How to change path to public files on Drupal 8? - docker

Question

By default the path to public filesystem is sites/<site-name>/files in a multi-site environment or just sites/default/files for a single site. How can I change it? I need to keep files on a separate docker volume(s).

Answer 1

You can keep the standard folder structure as it is, and use symlinks to actually use a different path (folder, volume, etc) as the real storage.
Here's the folder structure for a Drupal 8 site I have on my local Homestead. Update the paths according to your own structure.
/home/vagrant/Projects/D/Drupal8/
├── ..
├── private_files
├── public_files
│   ├── ctools
│   ├── field
│   │   └── image
│   └── styles
│   ├── large
│   │   └── public
│   │   └── field
│   │   └── image
│   ├── medium
│   │   └── public
│   │   └── field
│   │   └── image
│   └── thumbnail
│   └── public
│   └── field
│   └── image
├── vendor
└── web
├── includes
├── misc
├── modules
├── profiles
├── scripts
├── sites
│   ├── all
│   └── default
│   └── files -> (symlink) /home/vagrant/Projects/D/Drupal8/public_files/
└── themes
First move current public files directory to outside of Drupal root, or anywhere on your file-system:
$ mv web/sites/default/files public_files
Create a new files directory in its place (Do this only if the next step doesn't work for you):
$ mkdir web/sites/default/files
Create the symlink:
$ ln -s /home/vagrant/Projects/D/Drupal8/public_files/ /home/vagrant/Projects/D/Drupal8/web/sites/default/files
Two important points to pay attention to:
Always use full paths instead of relative paths when creating symbolic links.
Notice the trailing forward-slash usage in source and destination.