Blank page when loading "http://localhost"

[Marc Lalonde]

Hello,

Getting a blank page when loading http://localhost, right after an installation on Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS (using PHP 8.1).

Here is an error found in the last lines of /var/log/nginx/error.log:

2022/06/01 11:41:35 [error] 1114#1114: *36 FastCGI sent in stderr: "PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function get_magic_quotes_gpc() in /usr/share/nginx/atom/cache/qubit/prod/config/config_core_compile.yml.php:2440

Note 2 things: the "composer" section of the installation didn't work.  I get "Composer could not find a composer.json file in /usr/share/nginx/atom"

I am running PHP8.1, and have changed 2 files accordingly.

Thank you

Marc 

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Marc, 

I've got a couple of initial thoughts for you: 

First, the current stable version (2.6.x) of AtoM expects Ubuntu 18.04 and PHP 7.2. The upcoming 2.7 release will upgrade these dependencies to PHP 7.4 and Ubuntu 20.04, but we have not yet done any testing or development to ensure that 22.04 and PHP 8 are properly supported in AtoM. There were some deprecations in PHP between versions 7.2 and 7.4 that required a few code updates, including one that seems directly related to the error message you've shared: 

• https://projects.artefactual.com/issues/13531
  

As such, I suspect most (all?) of your issues will be resolved if you use the recommended dependencies. 

While there may still be additional issues we haven't yet found due to further changes in PHP 8, another option would be to install 2.7 instead. Keep in mind that while it is mostly complete, it is not yet formally considered stable (i.e. production ready) and packaged as a downloadable tarball - meaning 2 things: 

1. If this is for a production environment, use at your own risk, and perhaps do some testing first.
2. Since there is no downloadable tarball, you will need to follow Option 2 in the 2.7 installation instructions (install from our code repository), but replace where it says stable/2.7.x with our development branch, qa/2.x. 

As for the Composer error - were you in fact installing from our code repository, rather than using the downloadable tarball (Option 1)? Composer installation and configuration is only necessary with option 2 - that's why it's under the Option 2 subheading in the installation docs. If you've installed from the tarball, then I'm not sure our Composer file is included, since it's not needed. 

In any case if you did follow Option 2 but the composer.json file is missing for some reason, you can find the AtoM composer file we include in our code repository here: 

• https://github.com/artefactual/atom/blob/qa/2.x/composer.json
  

You could try to create your own copy and place it in the AtoM root installation directory, and then run the installation command again, or  php composer.phar update to see if that helps.

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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[Marc Lalonde]

Hello Dan,

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to install PHP7.2 since running the "sudo apt install php7.2-cli" command returns 

"E: Unable to locate package php7.2-cli

E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'php7.2-cli' "

So I guess I'll try to run the 2.7 version of AtoM.

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Marc, 

That's likely because you're still trying to use Ubuntu 22.04 as your base operating system, which doesn't support older PHP packages out of the box. A later version of Ubuntu may introduce its own compatibility problems, but if you choose to continue, there are ways to install PHP 7.2 on 22.04 - here's one example: 

• https://kifarunix.com/install-php-7-1-7-2-7-3-7-4-on-ubuntu-22-04/
  

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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[James Elder]

Hi Dan

Apologies if I've missed a more recent thread but this one looks most relevant to an issue I'm experiencing:

I'm setting up a new VPS, so that I can move from my existing database (which is several versions behind) to 2.7.

My VPS provider doesn't offer me the choice, so the new box is running Ubuntu 22.04. As per the discussion above, as standard this means I can't install PHP7.2 because it's now been retired. Hence I installed PHP8.1.

I'm not sure if it's because of that, but when I reached the installation stage of running php symfony tools:install in the Atom folder, I get:

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught sfInitializationException: arElasticSearchPlugin needs cURL PHP extension in /usr/share/nginx/atom/plugins/arElasticSearchPlugin/config/arElasticSearchPluginConfiguration.class.php:32

The Curl PHP extension is definitely installed - but it is the PHP8.1 version.

Is your advice still to install PHP7.2 via the alternative routes that you mention? I'm a little nervous of that now that, as I understand it, it's formally been retired.

Thanks

James

[Dan Gillean]

Hi James, 

Minor point - AtoM 2.7 supports PHP 7.4, not 7.2 (which was our recommended version for 2.6). But in any case, you're still right - 7.4 is also deprecated at this point. 

