Can't load topics

[dylanb (Dylan Burkhardt)]

I recently upgraded my Discourse and now can not seem to load topics. I just get a spinning circle when trying to load the content.

URL: forum.umhoops.com

This error keeps repeating in the logs.

In safe mode, I get this error when trying to load a topic:

I’ve rebuilt the container multiple times but that doesn’t seem to fix the issue. The issue started when I tried to upgrade through the web interface a received a bootstrap failed error. I then re-built via SSH and it “worked” but won’t load posts.

FWIW, as far as I can tell my initial upgrade failed potentially due to the Data Explorer. I’m also still on Postgres 10 and not 12. Absolutely stuck with how to get the forum up and running again.

Any suggestions?

[dylanb (Dylan Burkhardt)]

Is there anything that I can do to try to resolve this? Even if it is half baked? Revert to an old version? Any tips are welcome. Frustrated to have my forum broken.

[dylanb (Dylan Burkhardt)]

Appear to have discovered the issue… The Category Lockdown Plugin was breaking the load.

Advertise activity in a private category (discourse-category-lockdown)

This plugin allows you to restrict access to topic pages in a category. Topic titles will still show up in topic lists, search, user activity & digest emails. This is a great way to advertise the activity in a “members-only” category, which may charge for access. It IS NOT designed to keep the contents of the category 100% private - if someone is determined enough they will be able to piece together the content from search results. Each category has a couple of new settings in the Security tab…

Unfortunately, I need that plugin to operate properly. Any ideas on a fix? Can I revert to an old version?

[Stephen]

@dylanb

Can I revert to an old version?

If you have a backup from an older database version then it’s possible, sure.

If your site relies on certain plugins then building a staging copy of your site to test upgrades is a must. Updates will occasionally break stuff, applying upgrades to your live site without any pre-release testing is a recipe for disaster.

If you’re sure the plugin is responsible I would suggest posting in the official topic. AFAIK that plugin isn’t official, but maybe @fzngagan has time to take a look.

[dylanb (Dylan Burkhardt)]

@Stephen

If your site relies on certain plugins then building a staging copy of your site to test upgrades is a must . Updates will occasionally break stuff, applying upgrades to your live site without any pre-release testing is a recipe for disaster.

Yep. That was definitely my fault.

[Stephen]

Trust me, you are far from alone on this one. A large proportion of upgrade-related support topics are encapsulated by the above.

Sites which blindly update without proper backups could be down for days at a time if they’re waiting on third party plugins to be updated. In many cases it can be avoided with a pared-down copy of your live site in a $5 droplet, which is the cheapest insurance policy I’ve ever heard of…