Shutdown Postgres process in Docker but keep container alive?

Question

I'm using the official Postgres Docker Image, namely postgres:12.9-alpine

I'd like to run docker container commit on a container whose Postgres process has been terminated gracefully.

When I attempt to run pg_ctl stop -D <datapath>, I do in fact shut down the Postgres process, but the container comes down with it.

Is it possible to keep the container alive so that I can commit the container to a new image in a clean state?

Answer 1

You can commit a new image from an exited container, so there's no need to keep it running. Just don't automatically remove the container on exit.