diff --git a/contrib/environment-to-ini/README b/contrib/environment-to-ini/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..642a82d28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/environment-to-ini/README
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+Environment To Ini
+==================
+
+Multiple docker users have requested that the Gitea docker is changed
+to permit arbitrary configuration via environment variables.
+
+Gitea needs to use an ini file for configuration because the running
+environment that starts the docker may not be the same as that used
+by the hooks. An ini file also gives a good default and means that
+users do not have to completely provide a full environment.
+
+With those caveats above, this command provides a generic way of
+converting suitably structured environment variables into any ini
+value.
+
+To use the command is very simple just run it and the default gitea
+app.ini will be rewritten to take account of the variables provided,
+however there are various options to give slightly different
+behavior and these can be interrogated with the `-h` option.
+
+The environment variables should be of the form:
+
+ GITEA__SECTION_NAME__KEY_NAME
+
+Environment variables are usually restricted to a reduced character
+set "0-9A-Z_" - in order to allow the setting of sections with
+characters outside of that set, they should be escaped as following:
+"_0X2E_" for ".". The entire section and key names can be escaped as
+a UTF8 byte string if necessary. E.g. to configure:
+
+ """
+ ...
+ [log.console]
+ COLORIZE=false
+ STDERR=true
+ ...
+ """
+
+You would set the environment variables: "GITEA__LOG_0x2E_CONSOLE__COLORIZE=false"
+and "GITEA__LOG_0x2E_CONSOLE__STDERR=false". Other examples can be found
+on the configuration cheat sheet.
+
+To plug this command in to the docker, you simply compile the provided go file using:
+
+ go build environment-to-ini.go
+
+And copy the resulting `environment-to-ini` command to /app/gitea in the docker.
+
+Apply the below patch to /etc/s6/gitea.setup to wire this in.
+
+If you find this useful please comment on #7287
+
+
+diff --git a/docker/root/etc/s6/gitea/setup b/docker/root/etc/s6/gitea/setup
+index f87ce9115..565bfcba9 100755
+--- a/docker/root/etc/s6/gitea/setup
++++ b/docker/root/etc/s6/gitea/setup
+@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ if [ ! -f ${GITEA_CUSTOM}/conf/app.ini ]; then
+ SECRET_KEY=${SECRET_KEY:-""} \
+ envsubst < /etc/templates/app.ini > ${GITEA_CUSTOM}/conf/app.ini
+
++ /app/gitea/environment-to-ini -c ${GITEA_CUSTOM}/conf/app.ini
++
+ chown ${USER}:git ${GITEA_CUSTOM}/conf/app.ini
+ fi
+
diff --git a/contrib/environment-to-ini/environment-to-ini.go b/contrib/environment-to-ini/environment-to-ini.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d452cb28c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/environment-to-ini/environment-to-ini.go
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package main
+
+import (
+ "os"
+ "regexp"
+ "strconv"
+ "strings"
+
+ "code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/log"
+ "code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting"
+
+ "github.com/unknwon/com"
+ "github.com/urfave/cli"
+ ini "gopkg.in/ini.v1"
+)
+
+// EnvironmentPrefix environment variables prefixed with this represent ini values to write
+const EnvironmentPrefix = "GITEA"
+
+func main() {
+ app := cli.NewApp()
+ app.Name = "environment-to-ini"
+ app.Usage = "Use provided environment to update configuration ini"
+ app.Description = `As a helper to allow docker users to update the gitea configuration
+ through the environment, this command allows environment variables to
+ be mapped to values in the ini.
+
+ Environment variables of the form "GITEA__SECTION_NAME__KEY_NAME"
+ will be mapped to the ini section "[section_name]" and the key
+ "KEY_NAME" with the value as provided.
+
+ Environment variables are usually restricted to a reduced character
+ set "0-9A-Z_" - in order to allow the setting of sections with
+ characters outside of that set, they should be escaped as following:
+ "_0X2E_" for ".". The entire section and key names can be escaped as
+ a UTF8 byte string if necessary. E.g. to configure:
+
+ """
+ ...
+ [log.console]
+ COLORIZE=false
+ STDERR=true
+ ...
