Stirling PDF {shmolf}
Container
Your locally hosted one-stop-shop for all your PDF needs.
Image details
Source details
Configuration
TypeContainerlinuxfrooodle/s-pdf:0.18.15417:8080/tcp/configs : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/StirlingPDF/usr/share/tesseract-ocr/5/tessdata : /portainer/Files/AppData/Libraries/StirlingPDF/tessdataPUID=1000PGID=1000DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY=falseunless-stoppedTemplate by shmolf
Notes
Then, place said 'traineddata' files into
/portainer/Files/AppData/Libraries/StirlingPDF/tessdata For more information about login, read the official documentation ๐.
Standalone Install
Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Stirling PDF {shmolf}
Install on Portainer
Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys
- Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
- Log into your Portainer web UI
- Under Settings โ App Templates, paste the below URL
- Head to Home โ App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
- Select Stirling PDF {shmolf}, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy
Template Import URL
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me
More install options in our documentation, or see Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF for app-specific guidance.
stirlingtools/stirling-pdf` at
https://hub.docker.com/r/stirlingtools/stirling-pdfRecommend using image `
docker.stirlingpdf.com/stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest-fat`Documentation: https://docs.stirlingpdf.com/
Serve Stirling PDF {shmolf} 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 stirling-pdf-shmolf.example.com to http://stirling-pdf:8080
Add this to your Caddyfile
stirling-pdf-shmolf.example.com {
reverse_proxy http://stirling-pdf:8080
}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 stirling-pdf - Exit codes help too:
137means killed, usually out of memory.126or127means the command inside the image is broken.
Port already in use
If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:5417 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.
- Find what's using it:
sudo ss -tlnp | grep :5417 - Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In
5417:8080only 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:5417. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address. - Give it a minute after first deploy, stirling-pdf can take a while to initialise.
- Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g.
sudo ufw allow 5417
Permission denied on volumes
If the logs show "permission denied", the app can't write to its data folder on the host.
- Fix the ownership:
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/StirlingPDF(and the same for the other mapped folders) - Or set the
PUIDandPGIDvariables (defaults 1000:1000) to match your own user, found withid $USER
Image won't pull
Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull frooodle/s-pdf:0.18.1
- "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists.
- "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with
docker loginto 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 stirling-pdf --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}' - Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to
noso the failure stays visible.
Raise an issue
Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.
- Bug within the app: Open an issue on Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF
- Template not working: Open an issue on shmolf/portainer-templates
- This website not working: Open an issue on lissy93/portainer-templates
A single container
Stirling PDF {shmolf} 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 Stirling PDF {shmolf} needs bundled into one download. This template pulls frooodle/s-pdf:0.18.1, which Docker fetches once (about 320 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. Stirling PDF {shmolf}'s comes from Docker Hub, published by frooodle.
Version tags
The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. This one pins 0.18.1, so every redeploy gives you that exact build until you bump it yourself.
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 5417:8080 means it's reachable on port 5417 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:5417 in a browser. It opens:
5417:8080, likely the web interface
Volumes
A volume is where Stirling PDF {shmolf} 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:
/configsfrom/portainer/Files/AppData/Config/StirlingPDFon the host/usr/share/tesseract-ocr/5/tessdatafrom/portainer/Files/AppData/Libraries/StirlingPDF/tessdataon the host
Environment variables
Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Stirling PDF {shmolf} takes 3 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:
PUID, defaults to1000PGID, defaults to1000DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY, pick one oftrue, false. If you want to enable the login, you'll also need to enable login through the Config's settings.yml
Restart policy
The restart policy here is unless-stopped, so Docker restarts Stirling PDF {shmolf} 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).
Users and permissions
The PUID and PGID settings tell it which user and group to act as on your host. Point them at your own account (find yours with id $USER) so the files it writes into your mounted folders come out owned by you rather than root.
Networking
Nothing custom is set, so Stirling PDF {shmolf} 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 stirling-pdf. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs stirling-pdf.
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.
Portainer app templates
Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Stirling PDF {shmolf} up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Stirling PDF {shmolf} is a click rather than a wall of config.