diff --git a/.docker/Dockerfile.kimai-base b/.docker/Dockerfile
similarity index 72%
rename from .docker/Dockerfile.kimai-base
rename to .docker/Dockerfile
index 1413b7d1..fe4b13ae 100644
--- a/.docker/Dockerfile.kimai-base
+++ b/.docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,22 +1,44 @@
-# Source base [fpm/apache]
+#  _  ___                 _
+# | |/ (_)_ __ ___   __ _(_)
+# | ' /| | '_ ` _ \ / _` | |
+# | . \| | | | | | | (_| | |
+# |_|\_\_|_| |_| |_|\__,_|_|
+#
+# Base images for:
+# - plain PHP FPM
+# - Apache with PHP
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# For production builds:
+#
+# docker build -t kimai/kimai-base:fpm --build-arg BASE=fpm .
+# docker build -t kimai/kimai-base:apache --build-arg BASE=apache .
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# For local testing by maintainer:
+#
+# docker build -t kimai-local-fpm-base --build-arg BASE=fpm .
+# docker build -t kimai-local-apache-base --build-arg BASE=apache .
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Documentation:
+# https://hub.docker.com/_/php/
+# https://github.com/docker-library/docs/blob/master/php/README.md#supported-tags-and-respective-dockerfile-links
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 ARG BASE="fpm"
-ARG PHP_VER="8.2"
-ARG COMPOSER_VER="latest"
-ARG TIMEZONE="Europe/London"
+ARG TIMEZONE="Europe/Berlin"
 
 ###########################
 # Shared tools
 ###########################
 
 # composer base image
-FROM composer:${COMPOSER_VER} AS composer
+FROM composer:latest AS composer
 
 ###########################
 # PHP extensions
 ###########################
 
-#fpm alpine php extension base
-FROM php:${PHP_VER}-fpm-alpine AS fpm-php-ext-base
+# fpm alpine php extension base
+FROM php:8.3-fpm-alpine AS fpm-php-ext-base
 RUN apk add --no-cache \
     # build-tools
     autoconf \
@@ -51,9 +73,8 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache \
     # xsl
     libxslt-dev
 
-
 # apache debian php extension base
-FROM php:${PHP_VER}-apache-bookworm AS apache-php-ext-base
+FROM php:8.3-apache-bookworm AS apache-php-ext-base
 RUN apt-get update
 RUN apt-get install -y \
         libldap2-dev \
@@ -63,7 +84,6 @@ RUN apt-get install -y \
         libxslt1-dev \
         libfreetype6-dev
 
-
 # php extension gd - 13.86s
 FROM ${BASE}-php-ext-base AS php-ext-gd
 RUN docker-php-ext-configure gd \
@@ -91,11 +111,6 @@ RUN docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) zip
 FROM ${BASE}-php-ext-base AS php-ext-xsl
 RUN docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) xsl
 
-# php extension redis
-FROM ${BASE}-php-ext-base AS php-ext-redis
-RUN yes no | pecl install redis && \
-    docker-php-ext-enable redis
-
 # php extension opcache
 FROM ${BASE}-php-ext-base AS php-ext-opcache
 RUN docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) opcache
@@ -105,7 +120,7 @@ RUN docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) opcache
 ###########################
 
 # fpm base build
-FROM php:${PHP_VER}-fpm-alpine AS fpm-base
+FROM php:8.3-fpm-alpine AS fpm-base
 ARG TIMEZONE
 RUN apk add --no-cache \
         bash \
@@ -131,13 +146,11 @@ HEALTHCHECK --interval=20s --timeout=10s --retries=3 \
     REQUEST_METHOD=GET \
     cgi-fcgi -bind -connect 127.0.0.1:9000 || exit 1
 
-
-
 ###########################
 # apache base build
 ###########################
 
-FROM php:${PHP_VER}-apache-bookworm AS apache-base
+FROM php:8.3-apache-bookworm AS apache-base
 ARG TIMEZONE
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y \
@@ -158,8 +171,6 @@ EXPOSE 8001
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=20s --timeout=10s --retries=3 \
     CMD curl -f http://127.0.0.1:8001 || exit 1
 
-
-
 ###########################
 # global base build
 ###########################
@@ -172,8 +183,9 @@ RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/${TIMEZONE} /etc/localtime && echo ${TIMEZONE} >
     # make composer home dir
     mkdir /composer  && \
     chown -R www-data:www-data /composer && \
-    echo "echo -e This imnage is not intended to be used stand alone. It's a base image\necho for the Kimai project. https://www.kimai.org\n" > /entrypoint.sh && \
+    echo "echo \"This image is not intended to be used stand alone. It's a base image for the Kimai project.\"" > /entrypoint.sh && \
     chmod 777 /entrypoint.sh
+
 # copy composer
 COPY --from=composer /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
 
