diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 65dfbe5f..7475f952 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ EXPOSE 80
 
 COPY . /
 
+ENV MS_DEBUGLEVEL 0
+ENV MS_ERRORFILE stderr
+
 ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 
 CMD ["apache2", "-DFOREGROUND"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 15a1ac4f..b7ae732f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,3 +26,8 @@ All the files ending with `.tmpl` in /etc/mapserver and /etc/apache2 (can be
 changed by defining CONFD_DIRS in one of the sourced files) will go though
 confd with the `env` backend. The TOML files are created automagically to
 create a file at the same location, with just the `.tmpl` extension removed.
+
+You can use the following environment variables (when starting the container)
+to tune it:
+* MS_DEBUGLEVEL: The debug level 0=off 5=verbose
+* MS_ERRORFILE: If you want the debug to something other than STDOUT
diff --git a/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/mapserver.conf b/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/mapserver.conf
index 95d15953..f053177f 100644
--- a/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/mapserver.conf
+++ b/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/mapserver.conf
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+FcgidInitialEnv MS_ERRORFILE ${MS_ERRORFILE}
+FcgidInitialEnv MS_DEBUGLEVEL ${MS_DEBUGLEVEL}
+
 ScriptAlias /mapserv /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mapserv
 ScriptAlias / /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mapserv
 <Location />