I'm attempting to create a new server and update the BBS from v3.18 to v3.20.

I tar up the /sbbs folder on the old server and copy that to the new server in the same folder /sbbs

I'm having trouble after i do the git pull, then the make using setcap and symlinks with release=1.

I then do the /sbbs/exec/jsexec update and it doesn't seem to work. if i run the upgrade_to_v320 it says it migrates the users to user.tab and all that but i can't verify things are right because #1 when i run scfg it thinks this is a new installation when it should be an upgrade and i can't seem to get passed that.

I'm just fully confused and tried so many things.. I'm willing to start over with the update and do things in a certain order but i need some guidance. I'm following the wiki for upgrading, but it just seems to be issues one after the other. At this point, i'd almost rather setup a new bbs and make sure it works then copy over the data somehow and the config, but im afraid i'd be right back in the same boat.

Any guidance to what I might be doing wrong?

Here's what i have done more specifically (TL:DR)

cd /sbbs/repo
git -C /sbbs/repo pull

then

export SBBSCTRL=/sbbs/ctrl
export SBBSEXEC=/sbbs/exec
echo $SBBSCTRL
echo $SBBSEXEC

I do the echo's to verify it's there.

then

cd /sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3; make RELEASE=1 setcap symlinks

after it's done, i can verify that my exec files are using the symlinks and are pointed to the right spots in the repo folders.

Then i try and run:

cd /sbbs/exec
./jsexec update

It appears to run and tells me it's updating the birthdate for some of the users and also it says this:

!WARNING loading configuration files: 0 nodes configured in /sbbs/ctrl/main.ini

and of course i can see /sbbs/ctrl/main.ini and i can see the items inside of it, like bbs name and such, i can see the "nodes" in there too, so not sure why it shows 0 nodes configured.

This is where i try and run /sbbs/exec/scfg and it says a new installation is detected and i abort out of there because i dont want it to override any of my data.

Hopefully i've explained well enough where I am at, and I'm stuck not sure what to do next.

Thanks for any help and if i missed something, please let me know.

---
þ Synchronet þ Hard Drive Cafe - hdcbbs.com

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Jason to All on Wed Oct 22 2025 11:46 pm

I'm attempting to create a new server and update the BBS from v3.18 to v3.20.

I tar up the /sbbs folder on the old server and copy that to the new server in the same folder /sbbs

I'm having trouble after i do the git pull, then the make using setcap and symlinks with release=1.

I then do the /sbbs/exec/jsexec update and it doesn't seem to work.

What makes you say that? Is the update.js current (the latest from the Git repo)?

if i run
the upgrade_to_v320 it says it migrates the users to user.tab and all that but i can't verify things are right because #1 when i run scfg it thinks this is a new installation when it should be an upgrade and i can't seem to get passed that.

Look at the ctrl/main.ini file - does it have your BBS name, etc. in it? If not, then there was no conversion of the your old ctrl/*.cnf files to ctrl/*.ini, and if that's the case, then you ran the wrong update.js or something like that.

!WARNING loading configuration files: 0 nodes configured in /sbbs/ctrl/main.ini

and of course i can see /sbbs/ctrl/main.ini and i can see the items inside of it, like bbs name and such, i can see the "nodes" in there too, so not sure why it shows 0 nodes configured.

Is it *your* BBS name or "My Brand New BBS" (or whatever the default is)?

This is where i try and run /sbbs/exec/scfg and it says a new installation is detected and i abort out of there because i dont want it to override any of my data.

Yeah, like I said above, it sounds like you ran the wrong update.js.

k, let us know more.
--
digital man (rob)

Steven Wright quote #9:
All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
Norco, CA WX: 59.5øF, 78.0% humidity, 3 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Digital Man to Jason on Wed Oct 22 2025 10:01 pm

I then do the /sbbs/exec/jsexec update and it doesn't seem to work.

What makes you say that? Is the update.js current (the latest from the Git repo)?

