diff --git a/.env.sample b/.env.sample
index d83a7bfdbf1..1775ebaac70 100644
--- a/.env.sample
+++ b/.env.sample
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ C_FORCE_ROOT=1
 FORCE_REINIT=false
 INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT=true
 
+# Linux user that nginx, django and geoserver will run as
+GEONODE_UID=0
+
 # LANGUAGE_CODE=it-it
 # LANGUAGES=(('en-us','English'),('it-it','Italiano'))
 
@@ -236,7 +239,7 @@ LDAP_GROUP_PROFILE_MEMBER_ATTR=uniqueMember
 # CELERY__OPTS="--without-gossip --without-mingle -Ofair -B -E"
 # CELERY__BEAT_SCHEDULE="/mnt/volumes/statics/celerybeat-schedule"
 # CELERY__LOG_LEVEL="INFO"
-# CELERY__LOG_FILE="/var/log/celery.log"
+# CELERY__LOG_FILE="/var/log/geonode/celery.log"
 # CELERY__WORKER_NAME="worker1@%h"
 
 # PostgreSQL
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index c808fc00711..9cc3d3bee64 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
-FROM geonode/geonode-base:latest-ubuntu-22.04
-LABEL GeoNode development team
+ARG GEONODE_BASE_IMAGE=geonode/geonode-base:latest-ubuntu-22.04
+FROM ${GEONODE_BASE_IMAGE}
+
+ARG GEONODE_VERSION=master
+
+# Some label best practices
+# https://www.docker.com/blog/docker-best-practices-using-tags-and-labels-to-manage-docker-image-sprawl/
+LABEL org.opencontainers.image.title="GeoNode" \
+    org.opencontainers.image.version=${GEONODE_VERSION} \
+    org.opencontainers.image.vendor="GeoNode Development Team"
 
 # copy local geonode src inside container
 COPY . /usr/src/geonode/
@@ -11,16 +19,15 @@ WORKDIR /usr/src/geonode
 #RUN touch /var/log/cron.log
 #RUN service cron start
 
-COPY wait-for-databases.sh /usr/bin/wait-for-databases
-RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/wait-for-databases
-RUN chmod +x /usr/src/geonode/tasks.py \
-    && chmod +x /usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh
-
-COPY celery.sh /usr/bin/celery-commands
-RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/celery-commands
-
-COPY celery-cmd /usr/bin/celery-cmd
-RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/celery-cmd
+RUN chmod +x \
+        wait-for-databases.sh \
+        tasks.py \
+        entrypoint.sh \
+        celery.sh \
+        celery-cmd && \
+    mv wait-for-databases.sh /usr/local/bin/wait-for-databases && \
+    mv celery.sh /usr/local/bin/celery-commands && \
+    mv celery-cmd /usr/local/bin/celery-cmd 
 
 # # Install "geonode-contribs" apps
 # RUN cd /usr/src; git clone https://github.com/GeoNode/geonode-contribs.git -b master
@@ -28,16 +35,23 @@ RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/celery-cmd
 # RUN cd /usr/src/geonode-contribs/geonode-logstash; pip install --upgrade  -e . \
 #     cd /usr/src/geonode-contribs/ldap; pip install --upgrade  -e .
 
-RUN yes w | pip install --src /usr/src -r requirements.txt &&\
-    yes w | pip install -e .
+RUN yes w | pip install --no-cache --src /usr/src -r requirements.txt &&\
+    yes w | pip install --no-cache -e .
 
