Upgrade Problems Due to Changed Directory for SMF

[kat]

PM sent.

I NEED PASSWORDS!!

[kat]

I'm stuck here with a million windows open and I can't do anything without those passwords!

[allthumbz]

It's the same one I pm'd you earlier- they are all the same user id and password.

[kat]

I'm getting that "Warning: Unknown: open(/home/users/web/b2944/sl.ntimken/public_html/hobbymachinist/cgi-bin/tmp/sess_86d927f92e362dfadabbf3f0076c2988, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0" crap, too.

Just trying to figure-out where that's coming from.

It'll never cease to amaze me how much hassle it can cause, simply changing a directory name...

[allthumbz]

I deleted all references to "hobbymachinist" in the database using their mySGLAdmin program, and a search returned no entries. I checked settings.php and it was clean of that directory name. I checked CGI and TMP directories as referenced in the error message and it was clear of files. I checked for "unknown" and could not find any reference to it.

I got this in repair_settings.php also.  This nasty little message is what I got when I first tried to use upgrade.php and it stalled at 4% on the "backup" step abd just sat there.  I would love to see one of you support techs nail this so that the next person who gets stuck doesn't have to deal with this- it is frustrating.

I should never have tried to upgrade- I needed to just leave it alone- it worked.


Nelson

[kat]

Well, at least you did the sensible thing, which a scarily few people bother with.

You took a backup.

If the worst comes to the worst, you can always restore those.

This is terribly weird, though.

I've never come across anything quite as odd, to be honest.

[allthumbz]

I don't think the backup will work. I tried it last night.  The site returned errors of the type I am seeing now.

That is why I am so upset. I just started the board a few weeks ago and had 163 users already. Now I got zippo and they don't know what happened.

I was backing up every day, and I made a backup on my computer as well as on the web host of all the files.
This is one of those "Allthumbz" situations where nothing works.

Allthumbz (Nelson)

[kat]

I'm wondering if those error messages wouldn't be better understood by your host.

Technically, cgi-bin has absolutely nothing to do with SMF, at all. SMF just uses it, it doesn't add it, or anything.

I'm gonna try a few things.

I'll let you know, if I get anywhere.

[kat]

OO! I have some progress!

[kat]

Oh FFS...

This has got to be cursed!

I'm getting "
Error!
Error retrieving information on step: Converting other date columns..."

So, I tried to go to your "Manage MySQL", to have a look, and the bloody thing won't let me in!

It asks for the username/password and, when I enter it, it just loops back.

From what I can see, the database needs repairing.

In CPanel, that's a doddle.

With StartLogic's version, I can't find an option to do that, anywhere.

I'm still mooching around, though...

[allthumbz]

My host doesn't repair databases, and I am not certain it is the database.

Thanks for trying, but I cannot replicate my forum from scratch- even the backup won't work.  I did everything I was supposed to, I backed up  and SMF will NOT work. The upgrade attempt left me with NOTHING. This is really sad for me. I am left with nothing now for all my work.

Needless to say, I will be moving on to another forum software- I cannot go through this again. Even though the software is free, I spent hours promoting and developing the hobby-machinist site, and now, for whatever reason, have nothing to show for it.


When people ask about SMF, what do you think I am going to say to them?

Sighs and moves on....


Allthumbz (Nelson)

[kat]

Well, all the errors that I got were database related. I could only work with what I could see, as I know you'll appreciate.

If there was some way for you to get your backups to me, I could try and restore them. RapidShare? I may even be able to restore that backup to my own test forum, to see if I can get it repaired.

Maybe you'll need to drop that hyphenated directory, though, to do that.

For what it's worth, I really, honestly don't think that this was an SMF problem, par-se.

Maybe the idea of the directory-change would've been better done before upgrading, or something.

One thing that I would point out... (I REALLY don't want this to sound rude, because it's not meant that way). But, it clearly says that v2.x is not for "live" sites, because an RC is little more than a beta version, in truth.

Sadly, this is one example of why that's the case.

I'm just so sorry that I haven't been able to help you more than I have.

[allthumbz]

There are directories in my web hosting site with both the files backup (hm-backup directory) and the backed up database (database-backup).  I do not know how to re-upload the directory back to the server.

The database was fine until I ran repair_settings.php, and then it went haywire.  If I could somehow clean everthing out and reinstall the database and files, it should run.


Allthumbz

[kat]

Upgrading MIGHT have modified the database, so it won't work with v1.1.11, now.

Of course, the backup will.

repair_settings.php doesn't alter the database at all, in any way.

I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with your host's control panel.

However, if you go to phpmyadmin, you can import databases, in there.

Once the database is back, you can upload the actual files using FTP.

[allthumbz]

The database that was backed up was used to overwrite the corrupted database. That can be easily done with my webhost's phpAdmin. Once the backed-up files were re-installed, the site came back up, thankfully. I am delighted to have it back after the upgrade.php process somehow corrupted the database.

I hope that the support people communicate this experience to the developers along with that mysterious error. The version 2 rc 3 upgrade process is buggy in this regard. It came up with this old directory error from nowhere. That needs to be tracked down somehow.

Also, please advise people that backing up the files and database is not enough. You need to know how to restore the database using your web host's mySQL panel, otherwise the backup is useless to you.

I wouldn't DREAM of upgrading this site now- if K, a support tech, couldn't figure it out, how can a simple layperson like me?
I will stay with 1.1.11, and until this error is fixed, no one should upgrade- you are risking a weekend of down time, banging your head against a wall, like I just had.

Allthumbz (Nelson)

[kat]

I'm SO happy that you managed to get it all back, Nelson!

I've never heard of the problems that we've had, before, though, I have to say.

Yes, please ALL be aware that the warning for RC3, on the download page, is there for a reason.

Indeed, my own "live" forum is on v1.1.11.

As I said, earlier, though, backing-up and restoring databases is a damned sight easier in most CPanels that I've come-across. There's a "Files" section, which has a "Backups" sub-section, where you backup to your own hard disk and restore, too.

Dead easy!