Docker container for ps3netsrv (or ps3netsvr)

This is a Docker container for ps3netsrv (or ps3netsvr).

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ps3netsrv for webMAN-MOD by aldostools. Binaries built from the sources of aldostools/ps3netsrv.

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Table of Content

• Docker container for ps3netsrv
  • Table of Content
  • Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links
  • Image Variants
  • Releases
  • Quick Start
  • Usage
    • Environment Variables
    • Health Check
    • Data Volumes
    • Ports
    • Changing Parameters of a Running Container
  • Docker Compose File
  • Docker Image Update
  • User/Group IDs
  • Troubleshooting
  • Support or Contact

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

• 20260913, 20260913-alpine, 20260913-alpine3.23, alpine, alpine3.23, latest, v1, v1-alpine, v1-alpine3.23, v1.12, v1.12-alpine, v1.12-alpine3.23, v1.12.0, v1.12.0-alpine, v1.12.0-alpine3.23

• 20260913-slim, 20260913-trixie-slim, slim, trixie-slim, v1-slim, v1-trixie-slim, v1.12-slim, v1.12-trixie-slim, v1.12.0-slim, v1.12.0-trixie-slim

• 20250501, 20250501-alpine, 20250501-alpine3.23

• 20250501-slim, 20250501-trixie-slim

• 20250216, 20250216-alpine, 20250216-alpine3.23

• 20250216-slim, 20250216-trixie-slim

• edge, edge-alpine, edge-alpine3.23

• edge-slim, edge-trixie-slim

Image Variants

Tags follow the convention of the official Docker library images. The ps3netsrv build date is the version, the base image version is part of the tag, and alpine is the default base so it also owns the bare tags.

Tag	Meaning
20260913-alpine3.23	ps3netsrv 20260913 on Alpine 3.23. Fully pinned.
20260913-alpine	Same, but follows whichever Alpine version is current.
20260913	Same again, alpine being the default base.
alpine3.23, alpine	Newest ps3netsrv release on that base.
latest	Newest ps3netsrv release on the default base.
20260913-trixie-slim	ps3netsrv 20260913 on Debian trixie slim. Fully pinned.
20260913-slim, slim	The Debian slim variant, following the current suite.
v1, v1.11, v1.11.0	This repository's own release tags, with -slim variants.
edge	Built from upstream master, rebuilt daily.

Choosing a base

Base	Notes
Alpine	Default. Smallest image, musl libc.
Debian slim	glibc. Try it if a share or filesystem misbehaves under musl.

shawly/ps3netsrv:edge

Built from the master branch of aldostools/ps3netsrv, rebuilt daily. Latest upstream code, not considered stable.

Releases

latest tracks the newest ps3netsrv release on its own. It moves within a day of aldostools publishing, no action needed on this side.

This repository's own v1.x.y tags are a separate, deliberate thing, and they are proposed automatically by .github/workflows/release.yml.

How the version is chosen

The bump is derived from conventional commits since the last release, and from whether upstream moved. Whichever is larger wins.

Trigger	Bump
feat!: / fix!: etc, or a BREAKING CHANGE: footer	major
feat:	minor
A new upstream ps3netsrv release	minor
fix:	patch
Only chore:, ci:, docs:, refactor:	nothing is released

Commits are read from the squash-merge subjects on main, so the message you pick when merging a PR is what decides the version. A breaking change has to say so there.

You can override it by running the workflow manually and picking an explicit bump instead of auto.

How a release happens

1. Something worth releasing lands on main, or upstream publishes.
2. The workflow opens a PR bumping .github/release.json and regenerating the README tag table, then holds it for 14 days. The PR body says what is being cut, why, and when it becomes mergeable, and lists any breaking changes.
3. If upstream publishes again inside that window, the PR is rewritten for the newer version and the clock restarts.
4. Once the window is up the workflow merges the PR and cuts the GitHub release. Merging the PR by hand at any point releases immediately.

.github/release.json records which ps3netsrv version the current release shipped. That is what puts the v1.x.y tags on the right line in the table above, and it is bumped in the release PR itself, so the commit a release tags already shows the correct versions.

Quick Start

NOTE: The Docker command provided in this quick start is given as an example and parameters should be adjusted to your need.

Launch the ps3netsrv docker container with the following command:

docker run -d -t \
    --name=ps3netsrv \
    -p 38008:38008 \
    -v $HOME/ps3games:/games:rw \
    shawly/ps3netsrv

Where:

• $HOME/ps3games: This location contains files from your host that need to be accessible by the application.

Usage

docker run [-d] -t \
    --name=ps3netsrv \
    [-e <VARIABLE_NAME>=<VALUE>]... \
    [-v <HOST_DIR>:<CONTAINER_DIR>[:PERMISSIONS]]... \
    [-p <HOST_PORT>:<CONTAINER_PORT>]... \
    shawly/ps3netsrv

Parameter	Description
-d	Run the container in background. If not set, the container runs in foreground.
-e	Pass an environment variable to the container. See the Environment Variables section for more details.
-v	Set a volume mapping (allows to share a folder/file between the host and the container). See the Data Volumes section for more details.
-p	Set a network port mapping (exposes an internal container port to the host). See the Ports section for more details.