I think this may be the problem, so im going to start over with the upgrade and try this. Question, after i compile with symlinks, it appears that it's symlinking the executables but not any of the .js files. Is this right? Did i miss a step somewhere in the instructions? I would have thought it would have moved this stuff over?

Also, should it link the executables or create a symlink for the exec folder over to the exec folder inside of the repo directory? This is where it gets fuzzy for me because i'm not reading this in the instructions or im not understanding it properly. I am dense at times, so it's probably me, but im confused.. should i just move update.js script over by itself then?

For context, here is the header in my current exec/update.js file:

/* $Id: update.js,v 1.10 2020/05/05 01:09:27 rswindell Exp $ */

Here is the one in /sbbs/repo/exec:

/* Synchronet v3.15+ update script (to be executed with jsexec) */

So definitely a newer version there.

Also, the compile did create the symlinks for the update_to_v319 and update_to_v320 but not one for update.js

Here is the files from my /sbbs/exec folder:

-rw-r--r-- 1 sbbs sbbs 5244 Nov 10 2020 update.js
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 62 Oct 23 04:16 upgrade_to_v319 -> /sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.x64.exe.release/upgrade_to_v319
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 62 Oct 23 04:16 upgrade_to_v320 -> /sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.x64.exe.release/upgrade_to_v320


----

Look at the ctrl/main.ini file - does it have your BBS name, etc. in it? If not, then there was no conversion of the your old ctrl/*.cnf files to ctrl/*.ini, and if that's the case, then you
ran
the wrong update.js or something like that.

Here is a sample of the first few fields in the main.ini up to my system password which i didn't copy here:

Hard Drive CafeHDCBBSMontgomery, Alabama!!!!!!!!!!!!JasonThe Guru

----

What I am going to do is attempt to re-do the update on this new server, manually copy over the new update.js file over to the /sbbs/exec directory and then attempt to run that and see what I get. Maybe this will solve all my issues. Still would like to know if i missed a step or something i didn't read right. But as always thanks DM for your quick response! You've always been great for me and I appreciate you!

---
þ Synchronet þ Hard Drive Cafe - hdcbbs.com

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Jason to Digital Man on Thu Oct 23 2025 09:21 am

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Digital Man to Jason on Wed Oct 22 2025 10:01 pm

I then do the /sbbs/exec/jsexec update and it doesn't seem to work.

What makes you say that? Is the update.js current (the latest from the Git repo)?

I think this may be the problem, so im going to start over with the upgrade and try this. Question, after i compile with symlinks, it appears that it's symlinking the executables but not
any of the .js files. Is this right? Did i miss a step somewhere in the instructions? I would have thought it would have moved this stuff over?

Also, should it link the executables or create a symlink for the exec folder over to the exec folder inside of the repo directory? This is where it gets fuzzy for me because i'm not
reading
this in the instructions or im not understanding it properly. I am dense at times, so it's probably me, but im confused.. should i just move update.js script over by itself then?

For context, here is the header in my current exec/update.js file:

/* $Id: update.js,v 1.10 2020/05/05 01:09:27 rswindell Exp $ */

Here is the one in /sbbs/repo/exec:

/* Synchronet v3.15+ update script (to be executed with jsexec) */

So definitely a newer version there.

Also, the compile did create the symlinks for the update_to_v319 and update_to_v320 but not one for update.js

Here is the files from my /sbbs/exec folder:

-rw-r--r-- 1 sbbs sbbs 5244 Nov 10 2020 update.js
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 62 Oct 23 04:16 upgrade_to_v319 -> /sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.x64.exe.release/upgrade_to_v319
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 62 Oct 23 04:16 upgrade_to_v320 -> /sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.x64.exe.release/upgrade_to_v320

----

Look at the ctrl/main.ini file - does it have your BBS name, etc. in it? If not, then there was no conversion of the your old ctrl/*.cnf files to ctrl/*.ini, and if that's the case,
then
you ran
the wrong update.js or something like that.

