2021-01-22, 06:08 AM
Hello,
Apologies in advance about the length of this message, I am trying to be complete in describing the problem. I have been working with MyBB since 2007, so I am definitely not a newbie to MyBB. My problem is I am trying to migrate 1.8.3 to a freshly installed 1.8.24 (I will install a mobile theme later).
Every time I run the upgrade script or try to install and transform/copy over the 1.8.3 data to the 1.8.24 database, I am getting the lovely and ambiguous "MyBB Internal Error" when I go to the main index page for MyBB. I've double-checked all of the MyBB forums messages I could find where the community offers up ideas for Internal Error cases, but the suggestions usually end up talking about file or database permissions--I've confirmed all of that is fine. Anyhow, here's my observations so far, and then some assumptions:
What I've tried:
1. I can install a fresh 1.8.24 on the same host (different dir) and MyBB works without issues (no surprise there). So I know we're good on host config, database, and file permissions. The MyBB installer claims my host is compliant, as well. At this point, it's almost certainly the database.
2. I used the same MySQL user account that is currently running the production version of the forums, so I ruled out issues with the MySQL user and privileges. Otherwise the 1.8.24 version I installed simply wouldn't work (see #1).
3. Logging: I ensured MyBB logging is on in the settings.php file, and created the default 'error.log' file for MyBB to write to, with proper file permissions. But nothing is getting written to it (error.log always sits empty at the default parent path of MyBB, and the path in settings.php matches), there are no httpd access events, PHP events, nor are there any MySQL errors logged. All I get is the standard MyBB Internal Error display message with no explanation as to the error, and no error number. Typically under the MyBB error title there's usually a code number and/or debug/exception output showing the error. Not here, and verbose reporting is enabled.
4. I did not install any plugins, although the 1.8.3 database has a couple of fields for a thankyou/like plugin. But that shouldn't matter for the install since 1.8.24 will ignore those fields until the plugin is installed.
And here are the assumptions:
5. I tried the MyBB upgrade script that comes with 1.8.24, by first duplicating the current 1.8.3 production database and ensuring user privileges matched for both databases. I then pointed the MyBB upgrade script at the cloned database. After selecting 1.8.3 for the current "upgrade from" version, I stepped through a bunch of "Next" actions where updates are reported as being done. This is where I presume the upgrade script is modifying the schema incrementally from 1.8.3 to 1.8.24. Unfortunately, after the upgrade to MyBB 1.8.24 completed, I noticed that 1.8.24 axed fields that existed in 1.8.3, so when I compared the "upgraded" tables in 1.8.24 to my 1.8.3 tables, there were field/schema inconsistencies. This was my first run-in with MyBB internal error.
6. I then tossed the auto-upgrade script aside and painstakingly went through all 100+ 1.8.3 tables, installed 1.8.24 again, and compared the 1.8.3 tables to the same 1.8.24 tables. I noticed 1.8.3 has fields that 1.8.24 no longer has (e.g., 'aim' and 'yahoo' fields are no longer in 1.8.24 'users' table), so I had to add those legacy fields back to the appropriate 1.8.24 tables in order for the 1.8.3 table dump to work. I had to do this as part of the manual install because my database is over 500MB and I can only do a mysql dump from the command line with the large, exported .sql file.
7. I do believe this is purely a database issue. I suspect this because 1.8.24 installs just fine by itself. But the moment I manually copy another database over and "REPLACE" all of the default 1.8.24 data (and without modifying 1.8.24 table structures), the internal error occurs again. I put emphasis on "replace" because it is important to note that I copied all of the original 1.8.3 data over, complete with all the preserved primary and foreign key ID relationships, but kept the table structures the same from the 1.8.24 install to minimize field attribute conflicts.
8. CentOS on a VPS. All MySQL table fields are checked and "OK".
I've spent a couple all-niters on this, and I'm defeated since I have absolutely nothing to work from due to this generic MyBB internal error message and no log entries. I need someone to take a fresh look at this database issue.
The goal of this job is to get a fully functional 1.8.24 forum running with a successfully imported 1.8.3 data. Identifying the conflict or error(s) is the goal.
Please PM me and offer your rate. I would prefer to follow along in zoom or some other screen sharing tool since I need to repeat your procedure for a second time once I "freeze" the production site to copy over all of the latest data before the full switch to 1.8.24.
If anyone has any ideas to try after reading this, please reply in this thread. It will help me to confirm whether or not I've already tried the suggestion, or it will help narrow the scope of possibilities for someone who is considering this gig.
