Is this the right place to get some help sorting out a Linux install?

I've been running my board for a few years now, but I think I must have screwed up my last update a couple of years ago.

I'm running 3.20 A right now on Debian 9, and I'd like to update to the latest 3.21 revision, but despite running fine as-is I think I've got a weird directory setup that I need to address.

I think my operational directory/file structure is accidentally within the repo directory...

/sbbs directory contains docs, exec, text, web, webv4, and xtern directories, but they're all symlinks to /sbbs/repo/[their name here] -- the actual directories are inside /sbbs/repo/

ctrl, data, modes, and node directories are directly within /sbbs

Trying to perform an update has ended up with weird merge conflicts and other issues, I've had to restore a backup a few times (fortuntely I have them!)

I'm assuming dealing with this might be as simple as shutting the board down and moving those directories over to /sbbs/ ?

At that point I think I can probably just blow away the repo with whatever is on the remote at git and run the install/update process?

Thanks

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On Tue, 26 May 2026 09:01:51 -0400
"Dux" (VERT/PATHUNKN) <VERT/PATHUNKN!Dux@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

Is this the right place to get some help sorting out a Linux install?

I've been running my board for a few years now, but I think I must
have screwed up my last update a couple of years ago.

I'm running 3.20 A right now on Debian 9, and I'd like to update to
the latest 3.21 revision, but despite running fine as-is I think I've
got a weird directory setup that I need to address.

I think my operational directory/file structure is accidentally
within the repo directory...

/sbbs directory contains docs, exec, text, web, webv4, and xtern
directories, but they're all symlinks to /sbbs/repo/[their name here]
-- the actual directories are inside /sbbs/repo/

ctrl, data, modes, and node directories are directly within /sbbs

Trying to perform an update has ended up with weird merge conflicts
and other issues, I've had to restore a backup a few times
(fortuntely I have them!)

I'm assuming dealing with this might be as simple as shutting the
board down and moving those directories over to /sbbs/ ?

At that point I think I can probably just blow away the repo with
whatever is on the remote at git and run the install/update process?

That's about how it works these days. You'll have a /sbbs directory
that looks like this:

drwxrwxr-x 8 bbs bbs 8192 May 4 20:42 ctrl
drwxrwxr-x 11 bbs bbs 4096 May 4 20:42 data
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 24 Feb 24 2023 docs -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/docs lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 24 Feb 24 2023 exec -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/exec drwxrwxr-x 6 bbs bbs 65 May 14 2025 fido
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bbs bbs 11001 Feb 24 2023 GNUmakefile
drwxr-xr-x 3 bbs bbs 134 Sep 29 2025 mods
drwxrwxr-x 3 bbs bbs 4096 Jan 27 14:59 node1
drwxrwxr-x 3 bbs bbs 4096 Feb 27 2025 node2
drwxrwxr-x 3 bbs bbs 4096 Feb 27 2025 node3
drwxrwxr-x 2 bbs bbs 4096 Feb 26 2025 node4
drwxrwxr-x 2 bbs bbs 4096 May 14 2025 nodelist
drwxrwxr-x 14 bbs bbs 4096 May 18 00:20 repo
drwx------ 4 bbs bbs 54 May 30 2025 temp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 24 Feb 24 2023 text -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/text lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 23 Feb 24 2023 web -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/web lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 25 Feb 24 2023 webv4 -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/webv4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 bbs bbs 24 Feb 24 2023 xtrn -> /home/bbs/sbbs/repo/xtrn


If you change anything in exec, for sure, you're likely going to have
merge issues. Maybe you can post the git errors so that someone can
maybe assist? Sometimes it's better to talk realtime on Synchronet IRC
with Digital Man. irc.synchro.net /join #synchronet
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Re: Help sorting out a Linux install
By: Dux to All on Tue May 26 2026 09:01 am

Is this the right place to get some help sorting out a Linux install?

Yes, the perfect place.

I've been running my board for a few years now, but I think I must have screwed up my last update a couple of years ago.

I'm running 3.20 A right now on Debian 9, and I'd like to update to the latest 3.21 revision, but despite running fine as-is I think I've got a weird directory setup that I need to address.

I think my operational directory/file structure is accidentally within the repo directory...

/sbbs directory contains docs, exec, text, web, webv4, and xtern directories, but they're all symlinks to /sbbs/repo/[their name here] -- the actual directories are inside /sbbs/repo/

ctrl, data, modes, and node directories are directly within /sbbs

That sounds like a pretty normal (the usualy) *nix install result: https://wiki.synchro.net/install:nix#git_build_method

Trying to perform an update has ended up with weird merge conflicts and other issues, I've had to restore a backup a few times (fortuntely I have them!)

I'm assuming dealing with this might be as simple as shutting the board down and moving those directories over to /sbbs/ ?

That shouldn't be necessary. Normally a "git pull --rebase --autostash" will do the trick.

At that point I think I can probably just blow away the repo with whatever is on the remote at git and run the install/update process?

It depends on which files are having merge conflicts. You might care about losing your local changes, depending on what they are.
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Re: Help sorting out a Linux install
By: Dux to All on Tue May 26 2026 09:01:51

Is this the right place to get some help sorting out a Linux install?

So, the correct answer -- as usual -- RTFM.

Symbolic Links are expected...

Merge issues were solved by a rebase...

Ran into the missing environmental variable issue, problem and solution well documented in the wiki...

Ran into the missing curses library issues, problem and solution were again well document in the wiki :D

End of the morning:

Debian 9 -> 13 update was tedious, but successful.

SynchroNET 3.20 A --> 3.22 update was also successful.

At the rate I'm going, I'll be back in 3 years ;-)

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