In some cases Debian 8 is no longer able to update from Github.com

jksjks
edited September 22 in Configuration and Operation

Please read this post if you see the error message "Git clone damaged!" as the result of using the "check now" button on the admin update tab. Or if this error appears in the admin log tab when the Kiwi tries to do an update. Or if in general your updates are failing to complete.

With increasing frequency we've seen some Kiwis running Debian 8 unable to update. The step that copies files from Github.com fails. This problems seems to occur with slower Internet connections. And by that I don't mean a slow "last mile" connection but a slow data transfer path between the Kiwi and whatever Github.com mirror server you happen to end up with when updating.

This problem started in Europe but has now spread to the USA. Even people with 50 Mbps fiber connections see it if their transfer speeds to the Github mirror during the update is less than roughly 1 MB/s (8 Mbps). Google offers many suggestions on various git/cURL parameters to change to prevent these problems. And for a while these worked and we incorporated them into the latest releases. But now even those don't seem to work anymore.

If your clone is legitimately damaged then on the admin console tab you can try the "re-clone sources" button. But if that fails then you probably have this transfer fail issue.

Re-flashing your Kiwi with the Debian 11 Kiwi image seems to solve the problem. Why this is true is unknown. The problem is that creating a microSD card with the image to re-flash with is not trivial. And you will lose all of your customizations unless you follow a more complicated procedure to move them from the Debian 8 environment to Debian 11.

Here are your options:

  • You haven't made changes to the dx labels you care about and don't mind re-entering all the admin page customizations. That is, you don't care about saving any of the configuration on your Debian 8 based system. In that case just create an SD card with the Kiwi Debian 11 image and re-flash your Kiwi as described here: http://kiwisdr.com/info/#id-net-reflash
  • The above instructions mention that if you are unable to make the procedure work then as a last resort we can send you a microSD card through the mail. But please only ask us for this as a last resort.
  • If you only care about saving changes you've made to the dx labels then save them first by using the "export" function on the admin dx tab to download a JSON or CSV file to your computer running the browser. You can "import" them later once you're running Debian 11.
  • To save the full admin configuration, including dx labels, follow the more complicated procedure described in this post: https://forum.kiwisdr.com/index.php?p=/discussion/3096/debian-11-upgrade-for-kiwis-using-beaglebone-green-black/p1


Yogicatnitroengine

Comments

  • dl7awldl7awl

    Just for completeness, I think there is a 5th option:

    • If you have some shell knowledge and another linux machine with git installed, you can do a git clone https://github.com/jks-prv/Beagle_SDR_GPS.git there. If that works (it did every time I tried it), make a tarball of the resulting Beagle_SDR_GPS folder and transfer it to the kiwi. On the kiwi, rename your Beagle_SDR_GPS folder to something like Beagle_SDR_GPS.bak and unpack the tarball to get the new Beagle_SDR_GPS folder to the same place. Go to the kiwi admin website update tab and click "Check now". You now should get "Available version: v1.xxx" or so instead of "git clone damaged" and can click "build now" if you want to update. All configurations, dx labels and other settings will remain untouched.

    It may sound complicated, but with some shell experience, it's simple and straightforward. For me, it worked like a charm.

  • jksjks

    I've done that too. I even placed the tar file on kiwisdr.com so I could use a simple wget on the target kiwi.

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