@@ -181,28 +193,23 @@ COPY --from=composer /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
 
 # PHP extension xsl
 COPY --from=php-ext-xsl /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xsl.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xsl.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-xsl /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/xsl.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/xsl.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-xsl /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/xsl.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/xsl.so
 # PHP extension pdo_mysql
 COPY --from=php-ext-pdo_mysql /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-pdo_mysql.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-pdo_mysql.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-pdo_mysql /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/pdo_mysql.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/pdo_mysql.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-pdo_mysql /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/pdo_mysql.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/pdo_mysql.so
 # PHP extension zip
 COPY --from=php-ext-zip /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-zip.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-zip.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-zip /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/zip.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/zip.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-zip /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/zip.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/zip.so
 # PHP extension ldap
 COPY --from=php-ext-ldap /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-ldap.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-ldap.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-ldap /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/ldap.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/ldap.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-ldap /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/ldap.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/ldap.so
 # PHP extension gd
 COPY --from=php-ext-gd /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-gd.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-gd.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-gd /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/gd.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/gd.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-gd /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/gd.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/gd.so
 # PHP extension intl
 COPY --from=php-ext-intl /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-intl.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-intl.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-intl /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/intl.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/intl.so
-# PHP extension redis
-COPY --from=php-ext-redis /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-redis.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-redis.ini
-COPY --from=php-ext-redis /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/redis.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20220829/redis.so
+COPY --from=php-ext-intl /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/intl.so /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/intl.so
+# PHP extension opcache
 COPY --from=php-ext-opcache /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-opcache.ini  /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-opcache.ini
 
-CMD [ "/entrypoint.sh" ]
-
-# docker build -t kimai/kimai-base:fpm --build-arg BASE=fpm .
-# docker build -t kimai/kimai-base:apache --build-arg BASE=apache .
+CMD [ "/entrypoint.sh" ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.docker/dbtest.php b/.docker/dbtest.php
index 5b96e36f..24b4b714 100644
--- a/.docker/dbtest.php
+++ b/.docker/dbtest.php
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ $DATABASE_USER = urldecode($argv[4]);
 $DATABASE_PASS = urldecode($argv[5]);
 
 echo "Testing DB:";
-echo "*";
-echo "* new \PDO(mysql:host=$DATABASE_HOST;dbname=$DATABASE_BASE;port=$DATABASE_PORT, $DATABASE_USER, $DATABASE_PASS, [ \PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => \PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION ]);";
-echo "*";
 