Environment Variables

To customize some properties of the container, the following environment variables can be passed via the -e parameter (one for each variable). Value of this parameter has the format <VARIABLE_NAME>=<VALUE>.

Variable	Description	Default
PUID	ID of the user the application runs as. See User/Group IDs to better understand when this should be set.	1000
PGID	ID of the group the application runs as. See User/Group IDs to better understand when this should be set.	1000
PS3NETSRV_PORT	Port used by ps3netsrv. You only need to change this when using network_mode host, otherwise you can just remap ports using Docker!	38008
PS3NETSRV_WHITELIST	Whitelist IPs e.g. 192.168.1.* or 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.200, this probably only works with network_mode host!	``
PS3NETSRV_BINARY	Which build to run: mbedtls (links the system mbedTLS) or polarssl (upstream's Makefile.linux, bundled AES). Try the other one if decryption misbehaves.	mbedtls
UMASK	umask applied to the ps3netsrv process.	022
PS3NETSRV_SKIP_CHECKS	Set to true to skip the startup check of the /games folder structure and permissions.	false
PS3NETSRV_FIX_PERMISSIONS	Set to true to have the container chown and chmod everything under /games on startup. Destructive, off by default.	false
PS3NETSRV_FOLDER_PERMISSIONS	Mode applied to directories when PS3NETSRV_FIX_PERMISSIONS is true.	755
PS3NETSRV_FILE_PERMISSIONS	Mode applied to files when PS3NETSRV_FIX_PERMISSIONS is true.	644
TZ	[TimeZone] of the container. Timezone can also be set by mapping /etc/localtime between the host and the container.	Etc/UTC

Health Check

Both images ship a HEALTHCHECK, so docker ps tells you whether the container is actually usable rather than merely running:

State	Meaning
healthy	ps3netsrv owns the listening socket on its port, and /games checked out
unhealthy	the port is not listening, or the /games check found problems

The second half matters: ps3netsrv starts and listens quite happily on a library it has no permission to read, which looks fine from the outside and is the usual reason for "it runs but my PS3 sees nothing". docker inspect shows the reason, the container log shows the detail:

docker inspect --format '{{json .State.Health}}' ps3netsrv

The /games check runs in parallel with the server, so a large or slow share never delays startup. While it is still running the container stays healthy on the strength of the port check alone. Set PS3NETSRV_SKIP_CHECKS=true to drop the /games half entirely and health-check only the port.

Data Volumes

The following table describes data volumes used by the container. The mappings are set via the -v parameter. Each mapping is specified with the following format: <HOST_DIR>:<CONTAINER_DIR>[:PERMISSIONS].

Container path	Permissions	Description
/games	rw	This is the path ps3netsrv will serve to clients.

Ports

Here is the list of ports used by the container. They can be mapped to the host via the -p parameter (one per port mapping). Each mapping is defined in the following format: <HOST_PORT>:<CONTAINER_PORT>. The port number inside the container cannot be changed, but you are free to use any port on the host side.

Port	Mapping to host	Description
38008	Mandatory	Port used for ps3netsrv.

Changing Parameters of a Running Container

As seen, environment variables, volume mappings and port mappings are specified while creating the container.

The following steps describe the method used to add, remove or update parameter(s) of an existing container. The generic idea is to destroy and re-create the container:

1. Stop the container (if it is running):

docker stop ps3netsrv

2. Remove the container:

docker rm ps3netsrv

3. Create/start the container using the docker run command, by adjusting parameters as needed.

Docker Compose File

Here is an example of a docker-compose.yml file that can be used with Docker Compose.

Make sure to adjust according to your needs. Note that only mandatory network ports are part of the example.

version: "3"
services:
  ps3netsrv:
    image: shawly/ps3netsrv:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    tty: true
    environment:
      TZ: Europe/Berlin
      PUID: 38008  # change this to the uid of the user that owns your games folder
      PGID: 38008  # change this to the gid of the user that owns your games folder
    ports:
      - "38008:38008"
    volumes:
      - "$HOME/ps3games:/games:rw"

Docker Image Update

If the system on which the container runs doesn't provide a way to easily update the Docker image, the following steps can be followed:

1. Fetch the latest image:

docker pull shawly/ps3netsrv

2. Stop the container:

docker stop ps3netsrv

3. Remove the container:

docker rm ps3netsrv

4. Start the container using the docker run command.

User/Group IDs

When using data volumes (-v flags), permissions issues can occur between the host and the container. For example, the user within the container may not exists on the host. This could prevent the host from properly accessing files and folders on the shared volume.

