Is it the same process to update Discourse via the browser, or via Terminal using the ./launcher rebuild app? If so, any advantages of one over the other, other than being able to update plugins individually? I’m no expert in this, so I’m sorry if I’m saying something that doesn’t make sense. I’m asking this, because it’s the second time I try to update via the browser and it gets stuck. The first time it started and got stuck in the middle of the updating process, and then last night (2nd time) I hit the update button, went to bed, and this morning it hadn’t even begin. I had to Cancel and restart.

This should help with future rebuilds: [image] High rebuild memory requirements: April 2025 edition Self-hosting We just landed this commit which should hopefully improve the situation. Please let us know how you get on! (it’ll hit tests-passed in the next ~30 mins) When testing with a memory-constrained docker container locally, I can now get a successful build with -m 1600m. Before this change, the minimum I could achieve was -m 3000m.

[image] merefield: You can find resources on here to configure a “we’re offline, come back later screen” I saw that a few days ago, but it was indeed very complex for me. I just posted the errors I’m seeing when trying to update now. It crashed again. It’s on my previous reply.

So after it crashed, I clicked the button to restart updating and it’s stuck on this again, which is what happened last night: [image] Here’s what I noticed, but don’t know if it’s a coincidence: when it gets stuck on that state where nothing happens, I click Reset Update. Try to restart, nothing happens. Then I go back to the page with all the updates, and click the Update button. This time, it starts the update. Not sure if there’s something broken in the code that after a reset, the button to restart, doesn’t actually do anything? I have no clue, but I’m just sharing my experience. Now it’s updating again, after I did what I just described.

I’m confused now… it crashed again, but when I refreshed the browser it said that Discourse was at the newest version… When I went to the main updates page where the plugins are, it indeed showed Discourse as being updated :thinking:

[image] alltiagocom: Command was killed with SIGKILL Try creating a swap: [image] Create a swapfile for your Linux server Self-Hosting bulb For servers with <= 4GB of RAM, running ./discourse-setup will prompt for and automatically create a 2GB swapfile. Most cloud virtual machine providers do not set up swapfiles as part of their server provisioning. In particular, upgrading Discourse produces a lot of memory pressure. With a swap file, rather than randomly terminating processes with an out of memory error, things will slow down instead. Having a swap file is a cheap insurance policy that protects you from many other lo… It seems that this error message has been very common lately, and was always fixed by creating swap. I don’t know why since Discourse’s official requirements have not changed.

[image] Canapin: Try creating a swap I’ve seen this word before, but I have no idea what it is and what it is for. Thank you for sharing that link. I will definitely do that and if I encounter any issue, I will share it. When I go to DigitalOcean, I see this for my droplet: [image] So I “qualify” for that swapfile process you shared, right? Because my server is <= 2GB of RAM.

If it’s less than 2GB, I would recommended creating a swapfile. Mine is 1GB so I definitely needed one. From my understanding, swap basically takes some storage and converts it to use as more memory.

Then ./discourse-setup should have created a swap automatically. I’m not well versed in the arcanes of system administration so I’ll let others tell more about this. That said, even with more than the requirements, users have come across this issue, so there’s something fishy. As for the update from the interface, I’ve found it a bit unreliable over the years. I’m not sure why, it seems it sometimes fails without obvious reason when a rebuild works.

[image] Canapin: Then ./discourse-setup should have created a swap automatically Is there a way, via Terminal, to see if there is one already? (Maybe this answers my question? I’m not well versed in the arcanes of system administration) [image] Canapin: even with more than the requirements, users have come across this issue, so there’s something fishy Ok, so I guess I’m not alone here. [image] Canapin: As for the update in the terminal, I’ve found it a bit unreliable over the years. I’m not sure why, it seems it sometimes fails without obvious reason when a rebuild works. I’m a bit confused… using Terminal are those 2 different things? Update and Rebuild? Because I’ve been using just ./launcher rebuild app and that always works.

[image] NateDhaliwal: From my understanding, swap basically takes some storage and converts it to use as more memory. Ok thank you. That helps!

Sorry, I meant from the interface, I’ve corrected my post. :slight_smile:

Update in browser vs Terminal

Product Support

david (David Taylor) April 4, 2025, 12:56pm 25

This should help with future rebuilds:

Topic		Replies	Views
Offline page clarification Product Support	1	133	July 9, 2025
How to tell whether to upgrade via web or console? Self-hosting	9	1032	July 10, 2024
Crash after attempting to update Bug	14	582	May 19, 2026
Oops The software powering this discussion forum encountered an unexpected problem Product Support	9	637	December 31, 2024
I keep getting errors when updating Product Support	26	761	July 16, 2025

Update in browser vs Terminal

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