 try {
     $pdo = new \PDO("mysql:host=$DATABASE_HOST;dbname=$DATABASE_BASE;port=$DATABASE_PORT", "$DATABASE_USER", "$DATABASE_PASS", [
diff --git a/.docker/self-test.sh b/.docker/self-test.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 8c4564ca..00000000
--- a/.docker/self-test.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-/startup.sh 2>&1
-echo $$ > /tmp/startup.pid
-echo "Waiting for kimai to install"
-while [ ! -f /opt/kimai/var/installed ]; do
-  echo -n ". "
-  sleep 5
-done
-echo
-
-# Test FPM CGI
-if [ -f /use_fpm ]; then
-
-  export SCRIPT_NAME=/opt/kimai/public/index.php
-  export SCRIPT_FILENAME=/opt/kimai/public/index.php
-  export REQUEST_METHOD=GET
-  export SERVER_ADDR=localhost
-
-  COUNT=0
-  until cgi-fcgi -bind -connect 127.0.0.1:9000 &> /dev/null
-  do
-    COUNT=$((COUNT+1))
-    echo "Waiting for FPM Server to start (${COUNT})"
-    sleep 3
-    if [ "$COUNT" -gt 5 ]; then
-      echo "FPM Failed to start."
-      exit 1
-    fi
-  done
-
-fi
-
-# Test Apache/httpd
-if [ -f /use_apache ]; then
-
-  COUNT=0
-  until curl -s -o /dev/null http://localhost:8001
-  do
-    COUNT=$((COUNT+1))
-    echo "Waiting for Apache/HTTP to start (${COUNT})" &> /dev/null
-    sleep 3
-    if [ "$COUNT" -gt 5 ]; then
-      echo "Apache/HTTP failed to start."
-      exit 1
-    fi
-  done
-
-fi
-
-# Test PHP/Kimai
-/opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:version
-if [ $? != 0 ]; then
-  echo "PHP/Kimai not responding"
-  exit 1
-fi
-kill $(cat /tmp/startup.pid)
-
-
diff --git a/.docker/service.sh b/.docker/service.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1bf10b47..00000000
--- a/.docker/service.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash -x
-
-function waitForDB() {
-  # Parse sql connection data
-  DATABASE_USER=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $4}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
-  DATABASE_PASS=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $5}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
-  DATABASE_HOST=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $6}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
-  DATABASE_PORT=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $7}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
-  DATABASE_BASE=$(awk -F '[/?]' '{print $4}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
-
-  re='^[0-9]+$'
-  if ! [[ $DATABASE_PORT =~ $re ]] ; then
-     DATABASE_PORT=3306
-  fi
-
-  echo "Wait for database connection ..."
-  until php /dbtest.php "$DATABASE_HOST" "$DATABASE_BASE" "$DATABASE_PORT" "$DATABASE_USER" "$DATABASE_PASS"; do
-    echo Checking DB: $?
-    sleep 3
-  done
-  echo "Connection established"
-}
-
-function handleStartup() {
-  # These are idempotent, so we can run them on every start-up
-  /opt/kimai/bin/console -n kimai:install
-  /opt/kimai/bin/console -n kimai:update
-  if [ ! -z "$ADMINPASS" ] && [ ! -a "$ADMINMAIL" ]; then
-    /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:user:create admin "$ADMINMAIL" ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN "$ADMINPASS"
-  fi
-  echo "$KIMAI" > /opt/kimai/var/installed
-  echo "Kimai is ready"
-}
-
-function runServer() {
-  # Just while I'm fixing things
-  /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:reload --env="$APP_ENV"
-  chown -R $USER_ID:$GROUP_ID /opt/kimai/var
-  if [ -e /use_apache ]; then
-    exec /usr/sbin/apache2 -D FOREGROUND
-  elif [ -e /use_fpm ]; then
-    exec php-fpm
-  else
-    echo "Error, unknown server type"
-  fi
-}
-
-waitForDB
-handleStartup
-runServer
diff --git a/.docker/startup.sh b/.docker/startup.sh
index f4545a7a..49e64f3a 100755
--- a/.docker/startup.sh
+++ b/.docker/startup.sh
@@ -3,12 +3,8 @@
 KIMAI=$(cat /opt/kimai/version.txt)
 echo $KIMAI
 
-function config() {
-  # set mem limits and copy in custom logger config
-  if [ -z "$memory_limit" ]; then
-    memory_limit=256M
-  fi
-
+function waitForDB() {
+  # Parse sql connection data
   DATABASE_USER=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $4}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
   DATABASE_PASS=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $5}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
   DATABASE_HOST=$(awk -F '[/:@]' '{print $6}' <<< "$DATABASE_URL")
@@ -30,11 +26,12 @@ function config() {
 
 function handleStartup() {
   # set mem limits and copy in custom logger config
+  if [ -z "$memory_limit" ]; then
+    memory_limit=512M
+  fi
   sed -i "s/memory_limit.*/memory_limit=$memory_limit/g" /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini
   cp /assets/monolog.yaml /opt/kimai/config/packages/monolog.yaml
 
-  tar -zx -C /opt/kimai -f /var/tmp/public.tgz
-
   if [ -z "$USER_ID" ]; then
     USER_ID=$(id -u www-data)
   fi
@@ -76,7 +73,31 @@ function handleStartup() {
   fi
 }
 
-config
-handleStartup
+function prepareKimai() {
+  # These are idempotent, so we can run them on every start-up
+  /opt/kimai/bin/console -n kimai:install
+  /opt/kimai/bin/console -n kimai:update
+  if [ ! -z "$ADMINPASS" ] && [ ! -a "$ADMINMAIL" ]; then
+    /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:user:create admin "$ADMINMAIL" ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN "$ADMINPASS"
+  fi
+  echo "$KIMAI" > /opt/kimai/var/installed
+  echo "Kimai is ready"
+}
 
