@stefano need some #mastodonhelp am running my #mastodon on my own little #FreeBSD server.

[tj@home.tj-h.com]

@stefano need some #mastodonhelp am running my #mastodon on my own little #FreeBSD server. Since the port is no longer maintained, any advice on how to upgrade and maintain? Even with ports every upgrade I've done so far has been a real problem requiring me to start my server over or manually migrate the SQL database. I'm currently on 4.3.6.

[stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@tj hello! I think you could try to install it using my tutorial: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2022/11/23/installing-mastodon-on-a-freebsd-jail/

Then, point it to your current media directory, redis and database servers. It should be working.

[jdebp@mastodonapp.uk]

@tj @stefano

In fairness, looking (from the outside) at the upgrade experiences of a number of #Mastodon nodes where I have accounts, the latest of which was an aborted 4.4 to 4.5 upgrade on one node (not this one) that lost a day's worth of data, I think that we can put this down to the general nature of the Mastodon upgrade process rather than the platform that it runs on.

Mind you, I have yet to hear of a large complex WWW-involved system with SQL-back ends where upgrades are *not* fraught with pitfalls. (-:

@wild1145

[stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@JdeBP @tj @wild1145 Personally, I've updated frequently and never encountered major problems - at least none that couldn't be resolved with a little analysis. The Mastodon update process is generally reliable. In my view, losing a whole day's worth of data implies either poor planning of the operation or a significant dose of bad luck.
Before any major update, I take a full snapshot of everything, ready to restore it if something goes sideways. The trouble often stems from the fact that installing and subsequently updating "complex" projects like Mastodon is done in a semi-automated way, perhaps using Docker. This creates an abstraction layer over your actual setup and, consequently, leaves you with little control over what's happening under the hood.