Ghost Self-Hosted Update Failed
Quick answer
Most failed ghost update runs come from an outdated ghost-cli, an unsupported Node version, file permissions, or the re2 native module failing to build.
Most likely fix: Update the CLI first
How to fix it
Try these in order — the most common fix is first.
1. Update the CLI first
- Run npm install -g ghost-cli@latest
- Check ghost version and node -v against Ghost's supported Node list
Did this fix it?2. Fix permissions
- Run ghost doctor
- Run the update as the non-root user with sudo only where asked
- Fix ownership of the content folder
Did this fix it?3. Fix build errors
- Install build tools (build-essential, python3)
- Add swap on small servers
- Back up first and retry ghost update, or roll back with ghost update --rollback
Did this fix it?
Symptoms
ghost update stops with exit code 127, "make failed with exit code 2", EACCES or maxBuffer errors.
Why it happens
- ghost-cli older than the version required by the new Ghost release
- Unsupported Node version, or Node installed through nvm
- File ownership or permission errors in the install folder
- re2 native module build failure
- Too little RAM or swap for the install
This guide also covers
- ghost self-hosted update failed
- ghost update fails exit code 127
- ghost cli update error
- ghost upgrade not working
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