EACCES: permission denied, open '/var/www/ghost/config.production.json' when upgrading from

Was running stably with Ghost 1.6.2, or so I thought. Node Version: v6.11.2 Ghost-CLI Version: 1.1.1

Took a system snapshot, tried upgrading to 1.8.0 and failed with error below:

✔ Linking latest Ghost and recording versions
Running sudo command: -E -u ghost /usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/.bin/knex-migrator-migrate --init --mgpath /var/www/ghost/current
✖ Running database migrations
An error occurred.
Message: 'Command failed: /bin/sh -c sudo -E -u ghost /usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/.bin/knex-migrator-migrate --init --mgpath /var/www/ghost/current
[2017-08-31 03:15:55] ERROR

NAME: InternalServerError
MESSAGE: The server has encountered an error.

level:normal

InternalServerError: The server has encountered an error.
    at new KnexMigrateError (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/knex-migrator/lib/errors.js:7:26)
    at new KnexMigrator (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/knex-migrator/lib/index.js:28:15)
    at /usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/knex-migrator/bin/knex-migrator-migrate:20:28
    at tryCatcher (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/util.js:16:23)
    at Promise._settlePromiseFromHandler (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:512:31)
    at Promise._settlePromise (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:569:18)
    at Promise._settlePromise0 (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:614:10)
    at Promise._settlePromises (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:693:18)
    at Promise._fulfill (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:638:18)
    at Promise._resolveCallback (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:432:57)
    at Promise._settlePromiseFromHandler (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:524:17)
    at Promise._settlePromise (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:569:18)
    at Promise._settlePromise0 (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:614:10)
    at Promise._settlePromises (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:689:18)
    at Async._drainQueue (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:133:16)
    at Async._drainQueues (/usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:143:10)

Error: Error parsing your configuration file: [/var/www/ghost/config.production.json]: EACCES: permission denied, open '/var/www/ghost/config.production.json'
    at File.loadSync (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/node_modules/nconf/lib/nconf/stores/file.js:160:11)
    at Provider.add (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/node_modules/nconf/lib/nconf/provider.js:137:23)
    at Provider.file (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/node_modules/nconf/lib/nconf/provider.js:63:15)
    at Object.loadNconf (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/core/server/config/index.js:34:11)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/core/server/config/index.js:78:27)
    at Module._compile (module.js:570:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:487:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:446:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:438:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:497:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.8.0/MigratorConfig.js:1:76)
    at Module._compile (module.js:570:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:487:32)


'


Debug Information:
    Node Version: v6.11.2
    Ghost-CLI Version: 1.1.1
    Environment: production
    Command: 'ghost update'

I’ve reviewed #378 and #281 but have been unable to resolve.

I think there may have been some instability on the system prior that I was unaware of, because I have restored my snapshot and the service will not run even back on 1.6.2. Service log shows a failure on access of the same json file.

I’m having trouble finding documentation to confirm who the owner of '/var/www/ghost/config.production.json should be, but I’m not sure if that is the root issue since I have tried running via sudo and I even tried chown of '/var/www/ghost/config.production.json to ghost:ghost just to see if it would correct the issue.

Apologies if I’m duplicating. Looked through active/closed and didn’t find a resolution.

[ErisDS]

P.S. the docs live at docs.ghost.org - there’s a Knowledge Base that details file structure and perms, and a troubleshooting guide that mentions this problem - where did you look / search that didn’t help you find them?

[aileen]

Hey @0xvext 👋

Sorry to hear that you’re having trouble. As this is more likely to be an issue with Ghost-CLI, would you mind re-opening it there?