feat: ensure that the datadir always exists

startup.sh

@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ DEFAULT_HEALTHCHECK_URL="http://${DEFAULT_HEALTHCHECK_URL}"
 # write the healthcheck URL to a file that geoserver user has access to but is not served by tomcat
 echo "${HEALTHCHECK_URL:-$DEFAULT_HEALTHCHECK_URL}" > $CATALINA_HOME/conf/healthcheck_url.txt
 
+# ensure that GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR exists as a directory
+if [ ! -e "$GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR" ]; then
+  mkdir -p $GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR
+  echo "Created new GeoServer data directory $GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR as it did not exist."
+fi
+
 if [ "${SKIP_DEMO_DATA}" = "true" ]; then
   # skipping demo data
 
@@ -209,4 +215,3 @@ then
 else
   exec $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh run -Dorg.apache.catalina.connector.RECYCLE_FACADES=true
 fi
-