Problems upgrading from 3.1 to 3.3 versions

Software Support
1

Dear ALL,

Hi! I recently upgraded my OJS installation (at https://tropicaldiversity.org) from 3.1 (running under PHP 5.6) to 3.3 LTS (running under PHP 8.3). The upgrade ran smoothly and, at first glance, worked fine - all published files were correctly available in the upgraded installation, as well as the users list and editorial activity.

But then the problems started jumping at my face as dragon’s teeth in “Jason and the Argonauts”!

To begin with, when I attempt to make a submission it does not work: after filling in the required fields and clicking the Save and Continue button, the cursor stuck at a waiting state and nothing else happens (see Screenshot #1).

If I click the Cancel button, the operation is duly cancelled (as it should be expected!). I logout OJS and login again - then submission appears there in the dashboard (see Screenshot #2). I proceed with the submission by attempting to upload a file in docx format and 1.3 Mb in size - and then receive the dreaded message “HTTP Error” (see Screenshot #3). And what is worse - at this step, seemingly something is corrupted in the database, because the website returns a 500 Error and becomes inaccessible until I recover the whole database from a backup!

As an aside, I have yet another (unrelated?) problem: in the Website Settings menu option, I cannot retrieve the list of installed plugins - the cursor keeps in a waiting state and nothing else happens. I am, however, able to see the plugin gallery without trouble.

Can anyone out there give me a hand in solving these problems?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

With best regards,

Screenshot #1 - Submit an Article Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #1 - Submit an Article Tropical Diversity1349×1277 54.1 KB

Screenshot #2 - Submissions Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #2 - Submissions Tropical Diversity1349×680 23.2 KB

Screenshot #3 - admin Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #3 - admin Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity1366×723 33.4 KB

Screenshot #4 - Website Settings Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #4 - Website Settings Tropical Diversity1349×680 10.6 KB

2

Hi @maurobio,

Check your PHP error log for details.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

3

Hi, Alec Smecher!

Thanks, but this was not very helpful. There is no PHP error log available in my OJS installation area. The logErrors PHP option is activated but no error log is generated.

Best regards,

4

Hi @maurobio,

See: How do I find my PHP error log?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

5

Hi, Alec Smecher!

I have not been able to get access to the PHP log files in the online version of my OJS website because apparently my hosting service does not offer it.

However, I got to trace and fix some of the errors using my local offline installation using XAMPP 8.5.5.

I am now able to make new submissions but found yet two serious problems, which do not allow me to scheduled articles for publication.

The FIRST PROBLEM is exactly that - I cannot scheduled any article for publication. When I click on the Scheduled for Publication in the dialog displayed in Screenshot #1, I receive the very unhelpful message: “An unexpected error has occurred. Please reload the page an try again.” Reloading the page has, of course, no effect. The error log displays the messages (followed by several trace lines):

[26-May-2026 14:36:09 Africa/Tunis] Slim Application Error:
Type: AssertionError
Code: 1
Message: assert(false)
File: C:\xampp_lite_8_5\www\tropicaldiversity\classes\submission\Submission.inc.php
Line: 92

(BTW, I am not in “Africa/Tunis” timezone, how can I change that?)

The SECOND PROBLEM is in fact very strange: I created three galleys for a new issue (HTML, PDF, and EPUB). In the PDF and EPUB gallyes I have been able to upload the respective files (in PDF and EPUB) formats without any hassles, but when I attempt to upload a file to the HTML galley, the cursor enters in processing mode and the Continue button keeps disabled (see Screenshot #2). This time, the error log displays a fatal error:

[26-May-2026 14:52:13 Africa/Tunis] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught PDOException: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1364 Field ‘object_id’ doesn’t have a default value in C:\xampp_lite_8_5\www\tropicaldiversity\lib\pkp\lib\vendor\doctrine\dbal\lib\Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOStatement.php:119

I repeat: this error just appears when I attempt to upload a file to a galley named HTML, in the other galleys (PDF and EPUB) the error does not appear.

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards,

Screenshot #1 - admin Livro de Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #1 - admin Livro de Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity1366×1157 28.3 KB

Screenshot #2 - admin Livro de Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity
Screenshot #2 - admin Livro de Resumos do VI Simpósio de Biologia Aquática e Pesca na Amazônia. Tropical Diversity1366×698 28.7 KB

6

Hi @maurobio,

For this issue:

[26-May-2026 14:36:09 Africa/Tunis] Slim Application Error:
Type: AssertionError
Code: 1
Message: assert(false)
File: C:\xampp_lite_8_5\www\tropicaldiversity\classes\submission\Submission.inc.php
Line: 92

Go to Settings > Distribution > License and check the “Copyright Year” field. Make the selection that applies to your journal, then save the form. This should cause the problem to go away.

(BTW, I am not in “Africa/Tunis” timezone, how can I change that?)

This is a server configuration thing, not an OJS thing. You won’t be able to change the time zone in the log unless you have administrative control over the server.

For the other problem:

I created three galleys for a new issue (HTML, PDF, and EPUB). In the PDF and EPUB gallyes I have been able to upload the respective files (in PDF and EPUB) formats without any hassles, but when I attempt to upload a file to the HTML galley, the cursor enters in processing mode and the Continue button keeps disabled (see Screenshot #2). This time, the error log displays a fatal error:

[26-May-2026 14:52:13 Africa/Tunis] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught PDOException: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1364 Field ‘object_id’ doesn’t have a default value in C:\xampp_lite_8_5\www\tropicaldiversity\lib\pkp\lib\vendor\doctrine\dbal\lib\Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOStatement.php:119

Can you include the full stack trace for this one?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

7

Hi everyone, without knowing more and without seeing errors from Apache’s error log I can’t say for sure, but random spurious errors in OJS 3.3 LTS like this are probably due to PHP 8.3. The minimum supported version of PHP for OJS 3.3 is 7.3. At PKP PS, we will attempt to run PHP 8.2 if we can, but we occasionally need to downgrade to PHP 7.4 to ensure that there are no errors potentially related to database anomalies. We are not using PHP 8.3 with OJS 3.3. For newer versions of OJS like 3.4 and 3.5, you will have more options available.

Best

Jason