem I’m having:

I was recently alerted about Renewing before TLS-ALPN-01 Revocations which affected a site / server of mine so I finally had an excuse to upgrade my old v0.11.4 Caddy install to v2 to fix the cert issue. The upgrade was smooth… for the most part.

For some reason the new certificates are not being written to $HOME/.local/share/caddy as expected. $HOME is /root.

Instead they are being written to /var/lib/caddy/.local/share/caddy

What can I do to move the /var/lib/caddy/ to the place it’s supposed to be without breaking things? What will setting the environment variable XDG_DATA_HOME do? Because it isn’t set currently but for some reason the data directory isn’t where it’s supposed to be.

As a total aside, I have an old rewrite block commented out in the CaddyFile and can’t figure out what it was doing there in the first place. If anyone knows how I’d write that in the new syntax that would be awesome!

4. Error messages and/or full log output:

Here is the output when running caddy environ

caddy.HomeDir=/root
caddy.AppDataDir=/root/.local/share/caddy
caddy.AppConfigDir=/root/.config/caddy
caddy.ConfigAutosavePath=/root/.config/caddy/autosave.json
caddy.Version=v2.4.6 h1:HGkGICFGvyrodcqOOclHKfvJC0qTU7vny/7FhYp9hNw=
runtime.GOOS=linux
runtime.GOARCH=amd64
runtime.Compiler=gc
runtime.NumCPU=2
runtime.GOMAXPROCS=2
runtime.Version=go1.17.2
os.Getwd=/root

NVM_DIR=/root/.nvm
LESSCLOSE=/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s
LANG=C.UTF-8
NVM_CD_FLAGS=
XDG_SESSION_ID=18023
USER=root
PWD=/root
HOME=/root
LC_TERMINAL=iTerm2
SSH_CLIENT=100.34.27.60 59417 22
LC_TERMINAL_VERSION=3.4.12
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop
SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/1
MAIL=/var/mail/root
TERM=xterm-256color
SHELL=/bin/bash
NVM_BIN=/root/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/bin
SHLVL=1
LOGNAME=root
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/0
PATH=/root/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
LESSOPEN=| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s
_=/usr/bin/caddy

5. What I already tried:

Technically things are working… on_demand + ask is creating certificates, just not in the place I expected. Any help would be much appreciated!

[francislavoie]

@dylanmcgowan

Instead they are being written to /var/lib/caddy/.local/share/caddy

That’s the $HOME of the caddy user, under which the systemd service runs.

Everything is working correctly. You can see a note at the bottom of this section in the docs, explaining:

Keep Caddy Running - Caddy Documentation

Why do you need it to be stored elsewhere?

@dylanmcgowan

4. Error messages and/or full log output:

Here is the output when running caddy environ

Running caddy environ shows you the environment for your current user (if you were to run Caddy as that user), not of the currently running Caddy instance.

Notice the systemd service file has --environ in the ExecStart, that will cause Caddy to print the environment in your logs just before startup.

Check your logs (systemd/journal) and scroll up until you see them, and Caddy’s startup.

[dylanmcgowan]

Thanks so much Missed that in the docs, thanks for pointing it out. I don’t need it to be stored elsewhere if everything’s working as intended! Just thought it was in the wrong location.

And also thanks for pointing out the difference in users / environments. I’m obviously not a pro here but am picking things up!