To avoid any problem, you can specify the user the application should run as.

This is done by passing the user ID and group ID to the container via the PUID and PGID environment variables.

To find the right IDs to use, issue the following command on the host, with the user owning the data volume on the host:

id <username>

Which gives an output like this one:

uid=1000(myuser) gid=1000(myuser) groups=1000(myuser),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),46(plugdev),113(lpadmin)

The value of uid (user ID) and gid (group ID) are the ones that you should be given the container.

Troubleshooting

First things first, if you have any kind of issue please try to use the standalone version of ps3netsrv and try to reproduce the issue. If you have the same issue with the standalone version, it's better to create an issue on the ps3netsrv repo.

webMAN-MOD can't see or read games from ps3netsrv

There are several possible causes for this issue. I will use the user bob who has his backups saved in his home folder under /home/bob/ps3games as an example.

A. Your folder structure is incorrect

ps3netsrv or rather webMAN-MOD wants to read their games from a certain folder structure, so your volume needs at least the folder PS3ISO and GAMES. Therefore it is necessary for bob to create the folders /home/bob/ps3games/PS3ISO and /home/bob/ps3games/GAMES as well. ISO files go into the PS3ISO folder and extracted games in folder format go into the GAMES folder. So now bob has to mount /home/bob/ps3games to the /games volume within the container. Like this:

docker run -d \
    --name=ps3netsrv \
    -p 38008:38008 \
    -v $HOME/ps3games:/games:rw \
    shawly/ps3netsrv

B. Your permissions are incorrect

ps3netsrv does not have root permissions within the container, it runs as user ps3netsrv which by default has the UID 1000 and the GID 1000.
There are two solutions for this issue, bob could change the ownership of his ps3games folder to 1000:1000, which is a bad idea because he will lose access if he does not have the UID 1000.

The better solution is to override the ps3netsrv user's UID and GID, this can be done with the environment variables PUID and PGID.
bob has the UID 10002 and his bob group has the GID 10003 so we need to change the environment variables, like this:

docker run -d \
    --name=ps3netsrv \
    -p 38008:38008 \
    -v $HOME/ps3games:/games:rw \
    -e PUID=10002 \
    -e PGID=10003 \
    shawly/ps3netsrv

C. ps3netsrv standalone works but your container doesn't

Make sure to start the ps3netsrv standalone as normal user, not as root user or with sudo. If it works for your root user but not for a non-root user, then go back to troubleshooting step B. If the standalone works with both normal users and root but the container doesn't, check the ownership, see the next point D.

D. All of the above stuff wasn't causing the issue

Alright then, please execute ls -l path/to/your/ps3games/folder and docker exec CONTAINERNAME ls -l /games (replace CONTAINERNAME with the actual name of your container). It should look like this:

bob@nas:~$ ls -l /home/bob/ps3games
drwxrwx--- 119 bob bob 119 Mar  4  2019 GAMES
drwxrwx---   7 bob bob   7 Jun 21  2019 PS3ISO

bob@nas:~$ docker exec ps3netsrv ls -l /games
drwxrwx--- 119 ps3netsrv ps3netsrv 119 Mar  4  2019 GAMES
drwxrwx---   7 ps3netsrv ps3netsrv   7 Jun 21  2019 PS3ISO

If the folders aren't owned by ps3netsrv or you are not seeing the GAMES and PS3ISO folders, repeat the troubleshooting steps A and B above. If it still doesn't work, you can create a help request with this: "SSBoYXZlIHJlYWQsIGZvbGxvd2VkIGFuZCB0cmllZCBldmVyeSB0cm91Ymxlc2hvb3Rpbmcgc3RlcCwgYnV0IGl0IHN0aWxsIGRvZXNuJ3Qgd29yaywgcGxlYXNlIGhlbHAgbWUu".

The container won't start or webMAN-MOD can't connect to the container

On some systems like Synology NAS systems the default port of ps3netsrv 38008 is in use already, so you simply need to change the host port to something else on the container and change the port within webMAN-MOD's webinterface to the same port. If the port is not the issue, it might be the latest build of ps3netsrv, try out some older tags of my Docker image as well as the standalone version of ps3netsrv.

webMAN-MOD has access to ps3netsrv but when mounting games they show as corrupted

This is an issue related to the latest UnRAID version, the splitting mechanism of shfs seems to be incompatible with ps3netsrv, take a look at this issue, at the bottom you can find some workarounds. If you do not have UnRAID but some other filesystem please test the standalone version of ps3netsrv before creating an issue here. If the issue also happens with the ps3netsrv standalone on a standard ext4 filesystem, your games are likely to be corrupted or you don't own the files within your games folders, check permissions and/or make new backups.

Support or Contact

Still have trouble with the container or have questions? Please create a new issue. The secret code for help issues is hidden in the troubleshooting steps, read them carefully. If you do not add the help code to your issue, I will have to close it sorry.