apache2 docker container writes logs on my host as root user

I am running a apache2 docker container on my ubuntu box but it keeps writing logs to my host os. Details below:

samples/docker/apache2/Dockerfile

FROM php:5.6.34-apache
COPY ./sites-available/mysite.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/mysite.conf
RUN a2dissite 000-default.conf
#RUN a2dissite default-ssl.conf
RUN a2ensite mysite.conf

with:

samples/docker/apache2/sites-available/mysite.conf:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName localhost
    ServerAlias localhost
    #DocumentRoot /var/www/html
    DocumentRoot /var/www


    ErrorLog /dev/stderr
    CustomLog /dev/stdout combined

    #ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    #CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    
</VirtualHost>

that I build/run with:

samples/docker-compose.yaml:

version: '3.8'
services:
  apache2-php:
    container_name: apache2-php-container
    image: apache2-php-image
    build:
      context: ./docker/apache2
    ports:
      - "8082:80"

But log, run and lock folders are created on my host under the root user one folder above my docker-compose.yaml file:

$ ll
total 60
drwxrwxr-x   3 user user  4096 Nov 15 09:22 samples/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Nov 15 10:40 lock/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Nov 15 10:40 log/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Nov 15 10:40 run/

with:

├── log
│   └── apache2
│       ├── error.log
│       └── other_vhosts_access.log

I have also tried suggestions here:

Writing Apache2 Logs to stdout/stderr?

but it has no effect.

Why are those folders/files created at that location on my host and how do I configure apache2 container to only write logs inside the container and not on my host?

This is really not possible. Unless you define volumes in docker-compose, the container can not write anything into the host's filesystem.

Prove that with

> docker inspect apache2-php-container | jq .[].Mounts
> docker inspect apache2-php-container | jq .[].Volumes

You also can reverse-prove that by creating a file in your ominous Host's log folder and try finding it within the container (you didn't mention where this folder is or should be located within your container. Note: Even if a container would write files onto the Host, it would also be accessible from within the container at some path, of course - because it needs to be mounted somewhere)

I even reproduced your hierarchy and verified there are no folders created.

samples > docker-compose build
Building apache2-php
Sending build context to Docker daemon  3.584kB
...
Successfully tagged apache2-php-image:latest

samples > docker-compose up -d
Creating network "samples_default" with the default driver
Creating apache2-php-container ... done

> tree
.
└── samples
    ├── docker
    │   └── apache2
    │       ├── Dockerfile
    │       └── sites-available
    │           └── mysite.conf
    └── docker-compose.yaml

4 directories, 3 files

The logging even goes to the docker logs output:

> curl -I http://localhost:8082/bla
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Server: Apache/2.4.10 (Debian)

apache2-php-container | 172.21.0.1 - - [17/Nov/2021:12:34:16 +0000] "HEAD /bla HTTP/1.1" 404 140 "-" "curl/7.69.1"

You may have some kind of cache hitting there. Try to clean your system (docker system prune -a -f (careful!)) or test it on another untouched system.

tip: docker-compose build --no-cache

apache2 docker container writes logs on my host as root user

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