Railway•16mo ago

Fontconfig Error on Railway Deployment

Hello, I am currently working on a Node.js project that uses chartjs-node-canvas ^4.1.6 and chartjs-plugin-annotation ^2.2.1. The project is deployed on Railway. During the deployment to production, I encountered an error while trying to generate a chart. All letters on the chart were replaced by squares, and the console logged an error: Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file. From my understanding, this error is related to the font configuration in the environment. The Fontconfig library, which is used by Chart.js to render text, seems to be unable to find its configuration file. This suggests that the environment where my application is running does not have Fontconfig installed or properly configured. My project is hosted on Railway, which runs on Nixpacks (which in turn runs on Docker). However, I don't have direct control over the Dockerfile or the system's package manager. I only have access to the shell.nix and railway.json files. To try and resolve the issue, I added fontconfig to the nixPkgs array in the setup phase of my railway.json file, as shown below:

{
  "builds": {
    "my-app": {
      "phases": {
        "setup": {
          "packages": [
            "fontconfig"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "builds": {
    "my-app": {
      "phases": {
        "setup": {
          "packages": [
            "fontconfig"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Despite this, the error persists. I'm unsure if the fontconfig package is being installed correctly or if the configuration is not being loaded as expected. I would greatly appreciate any assistance or suggestions on how to resolve this issue. If there are any additional details that would be helpful, please let me know. Thank you in advance for your help.

Project id: a04e5aab-0452-4be2-b078-3e2d1e5a1503
Platform: Node.js v18.12.1
Used technologies: Nest.js / NPM
Repo: https://github.com/dudematthew/pla-manager/tree/production

Project id: a04e5aab-0452-4be2-b078-3e2d1e5a1503
Platform: Node.js v18.12.1
Used technologies: Nest.js / NPM
Repo: https://github.com/dudematthew/pla-manager/tree/production

Solution:

Solved Dockerfile worked. Here's its code: ```dockerfile Use an official Node.js 16 runtime as the base image...

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12 Replies

Percy•16mo ago

Project ID: a04e5aab-0452-4be2-b078-3e2d1e5a1503

MantisInABox•16mo ago

You can always create a dockerfile that installs the required libraries and launches your app. The build system will use your dockerfile to deploy

HipsterSavageOP•16mo ago

Will Railway options be ignored then? Also what about default Railway procedures, will my Dockerfile replace them?

MantisInABox•16mo ago

It will deploy your dockerfile however it is written

HipsterSavageOP•16mo ago

I understand for now. Will try my luck with the Dockerfile then, thank You! Here's my Dockerfile placed in the main folder of the app. Is it configured properly for Railway standards?

# Use an official Node.js 16 runtime as the base image
FROM node:16

# Set the working directory in the container to /app
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json to the working directory
COPY package*.json ./

# Install any needed packages specified in package.json
RUN npm install

# Install fontconfig
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfig

# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app
COPY . .

# Make port 80 available to the world outside this container
EXPOSE 80

# Run the build command
RUN npm run deploy

# Specify the start command
CMD [ "npm", "run", "start:prod" ]

# Use an official Node.js 16 runtime as the base image
FROM node:16

# Set the working directory in the container to /app
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json to the working directory
COPY package*.json ./

# Install any needed packages specified in package.json
RUN npm install

# Install fontconfig
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfig

# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app
COPY . .

# Make port 80 available to the world outside this container
EXPOSE 80

# Run the build command
RUN npm run deploy

# Specify the start command
CMD [ "npm", "run", "start:prod" ]

MantisInABox•16mo ago

As long as it runs on your system, it will run on Railway. You will just need to create an environment variable on your service called PORT and set it to 80 since you are specifying a port

HipsterSavageOP•16mo ago

Could I just remove the port line?

MantisInABox•16mo ago

You can, but then you would need to make sure your code references the $PORT environment variable so it will pick up the port assigned by railway

HipsterSavageOP•16mo ago

of course, thank You

Solution

HipsterSavage•16mo ago

Solved Dockerfile worked. Here's its code:

# Use an official Node.js 16 runtime as the base image
FROM node:16

# Set the working directory in the container to /app
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json to the working directory
COPY package*.json ./

# Install any needed packages specified in package.json
RUN npm install

# Install fontconfig
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfig

# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app
COPY . .

# Make port 80 available to the world outside this container
# Note: it may be not needed for your specific setup
EXPOSE 80

# Run the build command
RUN npm run deploy

# Specify the start command
CMD [ "npm", "run", "start:prod" ]

# Use an official Node.js 16 runtime as the base image
FROM node:16

# Set the working directory in the container to /app
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json to the working directory
COPY package*.json ./

# Install any needed packages specified in package.json
RUN npm install

# Install fontconfig
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfig

# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app
COPY . .

# Make port 80 available to the world outside this container
# Note: it may be not needed for your specific setup
EXPOSE 80

# Run the build command
RUN npm run deploy

# Specify the start command
CMD [ "npm", "run", "start:prod" ]

HipsterSavageOP•16mo ago

Thank You @Vin

MantisInABox•16mo ago

No problem

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Fontconfig Error on Railway Deployment