Here is a sample of the first few fields in the main.ini up to my system password which i didn't copy here:

Hard Drive CafeHDCBBSMontgomery, Alabama!!!!!!!!!!!!JasonThe Guru

----

What I am going to do is attempt to re-do the update on this new server, manually copy over the new update.js file over to the /sbbs/exec directory and then attempt to run that and see
what
I get. Maybe this will solve all my issues. Still would like to know if i missed a step or something i didn't read right. But as always thanks DM for your quick response! You've always
been
great for me and I appreciate you!

I have gone back and started over, and after compilation i did

cd /sbbs/repo/exec
cp *.js /sbbs/exec

then i run:

cd /sbbs/exec
./jsexec update

and it looks like it tries to work but i get one error besides the msgs.ini file which the docs says thats ok it will get created.. i get this

JSexec v3.21a-Linux master/1fecea061 - Execute Synchronet JavaScript Module Compiled Oct 17 2024 21:56 with GCC 14.2.0

Loading configuration files from /sbbs/ctrl
!ERROR loading configuration files: ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) opening /sbbs/ctrl/msgs.ini
JavaScript-C 1.8.5 2011-03-31
JavaScript: Creating runtime: 16777216 bytes

Reading script from /sbbs/exec/update.js
/sbbs/exec/update.js compiled in 0.00 seconds
Synchronet update.js revision 2.0
Updating exec directory: Success
Updating users ip_address field: 0 records updated
Updating users birthdate field: 0 records updated
Installing Avatars feature
!FAILED: No avatars collections (.bin files) found in avatars/
Installing Logon List Daily Event: Already installed
Installing Trashman Monthly Event: Successful
Updating [General] Text File Section indexes
0 indexes updated.
Updating (compiling) Baja modules
Checking for v3.19 file bases
Checking for v3.20 config files
Upgrading Synchronet v3.1x config files to v3.20
main.cnf -> main.ini
/sbbs/node1/node.cnf -> node.ini
!Error reading /sbbs/node1/node.cnf
Checking for v3.20 user base
No v3.20 user base found, running /sbbs/exec/upgrade_to_v320

upgrade - Upgrade Synchronet BBS to 3.21

Loading configuration files from /sbbs/ctrl
!ERROR loading configuration files: ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) opening /sbbs/ctrl/msgs.ini
/sbbs/exec/update.js executed in 28.28 seconds

JavaScript: Destroying context
JavaScript: Destroying runtime

-+-
then of course i try to run scfg and it's not giving errors like xtrn.ini not found or something like that.. so im still missing something or something isn't working right.

/sbbs/node1/node.cnf is there and it's readable.. everything is user and group owned by sbbs and im running this as such, and it's readable anyway by all and the folder is writable for the user and group, but i don't think it's getting that far.. it's getting some error while reading. inititally it was looking for ../node1/ but i updated my currently running bbs config to look for /sbbs/node1 thinking before it wasn't finding ../node1 for some reason so i set the path physically to the /sbbs/node1 but that didnt seem to fix that issue either.

---
þ Synchronet þ Hard Drive Cafe - hdcbbs.com

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Jason to Digital Man on Thu Oct 23 2025 09:21 am

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Digital Man to Jason on Wed Oct 22 2025 10:01 pm

I then do the /sbbs/exec/jsexec update and it doesn't seem to work.

What makes you say that? Is the update.js current (the latest from the Git repo)?

I think this may be the problem, so im going to start over with the upgrade and try this. Question, after i compile with symlinks, it appears that it's symlinking the executables but not any of the .js files. Is this right?

Correct.

Did
i miss a step somewhere in the instructions? I would have thought it would have moved this stuff over?

Step 4 from https://wiki.synchro.net/install:dev includes "download the daily archive of the exec directory and extract into your Synchronet exec directory" - I think you missed that.

Also, should it link the executables or create a symlink for the exec folder over to the exec folder inside of the repo directory? This is where it gets fuzzy for me because i'm not reading this in the instructions or im not understanding it properly. I am dense at times, so it's probably me, but im confused.. should i just move update.js script over by itself then?

It depends *how* you installed Synchronet to begin with. If you exec directory itself is not already a symlink, then you'll need to recursively copy the *.js files from the repo to your exec dir.

