Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Alexander Pons -
Number of replies: 9

I am running Ubuntu 16.04 - I upgarde and installed php 7.4

Now when I download moodle 3.9 to upgrade from 3.5 and follow all of the steps, when starting moodle and accessing it via the website, I get the error message.

It is a blank screen with the message "error/generalexceptionmessage" in the top, no other information is provided to troubleshot, any suggestions?

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In reply to Alexander Pons

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Pl. follow this tutorial: https://docs.moodle.org/39/en/Upgrading.
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Alexander Pons -

I did follow this exact tutorial to upgrade, but still get that error

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Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Ken Task -
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Add the debug lines you can find in config-dist.php to your config.php file. Then let's see if your moodle won't provide more info cause right now ... no one has a clue! :|
See https://docs.moodle.org/310/en/Debugging section on 'In config.php'.
'SoS', Ken
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In reply to Ken Task

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Alexander Pons -
I followed your recommendation and added debug section to config.php and uncommented the debug line. After doing so, still get the exact same screen without any additional information, no more information available after enabling debug mode
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In reply to Alexander Pons

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Ken Task -
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Debug lines ... note that's plural.   Mind showing your current config.php file with the debug lines 'un-commented'?

Prior to upgrade attempt, did you:

1. make a site backup ... code + db dump?

2. when site was 3.5.x, run environment check?   Did that report any 'reds' ... must fix?

If one were to google that error, one can find references to forum postings here in community forums.   Causes vary but incompatible addon plugin is typical in failed upgrades.  Themes are addon plugins.

https://www.google.com/search?channel=cus2&client=firefox-b-1-d&q=moodle+%22error%2Fgeneralexceptionmessage%22

Also ... Check your servers php error logs as well as web service error logs for clues/hints.

'SoS', Ken


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In reply to Alexander Pons

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Luis de Vasconcelos -
Check if there are any error messages in our PHP Errors Log file.
To find that file look at the path specified in the "error_log" section of your php.ini configuration file.
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In reply to Alexander Pons

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Alain Raap -
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Alexander did you install Moodle 3.5 with PHP 7.4 version? I once upgraded Moodle 3.5 with PHP 7.3 installed and that didn't work.
Check this thread https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=378726
When running Moodle 3.5 with PHP 7.2 (or lower), upgrading to Moodle 3.9 runs smoothly
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In reply to Alain Raap

Re: Upgrade from 3.5 to 3.9

by Luis de Vasconcelos -
So would the recommended upgrade path be this?

  1. Make sure that PHP v7.2 is installed.
  2. Upgrade Moodle version 3.5 to version 3.9.
  3. After the 3.9 upgrade is done upgrade PHP to version 7.4.
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