I understand your goal of using only supported versions - it's something that our new team of AtoM maintainers is very aware of, and is currently preparing a release roadmap to address. I hope we will be able to share more information about this soon. 

In the meantime, and for version 2.7, unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to get it to work with PHP8. There are quite a few breaking changes and deprecated features between 7.x and 8 that will absolutely impact AtoM, and are likely responsible for the cURL error message you're seeing. While I suspect that the changes in Ubuntu 22.04 are likely minor compared to 20.04, huge sections of AtoM will need to be reviewed and updated to support PHP8 - and as you've noted, you'll need to use a third-party source to install v7.x on an Ubuntu 22.04 server since these versions are no longer formally supported. 

Keeping up with maintenance work and dependency upgrades has so far always been the hardest part of maintaining our projects on the piecemeal "bounty model" of development we have previously followed, since institutions want to pay for new features, and no one ever steps up to pay for maintenance work, despite the fact that some of these upgrades require dozens or even hundreds of hours of effort to implement. This is why we have slowly been undergoing a transition at Artefactual - so we can develop a different approach to development and maintenance that gives us more agency over what we prioritize without passing on outrageous costs to our clients or changing our values and approach to open source development. We still have more work to do in this area, but are slowly coalescing around a good approach for the future. 

So in the meantime: if you would like to use AtoM 2.7, you will either need to manually install php 7.4 on your Ubuntu 22.04 instance (here are some instructions that, while I haven't tested them so proceed at your own risk, seem basically correct to me - and use the ondrej PPA that we at Artefactual have used for several AtoM releases in the past when supported PHP versions did not match the currently supported Ubuntu version), or find a VPS provider that allows more flexibility and control over what you install. 

Finally, one more alternative is to consider moving to a provider that offers actual AtoM hosting plans, so you don't need to worry about any of this. Obviously Artefactual offers such plans (see our website) but there are also a number of other vendors out there as well. Generally these hosting plans come with some guarantees about security, backups, etc... so you don't have to worry about any risks associated with running an older version of PHP for example, since the hosting provider takes on those risks.  

I wish I had a better answer for you! But for now, stay tuned. As I said, I hope that we can soon share the roadmap our new Maintainers are currently putting together.

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

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[Daniel Flores]

   Hi Dan, 

   Is there any perspective of upgrading the AtoM Demo to the latest stable version of AtoM (2.7.1)? There is popular demand among our researchers and clients for testing the new functionalities. 

   Greetings. 

[]s

Daniel Flores

Digital Records Research Group

Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Daniel, 

Our Maintenance team is coordinating with our Support and Operations team to schedule this upgrade. We don't have a firm timeline for it yet, but we're working on it! 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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[Daniel Flores]

   Hi Dan, 

   Great news! We'll be eagerly waiting. 

[]s

Daniel Flores

Digital Records Research Group

Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF

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[James Elder]

Thanks Dan, that's helpful - and useful to understand what you're having to balance in working on development.

FYI the Unixcop instructions for installing PHP 7.4 didn't fully do the job, but the kifarunix ones that you provided earlier in this thread, last year did - I suspect the crucial addition may have been:

sudo update-alternatives --config php

...to actively choose to run PHP 7.4 rather than 8.2

That got me past that error message, although I'm now encountering another one:

Failed to make cache directory "/usr/share/nginx/atom/cache/qubit/cli/config" while generating cache for configuration file "config/config_handlers.yml".

When I have a bit more time I will retrace my steps a bit to see if I can work out what's causing that and share with this forum.

Is anyone on the forum running AtoM 2.7 on Ubuntu 22.04?

[Dan Gillean]

Hi James, 

Thanks for sharing the update - glad to hear you managed to find a workaround for using the ondrej PPA - sorry that recent link wasn't good!

Regarding the next error...

Are the fiesystem permissions set correctly? If you've followed our recommended installation instructions, you can try re-applying these with: 

• sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/nginx/atom
  
• See: https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/2.7/admin-manual/installation/ubuntu/#filesystem-permissions

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but we're in uncharted territory here, so who knows. I will see if any of our team have further ideas. 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

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[James Elder]

Hilariously simple answer to that error:

The user I'd created on this new server doesn't have permission to create directories - and I hadn't prefaced

php symfony tools:install

with Sudo!

Sorted now.

And so far, running PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 22.04 seems to be working OK.

[Dan Gillean]

Hi James, 

Great news! Better it's something small and easily corrected than something thorny and unknown. Thanks for letting us know! 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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