Thanks for reading!
Apologies in advance about the length of this message, I am trying to be complete in describing the problem. I have been working with MyBB since 2007, so I am definitely not a newbie to MyBB. My problem is I am trying to migrate 1.8.3 to a freshly installed 1.8.24 (I will install a mobile theme later).
Every time I run the upgrade script or try to install and transform/copy over the 1.8.3 data to the 1.8.24 database, I am getting the lovely and ambiguous "MyBB Internal Error" when I go to the main index page for MyBB. I've double-checked all of the MyBB forums messages I could find where the community offers up ideas for Internal Error cases, but the suggestions usually end up talking about file or database permissions--I've confirmed all of that is fine. Anyhow, here's my observations so far, and then some assumptions:
What I've tried:
1. I can install a fresh 1.8.24 on the same host (different dir) and MyBB works without issues (no surprise there). So I know we're good on host config, database, and file permissions. The MyBB installer claims my host is compliant, as well. At this point, it's almost certainly the database.
2. I used the same MySQL user account that is currently running the production version of the forums, so I ruled out issues with the MySQL user and privileges. Otherwise the 1.8.24 version I installed simply wouldn't work (see #1).
3. Logging: I ensured MyBB logging is on in the settings.php file, and created the default 'error.log' file for MyBB to write to, with proper file permissions. But nothing is getting written to it (error.log always sits empty at the default parent path of MyBB, and the path in settings.php matches), there are no httpd access events, PHP events, nor are there any MySQL errors logged. All I get is the standard MyBB Internal Error display message with no explanation as to the error, and no error number. Typically under the MyBB error title there's usually a code number and/or debug/exception output showing the error. Not here, and verbose reporting is enabled.
4. I did not install any plugins, although the 1.8.3 database has a couple of fields for a thankyou/like plugin. But that shouldn't matter for the install since 1.8.24 will ignore those fields until the plugin is installed.
And here are the assumptions:
5. I tried the MyBB upgrade script that comes with 1.8.24, by first duplicating the current 1.8.3 production database and ensuring user privileges matched for both databases. I then pointed the MyBB upgrade script at the cloned database. After selecting 1.8.3 for the current "upgrade from" version, I stepped through a bunch of "Next" actions where updates are reported as being done. This is where I presume the upgrade script is modifying the schema incrementally from 1.8.3 to 1.8.24. Unfortunately, after the upgrade to MyBB 1.8.24 completed, I noticed that 1.8.24 axed fields that existed in 1.8.3, so when I compared the "upgraded" tables in 1.8.24 to my 1.8.3 tables, there were field/schema inconsistencies. This was my first run-in with MyBB internal error.
6. I then tossed the auto-upgrade script aside and painstakingly went through all 100+ 1.8.3 tables, installed 1.8.24 again, and compared the 1.8.3 tables to the same 1.8.24 tables. I noticed 1.8.3 has fields that 1.8.24 no longer has (e.g., 'aim' and 'yahoo' fields are no longer in 1.8.24 'users' table), so I had to add those legacy fields back to the appropriate 1.8.24 tables in order for the 1.8.3 table dump to work. I had to do this as part of the manual install because my database is over 500MB and I can only do a mysql dump from the command line with the large, exported .sql file.
7. I do believe this is purely a database issue. I suspect this because 1.8.24 installs just fine by itself. But the moment I manually copy another database over and "REPLACE" all of the default 1.8.24 data (and without modifying 1.8.24 table structures), the internal error occurs again. I put emphasis on "replace" because it is important to note that I copied all of the original 1.8.3 data over, complete with all the preserved primary and foreign key ID relationships, but kept the table structures the same from the 1.8.24 install to minimize field attribute conflicts.
8. CentOS on a VPS. All MySQL table fields are checked and "OK".
I've spent a couple all-niters on this, and I'm defeated since I have absolutely nothing to work from due to this generic MyBB internal error message and no log entries. I need someone to take a fresh look at this database issue.
The goal of this job is to get a fully functional 1.8.24 forum running with a successfully imported 1.8.3 data. Identifying the conflict or error(s) is the goal.
Please PM me and offer your rate. I would prefer to follow along in zoom or some other screen sharing tool since I need to repeat your procedure for a second time once I "freeze" the production site to copy over all of the latest data before the full switch to 1.8.24.
If anyone has any ideas to try after reading this, please reply in this thread. It will help me to confirm whether or not I've already tried the suggestion, or it will help narrow the scope of possibilities for someone who is considering this gig.
Thanks for reading!