Installing and upgrading help

Don't run Ubuntu, but a linux is a linux, right? (not really)

So a question ... did you upgrade the OS in place?  IF so, would that replace some config files for newer version of OS? ... like php.ini.   And would an in place upgrade acquire all the PHP extensions that was installed on older OS?

I've read, but never experenced first hand, that upgrading the Ubuntu OS is possible in place, but have also read that could have hickups.

Your command to check for 'linux standards base' modules shows no LSB modules.   Was there before in previous OS version?

How about checking php extensions?

php -m

The errors show them referencing styles debug and language .. default is 'en'.

What does: ls -lR lang

look like as root while in the directory for moodle code

Hopefully, the above is a start.

'spirit of sharing', Ken

Hello Sonja,

I believe the majorify of your issues are caused by upgrading the OS rather than using a clean install of 16.04.

I do not use apache myself but my instructions on another post may help.

https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=337920#p1365897

Cheers,
Grant

Hello Sonja

I don't think that Moodle 2.7 si php 7 ready. You must use at least 3.1 for that.  Also most of third-party plugins are definitely not php 7 ready yet.  

My advise is then to check first the compatibility of your plugins with php7 and then use Moodle 3.1.x.

Other advices here were to start fresh instead of upgrading Ubuntu.  I never experienced troubles in upgrading ubuntu so far, but the advice is good and wise although time consuming.

All the best 

-dajan

Dear Sonja,

I had seen this before. Whenever you intend to upgrade the Ubuntu, you need to pray first and then enter sudo do-release-upgrade.

I hope that you have at least one functional Moodle instance on your new server and if so, check /admin/environment.php to see what php extensions are the cause of this issue.

Please provide an output here, so that we can assist you.

Kind regards,
Saša Stamenković

Your problem is PHP 7. 

16.04 comes with PHP7 (there is no option for PHP5.x). So what happens is that PHP is removed and left like that. You need to manually install PHP(7) with apt (used to be apt-get). 

I can see why they did this - it forces you to think through the implications of moving to PHP7 as it is quite different.

As has been pointed out, even if you install PHP7 you will also need to upgrade Moodle to 3.1. Neither is the end of the world. Any optional plugins you use might be (they may never have been tested with PHP7).

sudo apt install php

PS... I'm not sure leaving even a server alone for ever is a good idea. However, it's rarely a good decision to upgrade a supported version unless you have a compelling reason to do so. 

Hi

You said:
> Now I'm no longer able to install new Moodle - instance (i.e Releases I downloaded from Moodle) e.g. for test purposes.

How did you proceed? Where you had to stop? Why?

> What is more , there are plugins in other Moodle-Instances that are not working properly.

So you installed this and "other Moodle instances" after all?

> I think is due to php7 which is shipped with Ubuntu 16.04.

Did you think or do you have proof?

Here is a start before touching Moodle: Create a file named phpinfo.php with the single liner:
<?php phpinfo(): ?> in the same directory as the Moodle's config.php and visit http://yoursite/phpinfo.php in a web browser. Post the result here. You'll find more details in the docs under https://docs.moodle.org/29/en/PHP#PHP_info.