-exec /service.sh
+function runServer() {
+  # Just while I'm fixing things
+  /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:reload --env="$APP_ENV"
+  chown -R $USER_ID:$GROUP_ID /opt/kimai/var
+  if [ -e /use_apache ]; then
+    exec /usr/sbin/apache2 -D FOREGROUND
+  elif [ -e /use_fpm ]; then
+    exec php-fpm
+  else
+    echo "Error, unknown server type"
+  fi
+}
+
+waitForDB
+handleStartup
+prepareKimai
+runServer
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-base.yaml b/.github/workflows/docker-base.yaml
index e8d2c90e..63df4a17 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-base.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-base.yaml
@@ -31,9 +31,8 @@ jobs:
               uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
               with:
                   context: .docker
-                  file: .docker/Dockerfile.kimai-base
+                  file: .docker/Dockerfile
                   build-args: |
-                      TIMEZONE=Europe/London
                       BASE=${{ matrix.server }}
                   platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64 #,linux/arm/v8,linux/arm/v7,linux/arm/v6
                   tags: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker.yaml b/.github/workflows/docker.yaml
index 50d9ceda..99c96ba2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker.yaml
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ jobs:
                   context: .
                   build-args: |
                       KIMAI=${{ env.kimai_version }}
-                      TIMEZONE=Europe/London
                       BASE=${{ matrix.server }}
                   target: prod
                   platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
@@ -56,7 +55,6 @@ jobs:
                   context: .
                   build-args: |
                       KIMAI=${{ env.kimai_version }}
-                      TIMEZONE=Europe/London
                       BASE=apache
                   target: dev
                   platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index b5656ab7..d47b738a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,11 +4,18 @@
 # | . \| | | | | | | (_| | |
 # |_|\_\_|_| |_| |_|\__,_|_|
 #
+# Kimai images for:
+# - plain PHP FPM
+# - Apache with PHP
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# For local testing by maintainer:
+#
+# docker build -t kimai-local-fpm --build-arg BASE=fpm .
+# docker build -t kimai-local-apache --build-arg BASE=apache .
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Source base [fpm/apache]
 ARG BASE="fpm"
-ARG PHP_VER="8.2"
-ARG COMPOSER_VER="latest"
 # Branch name
 ARG KIMAI="main"
 # Timezone for images
@@ -31,9 +38,10 @@ FROM git-dev AS git-prod
 WORKDIR /opt/kimai
 RUN rm -r tests
 
-
 # FPM base
 FROM kimai/kimai-base:fpm AS fpm-base
+RUN sed -i "s/;ping.path/ping.path/g" /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf && \
+    sed -i "s/;access.suppress_path\[\] = \/ping/access.suppress_path\[\] = \/ping/g" /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
 
 # Apache base
 FROM kimai/kimai-base:apache AS apache-base
@@ -65,12 +73,10 @@ RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/${TIMEZONE} /etc/localtime && echo ${TIMEZONE} >
     chown -R www-data:www-data /composer
 
 # copy startup script & DB checking script
-COPY .docker/startup.sh /startup.sh
-COPY .docker/service.sh /service.sh
-COPY .docker/self-test.sh /self-test.sh
 COPY .docker/dbtest.php /dbtest.php
+COPY .docker/startup.sh /startup.sh
 
-ENV DATABASE_URL="mysql://kimai:kimai@127.0.0.1:3306/kimai?charset=utf8mb4&serverVersion=5.7.40"
+ENV DATABASE_URL="mysql://kimai:kimai@127.0.0.1:3306/kimai?charset=utf8mb4&serverVersion=8.3"
 ENV APP_SECRET=change_this_to_something_unique
 # The default container name for nginx is nginx
 ENV TRUSTED_PROXIES=nginx,localhost,127.0.0.1
@@ -89,12 +95,11 @@ VOLUME [ "/opt/kimai/var" ]
 
 CMD [ "/startup.sh" ]
 
-
 ###########################
 # final builds
 ###########################
 
-# developement build
+# development build
 FROM base AS dev
 # copy kimai develop source
 COPY --from=git-dev --chown=www-data:www-data /opt/kimai /opt/kimai
@@ -111,11 +116,10 @@ RUN \
     mkdir -p /opt/kimai/var/logs && chmod 777 /opt/kimai/var/logs && \
     sed "s/128M/-1/g" /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini-development > /opt/kimai/php-cli.ini && \
     sed -i "s/env php/env -S php -c \/opt\/kimai\/php-cli.ini/g" /opt/kimai/bin/console && \
-    tar -C /opt/kimai -zcvf /var/tmp/public.tgz public && \
     /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:version | awk '{print $2}' > /opt/kimai/version.txt
 ENV APP_ENV=dev
 ENV DATABASE_URL=
-ENV memory_limit=256M
+ENV memory_limit=512M
 
 # production build
 FROM base AS prod
@@ -139,8 +143,7 @@ RUN \
     mkdir -p /opt/kimai/var/logs && chmod 777 /opt/kimai/var/logs && \
     sed "s/128M/-1/g" /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini-development > /opt/kimai/php-cli.ini && \
     chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/kimai /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini && \
-    tar -C /opt/kimai -zcvf /var/tmp/public.tgz public && \
     /opt/kimai/bin/console kimai:version | awk '{print $2}' > /opt/kimai/version.txt
 ENV APP_ENV=prod
 ENV DATABASE_URL=
-ENV memory_limit=256M
+ENV memory_limit=512M