Also, the compile did create the symlinks for the update_to_v319 and update_to_v320 but not one for update.js

That's correct. Compiling sbbs does nothing with scripts (e.g. *.js, *.src).

Look at the ctrl/main.ini file - does it have your BBS name, etc. in it? If not, then there was no conversion of the your old ctrl/*.cnf files to ctrl/*.ini, and if that's the case, then you ran
the wrong update.js or something like that.

Here is a sample of the first few fields in the main.ini up to my system password which i didn't copy here:

Hard Drive CafeHDCBBSMontgomery, Alabama!!!!!!!!!!!!JasonThe Guru

Uh, that doesn't look right. The main.ini file should be .ini format, like so:

name=My BBS
qwk_id=MYBBS
location=My City, State
phonefmt=!!!!!!!!!!!!
operator=Sysop
guru=The Guru
etc.

What I am going to do is attempt to re-do the update on this new server, manually copy over the new update.js file over to the /sbbs/exec directory and then attempt to run that and see what I get. Maybe this will solve all my issues.

You need to update *all* the .js (and other run-time files) in the exec dir, not just update.js.

Still would like to know if i missed a step or something i didn't
read right. But as always thanks DM for your quick response! You've always been great for me and I appreciate you!

Yeah, looks like Step 4 mentioned above was missed. No problem! Glad you're upgrading to the latest release!
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #40:
I can learn to resist, anything but temptation
Norco, CA WX: 61.2øF, 78.0% humidity, 3 mph SW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Upgrading from v3.18 on CentOS7 to Ubuntu 25.04
By: Jason to Digital Man on Thu Oct 23 2025 10:52 am

I have gone back and started over, and after compilation i did

cd /sbbs/repo/exec
cp *.js /sbbs/exec

That's a mistake: the copy must be recursive, as pointed out on the Step 4 of https://wiki.synchro.net/install:dev

then i run:

cd /sbbs/exec
./jsexec update

and it looks like it tries to work but i get one error besides the msgs.ini file which the docs says thats ok it will get created.. i get this

JSexec v3.21a-Linux master/1fecea061 - Execute Synchronet JavaScript Module Compiled Oct 17 2024 21:56 with GCC 14.2.0

Loading configuration files from /sbbs/ctrl
!ERROR loading configuration files: ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) opening /sbbs/ctrl/msgs.ini
JavaScript-C 1.8.5 2011-03-31
JavaScript: Creating runtime: 16777216 bytes

Reading script from /sbbs/exec/update.js
/sbbs/exec/update.js compiled in 0.00 seconds
Synchronet update.js revision 2.0
Updating exec directory: Success
Updating users ip_address field: 0 records updated
Updating users birthdate field: 0 records updated
Installing Avatars feature
!FAILED: No avatars collections (.bin files) found in avatars/
Installing Logon List Daily Event: Already installed
Installing Trashman Monthly Event: Successful
Updating [General] Text File Section indexes
0 indexes updated.
Updating (compiling) Baja modules
Checking for v3.19 file bases
Checking for v3.20 config files
Upgrading Synchronet v3.1x config files to v3.20
main.cnf -> main.ini
/sbbs/node1/node.cnf -> node.ini
!Error reading /sbbs/node1/node.cnf
Checking for v3.20 user base
No v3.20 user base found, running /sbbs/exec/upgrade_to_v320

upgrade - Upgrade Synchronet BBS to 3.21

Loading configuration files from /sbbs/ctrl
!ERROR loading configuration files: ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) opening /sbbs/ctrl/msgs.ini
/sbbs/exec/update.js executed in 28.28 seconds

JavaScript: Destroying context
JavaScript: Destroying runtime

-+-
then of course i try to run scfg and it's not giving errors like xtrn.ini not found or something like that.. so im still missing something or something isn't working right.

Start with the recusive update of your exec directory, per the instructions.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #13:
I got twenty bucks that says he's a beaner. - Hank Schrader
Norco, CA WX: 61.2øF, 78.0% humidity, 3 mph SW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net