Error reading caddyfile if use -config parameter

[JustinWebDev (Justin WD)]

1. Caddy version (caddy version):

2.4.6

2. How I run Caddy:

a. System environment:

Win10 x64 v21H1

b. Command:

caddy_windows_amd64.exe run -config "caddyfile"

c. Service/unit/compose file:

d. My complete Caddyfile or JSON config:

web.thedomain.com:8443 {
	reverse_proxy :81
}

3. The problem I’m having:

This looks like a bug to me, but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
If I don’t use the -config param, the caddyfile is used and there is no problem, but if I use the -config param, Caddy complains about the first character in the file, a “w”, and drops out.

4. Error messages and/or full log output:

INFO using provided configuration {“config_file”: “caddyfile”, “config_adapter”: “”}
run: loading initial config: decoding request body: invalid character ‘w’ looking for beginning of value

5. What I already tried:

Quote symbols around the filename don’t change anything.

6. Links to relevant resources:

[francislavoie]

Are you sure the file is named caddyfile, or is it Caddyfile? It should be Caddyfile.

I think what’s going on is Caddy will only assume the adapter to be caddyfile is the filename begins with Caddyfile (case sensitive). Otherwise, it assumes it’s a JSON config. So it reads the first character, sees it’s not a valid JSON character, and quits.

So you’d need to use the --adapter caddyfile flag to tell it “this is a Caddyfile, actually” and make it not assume it’s JSON. Or just make sure your file is named Caddyfile with an uppercase C.

[matt (Matt Holt)]

Yep, uppercase Caddyfile, just like Dockerfile used to require.

[JustinWebDev (Justin WD)]

You hit it. I don’t even need to change the filename on disk, just change the CLI param to have a capital C and it works. Thanks!