php artisan storage:link issue when using Laravel and Docker - php

Question

This seems to be a common issue when people setup a Docker Container to serve a Laravel App using the container.
My setup is mostly this (I removed some of the other services because I do no think they apply here)
#docker-compose up --build
version: "2"
services:
nginx:
image: nginx
depends_on: [pacs-1,mysql_db]
restart: unless-stopped
ports: ["443:443"]
volumes:
- ./nginx-home:/nginx-home
- ./tls:/etc/nginx/tls
- ./nginx/default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
php-fpm:
build: php-fpm
volumes:
- ./nginx-home:/nginx-home
The default.conf for nginx for Laravel project is:
server {
# implement the TLS
listen 443 ssl;
server_name dockerlaravel.medical.ky;
root /nginx-home/PortalRads/public;
access_log /nginx-home/logs/PortalRads-access.log;
error_log /nginx-home/logs/PortalRads-error.log info;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
client_max_body_size 4000M;
client_body_buffer_size 4000M;
# skip favicon.ico
#
#location = /favicon.ico {
#access_log off;
return 444;
#
}
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
gzip_static on;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass php-fpm:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
error_page 404 /error_pages/404.php;
error_page 403 /error_pages/403.php;
error_page 401 /error_pages/401.php;
error_page 500 502 503 504 /errors/50x.html;
}
}
Everything actually seems to work OK once I get it all setup. Composer is installed globally on the host, and I use composer update on the host side to update the package. It does not seem like it is necessary to install composer on Docker with the setup that I have since the php container has php and the artisan binary is at the root of my Laravel app.
The problem that I am having is that the symlink from public/storage to the storage folder does not seem to be working. I have tried various methods to create the link. I actually have separate containers for nginx and php, so artisan will not run in the nginx container.
Since I am using nginx as a webserver, wondering if it might just be possible to have another location block or server block that will basically create that connection on the server side so that I do not have to fiddle around the the symlink created by artisan ?
location /storage/ {
root . . .
. . .
}
I can get into those containers from the CLI using:
sudo docker exec -it orthanc-docker-dev_ris_php-fpm_1 /bin/bash
sudo docker exec -it orthanc-docker-dev_ris_nginx_1 /bin/bash
and I've tried created the symlink from within the container(s) and that does not seem to work either.
As an example, I am using JetStream with Livewire in Laravel and the profile photos there map to:
https://dockerlaravel.medical.ky/storage/profile-photos/image.png
But that gives a 404 error because the symlink must not be setup correctly.
There are quite a few posts about that issue. Just wondering what the "best" solution is, preferably one that can be automated during the build of the containers so the user does not have to worry about that.
Thanks.