Good point, Cathyy01.
I’d just add that the official backup/restore guide encourages copying app.yml into place on a new VPS before running launcher.
So the error message could maybe cover that scenario as well. Right now, someone following the guide but forgetting to copy app.yml first will hit the same dead end.
Perhaps something like:
ERROR: containers/app.yml does not exist or is not readable.
If this is your first install, run ./discourse-setup to generate app.yml
(from the sample standalone.yml).
If you are restoring to a new server, make sure you copied your existing
app.yml from the old server into /var/discourse/containers
That way the message points all three kinds of users in the right direction:
- brand-new admins
- people restoring a forum
- testers who don’t want to set up SMTP.