Sorry, little :scream: from a non-expert, but once again, I start off innocently clicking on the ‘update’ in the UI, then get booted to ‘go do a rebuild from the command line’, and then that fails and I’m pasting bash output into AI for it to tell me what’s wrong. “The error indicates that the Discourse update failed because the discourse-data-explorer plugin is now bundled with Discourse core and should not be included as a separate plugin in your app.yml configuration file.” I know that it’s not always possible, but it would be nice to at least have a warning like “get ready, this one is going to hurt”. It could prolong my life expectancy. (Last time): [image] Is it by design that updates via web UI can provoke breaking changes? Support I just tried upgrading via the web UI. The first part went ok, but the second step (update Discourse version) got part way through, then said there was an error, and the forum no longer works at all (just the ‘Oops’ page). Logging into ssh (to manually run ./launcher rebuild app), I get ERROR: Docker version 18.06.3-ce not supported, please upgrade to at least 20.10.0, or recommended 24.0.7 Putting aside the possible solutions to that problem (which are beyond my level of comfort/competence),…

Is it by design that updates via web UI can provoke breaking changes? manually It should have printed a warning about exactly that. You could then restart the container with ./launcher start app And then figured out your next steps more leisurely. You may still be able to start the container. But to answer the question in the title, not really. This was a big change and there were notifications here about it. Periodically things need upgrading that are external to the stuff that is just the discourse source code that can be upgraded in the ux.

You’re right, of course. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting the first rebuild to fail, so that caught me off guard. The message was there, but I because it was in the wall of log text, I lacked confidence that I would find whatever the problem was. For all I knew it was going to be some obscure exception buried in a call stack. Once AI told me, I saw it was right there near the bottom. I guess this is what happens when one is a part-part time webmaster :expressionless:

[image] Benjol: It’s just that I wasn’t expecting the first rebuild to fail, so that caught me off guard Yup. That was a bit of bad luck. This is the most disruptive upgrade that’s happened in ten years. [image] Benjol: because it was in the wall of log text, I lacked confidence that I would find whatever the problem was. Yes. It is a huge wall of text. I’ve been looking at it for almost a decade and it’s still hard to know just what to look at. [image] Benjol: I guess this is what happens when one is a part-part time webmaster I’m afraid so! When you use ‘the ai’ use Ask.discourse.com

How would a warning someplace else be better than a warning there when both would do the exact same thing and neither have a negative effect outside of reading? The log is always the first place you should look if there’s an error…

[image] Benjol: at least have a warning like “get ready, this one is going to hurt” The complexity of an update does not depend on the specific update but more on the version your forum is at before the update, and the versions of Postgres, Redis and all the plugins you have. So it’s basically impossible to tell whether the update is going to “hurt”. I’ve done updates from 1.8 to 3.5 without issues, and updates from 3.2.1 to 3.2.2 that cost me hours to fix.

I guess one thing that might help, is if this is an ‘expected’ problem (as in, not something buried in a call stack), to surround it with ---- in the log output. That would make it easier to find. Also, my backup is broken again since the update, back to the grindstone for me :frowning:

[image] Benjol: I know that it’s not always possible, but it would be nice to at least have a warning like “get ready, this one is going to hurt”. It could prolong my life expectancy. Sorry this was a rough experience for you! :hugs: [image] pfaffman: Yup. That was a bit of bad luck. This is the most disruptive upgrade that’s happened in ten years. Not a lot of consolation in your case, but true. It is rare for an update to require intervention at the command line. [image] Benjol: Also, my backup is broken again since the update, back to the grindstone for me :frowning: Hope you were able to resolve this issue! You need to have backups if you are self-hosting, because you never know what might happen.

I knuckled down and tackled this on Saturday, with the help of ask.discourse this time. I discovered that we had a non-standard volumes set up, with uploads and backups on a secondary disk. Which would not have been a problem, but when we grew the data disk from 20GB to 30GB, we omitted to inform the file system! With that fixed, I’ve now got breathing space for a few more years.

[image] Benjol: when we grew the data disk from 20GB to 30GB, we omitted to inform the file system! Ah! That’s a tough one! And an advanced setup to be sure. Glad you got it sorted.

Can we avoid updates that force me to debug on the command line please?

Product Support

pfaffman (Jay Pfaffman) September 23, 2025, 10:34am 10

Ah! That’s a tough one! And an advanced setup to be sure.

Glad you got it sorted.

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Can we avoid updates that force me to debug on the command line please?

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