 # Cleanup apt update lists
-RUN apt-get autoremove --purge &&\
-    apt-get clean &&\
+# This is needed to reduce the size of the image, but it's better to move this RUN to geonode-base
+RUN apt-get autoremove --purge && \
+    apt-get clean && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
+# Create specific log dir to geonode and statics and grant permissions to root group. 
+# This is needed to avoid permission issues
+RUN mkdir -p /var/log/geonode /mnt/volumes/statics && \
+    chmod -R g=u /var/log/geonode /mnt/volumes/statics
+
 # Export ports
 EXPOSE 8000
 
-# We provide no command or entrypoint as this image can be used to serve the django project or run celery tasks
-# ENTRYPOINT /usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh
+# We provide no command as this image can be used to serve the django project or run celery tasks
+ENTRYPOINT [ ./entrypoint.sh ]
+
diff --git a/celery-cmd b/celery-cmd
index a600163fc77..780ea5ccf9d 100644
--- a/celery-cmd
+++ b/celery-cmd
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#!/bin/bash
 # A configurable celery command.
 # Luca Pasquali <luca.pasquali@geosolutionsgroup.com>
 CELERY_BIN=${CELERY_BIN:-"$(which celery||echo celery)"}
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ CELERY__MAX_TASKS_PER_CHILD=${CELERY__MAX_TASKS_PER_CHILD:-"10"}
 CELERY__OPTS=${CELERY__OPTS:-"--without-gossip --without-mingle -Ofair -B -E"}
 CELERY__BEAT_SCHEDULE=${CELERY__BEAT_SCHEDULE:-"celery.beat:PersistentScheduler"}
 CELERY__LOG_LEVEL=${CELERY__LOG_LEVEL:-"INFO"}
-CELERY__LOG_FILE=${CELERY__LOG_FILE:-"/var/log/celery.log"}
+CELERY__LOG_FILE=${CELERY__LOG_FILE:-"/var/log/geonode/celery.log"}
 CELERY__WORKER_NAME=${CELERY__WORKER_NAME:-"worker1@%h"}
 CELERY__WORKER_CONCURRENCY=${CELERY__WORKER_CONCURRENCY:-"4"}
 
diff --git a/celery.sh b/celery.sh
index f5746569558..01231e735ed 100755
--- a/celery.sh
+++ b/celery.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-nohup celery -A geonode.celery_app:app beat -l DEBUG -f /var/log/celery.log &>/dev/null &
-nohup celery -A geonode.celery_app:app worker --without-gossip --without-mingle -Ofair -B -E --statedb=worker.state --scheduler=celery.beat:PersistentScheduler --loglevel=INFO --concurrency=2 -n worker1@%h -f /var/log/celery.log &>/dev/null &
+nohup celery -A geonode.celery_app:app beat -l DEBUG -f /var/log/geonode/celery.log &>/dev/null &
+nohup celery -A geonode.celery_app:app worker --without-gossip --without-mingle -Ofair -B -E --statedb=worker.state --scheduler=celery.beat:PersistentScheduler --loglevel=INFO --concurrency=2 -n worker1@%h -f /var/log/geonode/celery.log &>/dev/null &
 nohup celery -A geonode.celery_app:app flower --auto_refresh=True --debug=False --broker=${BROKER_URL} --basic_auth=${ADMIN_USERNAME}:${ADMIN_PASSWORD} --address=0.0.0.0 --port=5555 &>/dev/null &
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose-dev.yml b/docker-compose-dev.yml
index 3f496a6445b..d1633aed615 100644
--- a/docker-compose-dev.yml
+++ b/docker-compose-dev.yml
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@ version: '3.9'
 # Common Django template for GeoNode and Celery services below
 x-common-django:
   &default-common-django
-  image: geonode/geonode:local
+  image: geonode/geonode:dev
   build:
       context: ./
-      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      args:
+        GEONODE_BASE_IMAGE: geonode/geonode-base:latest-ubuntu-22.04
+        GEONODE_VERSION: master
   restart: unless-stopped
+  user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
   env_file:
     - .env
   volumes:
@@ -52,15 +55,17 @@ services:
 
