Update problem, do I press the big scary red button?

Product Support Self-hosting

AI-generated summary

In the Self-hosting category, user stephtara reported a failed GUI update that left the site down, asking if she should use the “big scary red button” pfaffman advised waiting until morning to attempt a command-line upgrade instead. stephtara later shared a Ruby version mismatch error and asked about running a full rebuild via the command line. ToddZ confirmed that command-line rebuilds are a reliable solution for GUI failures. After successfully rebuilding the app, stephtara expressed relief. philh and pfaffman discussed the error, while Canapin noted that while GUI updates are improving, the command-line ./launcher rebuild app is a safe and effective repair method that won’t cause data loss. merefield joked about the red button being useless, and pfaffman mentioned a dashboard tool he built to simplify command-line rebuilds.

1

OK, I know I should have refrained from updating just before my bedtime. This happened:

Screenshot 2026-02-18 at 21.43.34
Screenshot 2026-02-18 at 21.43.341994×468 34.2 KB

I still have that window open (is the journal useful?) but the rest of the site seems down :scream: .

Is this the moment to hit that red button which brings up a warning that this is a “last resort” thing to do?

2

If it’s still working, and I bet it is, just go to bed.

Tomorrow you can do a command line upgrade.

3

this doesn’t sound very promising:

Your Ruby version is 3.3.8, but your Gemfile specified ~> 3.4
Docker Manager: FAILED TO UPGRADE

I tried ask.discourse after posting and it suggests doing a full rebuild:

sudo git pull
sudo ./launcher rebuild app

yay or nay?

4

Yeah, GUI updates can occasionally fail for various reasons, and the typical next step is a command line rebuild. In my experience that’s always cleared things up.

(And the sudo on those commands assumes you’re not logged in as the root user.)

5

I rebuilt, and it’s working new, phew! Was scary. :fearful:

6

Sound familiar @pfaffman ?

7

Just writing this for the visitors who will read this topic after having themselves issues with the GUI update:

  1. True, it seems more reliable nowadays, but I had enough issues with it in the past to often prefer using the command-line instead, even if it’s less straightforward.

  2. If your update from the interface didn’t work, ./launcher rebuild app from the command line is very likely going to repair it, and there’s no reason why it would result in data loss. It’s safe to use.

    Happy Discoursing!

8

In my experience, the big useless button.

9

That’s why I built a dashboard.literatecomputing.com that will do the command line rebuilds with a click