‘Oops. The software powering this discussion…’ error after updating through UI

Product Support Self-hosting

AI-generated summary

After attempting to update their Discourse forum via the UI, wenqin encountered a critical error (“Oops. The software powering this discussion…”), rendering the site inaccessible. Attempts to access Safe Mode or admin login failed wenqin. Community members Lilly and HamMan2118 confirmed Safe Mode wouldn’t help and advised a command-line upgrade. pfaffman provided the terminal commands (cd /var/discourse && ./launcher rebuild app), but wenqin lacks command-line experience and seeks clear steps before involving a friend. Further troubleshooting revealed the server runs an outdated kernel (3.10), unsupported by current Discourse, triggering a build error wenqin. pfaffman suggested upgrading the kernel or migrating to a newer VM with a modern OS, asking for the distribution via cat /etc/issue. Heliosurge offered a guide for upgrading Ubuntu LTS (18.04 to 22.04) without changing IP, endorsed by their provider, recommending a VPS backup first. The core issue is an obsolete kernel requiring either OS/kernel upgrade or server migration to restore functionality.

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When I opined the forum on my phone today,it reminded me that I needed to updated and I clicked on update,then it turned into this.
What can I do to save my site.

2

Hi @wenqin :wave: Have you tried safe mode yet? can you login at http://yoursite.com/u/admin-login?

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20240320_0016231920×1440 439 KB

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Hi :waving_hand:

Does the same also occur in Safe Mode, from the link @Lilly linked above?

5

You’ll need to do a command line upgrade

6

Can you explain a little more clearly?I don’t know any code knowledge.
I need to ask for help from my friends. I hope to confirm the steps as much as possible before contacting him.

7

No,I can’t

8

yea safe-mode won’t work right now. like Jay said, need admin access to the command line to upgrade. do you know where the forum is hosted?

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Someone needs to ssh to the server command line (or maybe get there from a dashboard) and


cd /var/discourse
./launcher rebuild app
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ERROR: Kernel version 3.10.0-1160.102.1.el7.x86_64 not supported, please upgrade to at least 4.4.0

11

You probably need to move to a new vm with an up to date os, though you may be able to just upgrade the kernel.

3.11 was released a decade ago. What distribution are you running? What does

cat /etc/issue

Say?

12

The Op if running Ubuntu lts might be able to use this guide to upgrade the server. just would need to backup the vps.

my provider reviewed this blog and sait it looks good vs initially what he had laud out. As doesn’t change the ip address.