   # Nginx is serving django static and media files and proxies to django and geonode
   geonode:
-    image: geonode/nginx:1.25.3-latest
+    image: geonode/nginx:dev
     container_name: nginx4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     env_file:
       - .env
     environment:
       - RESOLVER=127.0.0.11
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     ports:
-      - "${HTTP_PORT}:80"
-      - "${HTTPS_PORT}:443"
+      # change container ports to run rootless nginx (80->8080 and 443->8443)
+      - "${HTTP_PORT}:8080"
+      - "${HTTPS_PORT}:8443"
     volumes:
       - nginx-confd:/etc/nginx
       - nginx-certificates:/geonode-certificates
@@ -69,17 +74,20 @@ services:
 
   # Gets and installs letsencrypt certificates
   letsencrypt:
-    image: geonode/letsencrypt:2.6.0-latest
+    image: geonode/letsencrypt:dev
     container_name: letsencrypt4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     env_file:
       - .env
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     volumes:
       - nginx-certificates:/geonode-certificates
     restart: unless-stopped
+    # deploy:
+    #   replicas: 0
 
   # Geoserver backend
   geoserver:
-    image: geonode/geoserver:2.24.3-latest
+    image: geonode/geoserver:dev
     container_name: geoserver4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     healthcheck:
       test: "curl -m 10 --fail --silent --write-out 'HTTP CODE : %{http_code}\n' --output /dev/null http://geoserver:8080/geoserver/ows"
@@ -87,6 +95,7 @@ services:
       interval: 60s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 2
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     env_file:
       - .env
     ports:
@@ -105,9 +114,10 @@ services:
         condition: service_healthy
 
   data-dir-conf:
-    image: geonode/geoserver_data:2.24.3-latest
+    image: geonode/geoserver_data:dev
     container_name: gsconf4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     entrypoint: sleep infinity
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     volumes:
       - geoserver-data-dir:/geoserver_data/data
     restart: unless-stopped
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index fb0e0190a00..31d438885b7 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -6,8 +6,11 @@ x-common-django:
   image: geonode/geonode:latest-ubuntu-22.04
   build:
       context: ./
-      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      args:
+        GEONODE_BASE_IMAGE: geonode/geonode-base:latest-ubuntu-22.04
+        GEONODE_VERSION: master
   restart: unless-stopped
+  user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
   env_file:
     - .env
   volumes:
@@ -34,7 +37,7 @@ services:
       retries: 2
     environment:
       - IS_CELERY=False
-    entrypoint: ["/usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh"]
+    # entrypoint: ["/usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh"]
     command: "uwsgi --ini /usr/src/geonode/uwsgi.ini"
 
   # Celery worker that executes celery tasks created by Django.
@@ -46,7 +49,7 @@ services:
         condition: service_healthy
     environment:
       - IS_CELERY=True
-    entrypoint: ["/usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh"]
+    # entrypoint: ["/usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh"]
     command: "celery-cmd"
 
   # memcached service
@@ -68,11 +71,13 @@ services:
     container_name: nginx4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     env_file:
       - .env
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     environment:
       - RESOLVER=127.0.0.11
     ports:
-      - "${HTTP_PORT}:80"
-      - "${HTTPS_PORT}:443"
+      # change container ports to run rootless nginx (80->8080 and 443->8443)
+      - "${HTTP_PORT}:8080"
+      - "${HTTPS_PORT}:8443"
     volumes:
       - nginx-confd:/etc/nginx
       - nginx-certificates:/geonode-certificates
@@ -83,6 +88,7 @@ services:
   letsencrypt:
     image: geonode/letsencrypt:2.6.0-latest
     container_name: letsencrypt4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     env_file:
       - .env
     volumes:
@@ -99,6 +105,7 @@ services:
       interval: 60s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 2
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     env_file:
       - .env
     ports:
@@ -120,6 +127,7 @@ services:
     image: geonode/geoserver_data:2.24.3-latest
     container_name: gsconf4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
     entrypoint: sleep infinity
+    user: '${GEONODE_UID}'
     volumes:
       - geoserver-data-dir:/geoserver_data/data
     restart: unless-stopped
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index bcb925467f7..ad3396980d2 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -3,29 +3,65 @@
 # Exit script in case of error
 set -e
 
-INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT=${INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT:-FALSE}
+# Parse bools
+parse_bool () {
+    case $1 in
+        [Tt][Rr][Uu][Ee]|[Yy][Ee][Ss]|[Oo][Nn]|1) echo 'true';;
+        *) echo 'false';;
+    esac
+}
+
+INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT=${INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT:-false}
+
 invoke () {
-    if [ $INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT = 'true' ] || [ $INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT = 'True' ]
-    then
+    if [ $(parse_bool $INVOKE_LOG_STDOUT) = 'true' ]; then
         /usr/local/bin/invoke $@
     else
-        /usr/local/bin/invoke $@ > /usr/src/geonode/invoke.log 2>&1
+        /usr/local/bin/invoke $@ > /var/log/geonode/invoke.log 2>&1
     fi
     echo "$@ tasks done"
 }
 
 # Start cron && memcached services
-service cron restart
+# Not necessary, because cron jobs coiuld be run by the docker host, or use a Cronjob in Kubernetes
+# Shoud be fine if we remove cron from base image.
+# service cron restart
 
 echo $"\n\n\n"
 echo "-----------------------------------------------------"
 echo "STARTING DJANGO ENTRYPOINT $(date)"
 echo "-----------------------------------------------------"
 
+# check if user exists in passwd file
+# if not, change HOME to /tmp
+HAS_USER=$(getent passwd $(id -u) | wc -l)
+if [ $HAS_USER -eq 1 ]; then
+    echo "User $_USER exists in passwd file"
+
+    if [ $HOME = "/" ]; then
+        echo "HOME is /, changing to /tmp"
+        export HOME=/tmp
+    fi
+else
+    echo "User does not exist in passwd file, changing HOME to /tmp"
+    export HOME=/tmp
+fi
+unset HAS_USER
+
 invoke update
 
+# Preserving the original behavior. 
+if [ ! -e $HOME/.bashrc ]; then
+    echo "No $HOME/.bashrc found, using skeleton"
+    cp /etc/skel/.bashrc $HOME/.bashrc
+fi
+
 source $HOME/.bashrc
-source $HOME/.override_env
+
+# Load the environment variables, if exists
+if [ -e $HOME/.override_env ]; then
+    source $HOME/.override_env
+fi
 
 echo DOCKER_API_VERSION=$DOCKER_API_VERSION
 echo POSTGRES_USER=$POSTGRES_USER
@@ -44,15 +80,14 @@ echo MONITORING_DATA_TTL=$MONITORING_DATA_TTL
 
 cmd="$@"
 
-if [ ${IS_CELERY} = "true" ]  || [ ${IS_CELERY} = "True" ]
-then
+if [ $(parse_bool $IS_CELERY) = 'true' ]; then
     echo "Executing Celery server $cmd for Production"
-else
 
+else
     invoke migrations
     invoke prepare
 
-    if [ ${FORCE_REINIT} = "true" ]  || [ ${FORCE_REINIT} = "True" ] || [ ! -e "/mnt/volumes/statics/geonode_init.lock" ]; then
+    if [ $(parse_bool $FORCE_REINIT) = 'true' ]  || [ ! -e "/mnt/volumes/statics/geonode_init.lock" ]; then
         invoke fixtures
         invoke monitoringfixture
         invoke initialized
diff --git a/uwsgi.ini b/uwsgi.ini
index c519637152e..986a7741b22 100644
--- a/uwsgi.ini
+++ b/uwsgi.ini
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [uwsgi]
 # uwsgi-socket = 0.0.0.0:8000
 http-socket = 0.0.0.0:8000
-logto = /var/log/geonode.log
+logto = /var/log/geonode/geonode.log
 # pidfile = /tmp/geonode.pid
 
 chdir = /usr/src/geonode/