+ """
+
+ You would set the environment variables: "GITEA__LOG_0x2E_CONSOLE__COLORIZE=false"
+ and "GITEA__LOG_0x2E_CONSOLE__STDERR=false". Other examples can be found
+ on the configuration cheat sheet.`
+ app.Flags = []cli.Flag{
+ cli.StringFlag{
+ Name: "custom-path, C",
+ Value: setting.CustomPath,
+ Usage: "Custom path file path",
+ },
+ cli.StringFlag{
+ Name: "config, c",
+ Value: setting.CustomConf,
+ Usage: "Custom configuration file path",
+ },
+ cli.StringFlag{
+ Name: "work-path, w",
+ Value: setting.AppWorkPath,
+ Usage: "Set the gitea working path",
+ },
+ cli.StringFlag{
+ Name: "out, o",
+ Value: "",
+ Usage: "Destination file to write to",
+ },
+ cli.BoolFlag{
+ Name: "clear",
+ Usage: "Clears the matched variables from the environment",
+ },
+ cli.StringFlag{
+ Name: "prefix, p",
+ Value: EnvironmentPrefix,
+ Usage: "Environment prefix to look for - will be suffixed by __ (2 underscores)",
+ },
+ }
+ app.Action = runEnvironmentToIni
+ setting.SetCustomPathAndConf("", "", "")
+
+ err := app.Run(os.Args)
+ if err != nil {
+ log.Fatal("Failed to run app with %s: %v", os.Args, err)
+ }
+}
+
+func runEnvironmentToIni(c *cli.Context) error {
+ providedCustom := c.String("custom-path")
+ providedConf := c.String("config")
+ providedWorkPath := c.String("work-path")
+ setting.SetCustomPathAndConf(providedCustom, providedConf, providedWorkPath)
+
+ cfg := ini.Empty()
+ if com.IsFile(setting.CustomConf) {
+ if err := cfg.Append(setting.CustomConf); err != nil {
+ log.Fatal("Failed to load custom conf '%s': %v", setting.CustomConf, err)
+ }
+ } else {
+ log.Warn("Custom config '%s' not found, ignore this if you're running first time", setting.CustomConf)
+ }
+ cfg.NameMapper = ini.AllCapsUnderscore
+
+ prefix := c.String("prefix") + "__"
+
+ for _, kv := range os.Environ() {
+ idx := strings.IndexByte(kv, '=')
+ if idx < 0 {
+ continue
+ }
+ eKey := kv[:idx]
+ value := kv[idx+1:]
+ if !strings.HasPrefix(eKey, prefix) {
+ continue
+ }
+ eKey = eKey[len(prefix):]
+ sectionName, keyName := DecodeSectionKey(eKey)
+ if len(keyName) == 0 {
+ continue
+ }
+ section, err := cfg.GetSection(sectionName)
+ if err != nil {
+ section, err = cfg.NewSection(sectionName)
+ if err != nil {
+ log.Error("Error creating section: %s : %v", sectionName, err)
+ continue
+ }
+ }
+ key := section.Key(keyName)
+ if key == nil {
+ key, err = section.NewKey(keyName, value)
+ if err != nil {
+ log.Error("Error creating key: %s in section: %s with value: %s : %v", keyName, sectionName, value, err)
+ continue
+ }
+ }
+ key.SetValue(value)
+ }
+ destination := c.String("out")
+ if len(destination) == 0 {
+ destination = setting.CustomConf
+ }
+ err := cfg.SaveTo(destination)
+ if err != nil {
+ return err
+ }
+ if c.Bool("clear") {
+ for _, kv := range os.Environ() {
+ idx := strings.IndexByte(kv, '=')
+ if idx < 0 {
+ continue
+ }
+ eKey := kv[:idx]
+ if strings.HasPrefix(eKey, prefix) {
+ _ = os.Unsetenv(eKey)
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ return nil
+}
+
+const escapeRegexpString = "_0[xX](([0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F])+)_"
+
+var escapeRegex = regexp.MustCompile(escapeRegexpString)
+
+// DecodeSectionKey will decode a portable string encoded Section__Key pair
+// Portable strings are considered to be of the form [A-Z0-9_]*
+// We will encode a disallowed value as the UTF8 byte string preceded by _0X and
+// followed by _. E.g. _0X2C_ for a '-' and _0X2E_ for '.'
+// Section and Key are separated by a plain '__'.
+// The entire section can be encoded as a UTF8 byte string
+func DecodeSectionKey(encoded string) (string, string) {
+ section := ""
+ key := ""
+
+ inKey := false
+ last := 0
+ escapeStringIndices := escapeRegex.FindAllStringIndex(encoded, -1)
+ for _, unescapeIdx := range escapeStringIndices {
+ preceding := encoded[last:unescapeIdx[0]]
+ if !inKey {
+ if splitter := strings.Index(preceding, "__"); splitter > -1 {
+ section += preceding[:splitter]
+ inKey = true
+ key += preceding[splitter+2:]
+ } else {
+ section += preceding
+ }
+ } else {
+ key += preceding
+ }
+ toDecode := encoded[unescapeIdx[0]+3 : unescapeIdx[1]-1]
+ decodedBytes := make([]byte, len(toDecode)/2)
+ for i := 0; i < len(toDecode)/2; i++ {
+ // Can ignore error here as we know these should be hexadecimal from the regexp
+ byteInt, _ := strconv.ParseInt(toDecode[2*i:2*i+2], 16, 0)
+ decodedBytes[i] = byte(byteInt)
+ }
+ if inKey {
+ key += string(decodedBytes)
+ } else {
+ section += string(decodedBytes)
+ }
+ last = unescapeIdx[1]
+ }
+ remaining := encoded[last:]
+ if !inKey {
+ if splitter := strings.Index(remaining, "__"); splitter > -1 {
+ section += remaining[:splitter]
+ inKey = true
+ key += remaining[splitter+2:]
+ } else {
+ section += remaining
+ }
+ } else {
+ key += remaining
+ }
+ return section, key
+}