# Bootstrap failed with exit code 128 **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873 **Category:** Self-hosting **Created:** [July 11, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873 "2025-07-11T12:39:12Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/1 "2025-07-11T12:39:12Z")
Hi, my old container still works, but i’m having trouble rebuilding. The same error appeared on both attempts before and after updating the ubuntu kernel by `apt upgrade` regardless of the implementation of [this](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sidekiq-warnings/370166) ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/2 "2025-07-11T12:42:57Z")
after getting fast data: to URL on safari PWA i ran `reboot` so to get back to old container, with the web UI update interface not working unless a rebuild is successful ![A computer screen displays a command line interface informing the user of a new software release and prompting an upgrade, alongside details of the last login. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/5/3/f/53feea337ecc55491e523ca741e6e3bb78d356f0.jpeg) ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/3 "2025-07-11T13:42:59Z")
I think you need to add swap. ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/4 "2025-07-11T13:55:34Z")
I have over 100GB of SSD space available- how do i officially allocate swap? ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/5 "2025-07-11T14:16:42Z")
what does `free -h` return? > [@Ethsim2](#): > > I have over 100GB of SSD space available- how do i officially allocate swap? Swap uses some of your SSD as (very slow) RAM. ```plaintext install -o root -g root -m 0600 /dev/null /swapfile fallocate -l 2G /swapfile mkswap /swapfile swapon /swapfile echo "/swapfile swap swap auto 0 0" | tee -a /etc/fstab sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10 echo 'vm.swappiness = 10' > /etc/sysctl.d/30-discourse-swap.conf ``` ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/6 "2025-07-11T14:31:42Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > what does `free -h` return? ![The image displays a black screen with white text showing a Linux terminal output, including system information, a software release notification, and memory usage details. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/a/f/fafe27acbd68bf29e27787985addbae4eae1635c.jpeg) ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/7 "2025-07-11T14:33:14Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > > [@Ethsim2](#): > > > > I have over 100GB of SSD space available- how do i officially allocate swap? > > Swap uses some of your SSD as (very slow) RAM. > > ```plaintext > install -o root -g root -m 0600 /dev/null /swapfile > fallocate -l 2G /swapfile > mkswap /swapfile > swapon /swapfile > echo "/swapfile swap swap auto 0 0" | tee -a /etc/fstab > sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10 > echo 'vm.swappiness = 10' > /etc/sysctl.d/30-discourse-swap.conf > > ``` what directory do i run these 7 commands in? ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/8 "2025-07-11T14:34:16Z")
> [@Ethsim2](#): > > what directory do i run these 7 commands in? Any directory. WIth 8GB you shouldn’t need swap, but it can’t hurt. What error do you get when you rebuild? ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/9 "2025-07-11T14:45:08Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > `fallocate -l 2G /swapfile` ![A computer screen displays a Linux terminal showing commands being executed to create a swap file, but encountering an error indicating the swap area is too small. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/d/c/fdce9893d4362305ba20a0b2931de55e44e9caef.jpeg) ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/10 "2025-07-11T14:47:04Z")
That’s an example of why copy/paste is so helpful. You missed a / before your swapfile in the fallocate command. ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/11 "2025-07-11T14:54:09Z")
yes i did get PuTTy going but i found it glitchy sometimes with the highlighting did it run ok ![IMG_0720](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/b/f/e/bfe54dda761a9174e0e8634b4b074a91d0981946.jpeg) ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/12 "2025-07-11T16:35:29Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > WIth 8GB you shouldn’t need swap i do recall when first setting up the server on a contract with Ionos, their image of 22.04 Ubuntu didn’t work with .\discourse-setup so i had to modify the `app.yml` myself. This was without Plesk, the Ionos data center designer self-image worked fine with `.\discourse-setup` beforehand ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/13 "2025-07-11T17:59:17Z")
So this was a [standard install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/142537?silent=true) and you created the app.yml with discourse-setup? What error do you get when you rebuild? ---
### Author: ![Jagster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jagster/32/192154_2.png) [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/14 "2025-07-11T18:25:35Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > WIth 8GB you shouldn’t need swap Well, I needed. Perhaps a giga would be enough, but I gave 2 GB. > [@Rebuild fails with exit 1: ERR\_PNPM\_RECURSIVE\_EXEC\_FIRST\_FAIL](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rebuild-fails-with-exit-1-err-pnpm-recursive-exec-first-fail/351862/11): > > I had feeling I’ve seen this before. I had 8 GB RAM and swap is 2 GB — how much do I really need nowadays, if that comes from lack of memory? ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/15 "2025-07-11T18:52:21Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > this was a [standard install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/142537?silent=true) and you created the app.yml with discourse-setup? yes i installed docker through .\discourse-setup ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 11, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/16 "2025-07-11T18:53:59Z")
> [@pfaffman](#): > > What error do you get when you rebuild? i’ll reply here if i get a rebuild error after the already set up swap ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 12, 2025, 9:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/17 "2025-07-12T09:05:42Z")
![A computer screen displays a busy command-line interface filled with lines of code, error messages related to 'git clone' commands, and a failure notification regarding a Discourse plugin. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/4/1/e/41e00b155d5f5b8415991816f2c43d4ec64d3209.jpeg) ---
### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield) #### Post date: [July 12, 2025, 9:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/18 "2025-07-12T09:11:42Z")
Remove discourse reactions from the explicit clone (Announcement here: [Bundling more popular plugins with Discourse core](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bundling-more-popular-plugins-with-discourse-core/373574)) ---
### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2) #### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/19 "2025-07-17T16:18:34Z")
> [@Ethsim2](#): > > ![IMG_0720](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/b/f/e/bfe54dda761a9174e0e8634b4b074a91d0981946.jpeg) the swap has disappeared? ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/2/5/a2591c32845fba49ce9f8cd70bfc4bd9fe145756.png) ---
### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield) #### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873/20 "2025-07-17T18:42:24Z")
Did you make it permanent? > **[How To Add Swap Space on Ubuntu | DigitalOcean](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-space-on-ubuntu-20-04)** > > Learn how to add swap space on Ubuntu using a swap file, with step-by-step commands, swappiness tuning, troubleshooting, and best practices. See Step 5. [Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bootstrap-failed-with-exit-code-128/373873.md?page=2)