<p>I solved a permission issue when mounting <code>/var/lib/postgresql/data</code> by following <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51200115/chown-changing-ownership-of-data-db-operation-not-permitted/51203031#51203031">this answer</a> with <code>initContainers</code>.</p>

<p>Now I'm trying to mount <code>postgresql.conf</code> as a volume, and I'm running into a similar permissioning issue that throws <code>chown: /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf: Read-only file system</code>.</p>

<p>What could I be missing? I've tried a bunch of different variations with little luck.</p>

<pre><code>apiVersion: apps/v1beta1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: postgres
  labels:
    app: postgres
spec:
  serviceName: postgres
  replicas: 1
  updateStrategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: postgres
    spec:
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 10
      initContainers:
      - name: chmod-er
        image: busybox:latest
        command:
        - /bin/chown
        - -R
        - '0'
        - /var/lib/postgresql/data
        volumeMounts:
        - name: postgredb
          mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data
        - name: pg-config
          mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
          subPath: postgresql.conf
      containers:
        - name: postgres
          image: mdillon/postgis:10-alpine
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5432
          volumeMounts:
            - name: postgredb
              mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data
              subPath: data
            - name: pg-config
              mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
              subPath: postgresql.conf
      volumes:
        - name: postgredb
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: postgres-pvc
        - name: pg-config
          configMap:
            name: pg-config
            items:
              - key: postgresql.conf
                path: postgresql.conf
</code></pre>

Mike
<p>From kubernetes 1.8 on, configmap is mounted readonly, excerpt from the CHANGELOG-1.8.md:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Changes secret, configMap, downwardAPI and projected volumes to mount
  read-only, instead of allowing applications to write data and then
  reverting it automatically. Until version 1.11, setting the feature
  gate ReadOnlyAPIDataVolumes=false will preserve the old behavior.
  (#58720, @joelsmith)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you want to change the file that mounted from the configmap, you can copy it to another directory, then update it.</p>
