Support

Hello!

I was encountering the issue where I couldn't extract the .jpa archive, getting the error message about the archive headers a few seconds after Starting the extraction.
I did try all know possible troubleshooting steps - also went through this: https://www.akeeba.com/documentation/akeeba-kickstart-documentation/kscantextract.html

Nothing worked!

Finally, I realised what was wrong in my case and it was more obvious than expected.

I was moving via terminal (later via FTP, and URL Import) a .jpa archive of the newly developed WP website located on another cPanel account on the same server, to the original cPanel account, where there was sitting the old website.

The old website was a Joomla 1.5 instance and it was running on PHP 5.4.

After moving the .jpa file, I was running the kickstart.php script. The case is that it never came into mind at that point to check and switch the PHP version of the account to a newer PHP 8.1.

Kickstart.php 8.x was running without errors for the first steps on PHP 5.4 - but it was failing during the extraction, but there was no visible/obvious notice.

I realised due the error.log that was generated by PHP.

Now, switched to PHP 8.1 and everything worked.
So, I came here to give this notice... The kickstart documentation mentions the requirements, but the documentation page linked from the failing extraction page of kickstart has no reference. So, someone facing a similar issue might go through all troubleshooting steps without success.

Now, you would tell me... who in the world will ever try to run kickstart 8.x on PHP 5.4 and would be almost right... but hey, hey ... here I am (lol).

Anyway, you may want to add on top of the troubleshooting guide for issues with kickstart extractor the notice regarding checking system requirements, as friendly notice to anyone who might be dealing with similar problems. If the environment does not meet the minimum requirements, the script will not work.

*Strangely, kickstart.php didn't give any signs before starting the extraction though.

Have a good day!

Hey Nicholas!

I use the compatibility pages and many of the charts in your documentation and other pages very often, usually when I have to decide what version of an app I should use/download etc.
That was a case where I forgot that this account was running on PHP 5.4. Once the extraction failed and after trying a few times to move a newer .jpa, checking about file permissions etc, I followed the troubleshooting link. There I read everything in case I was missing something and my issues was still not resolved. 
You are right that system requirements can not be everywhere in the documentation...

However, I guess you could agree... given the circumstances, having totally forgotten that the account of the restoration was running on PHP 5.4, having no other visual/obvious signs about that, having the script allowing me to start the extraction and then following the link for troubleshooting... I had to go through all the other troubleshooting steps, before going thinking to take it from the beginning and check the main and obvious staff.

I am not saying you should include the requirements reference in the troubleshooting pages ... but anyhow, that was my morning story using Akeeba! (I have many more similar stories... lol).

Anyway, I'll add a minimum PHP version check in the next version, just for the fun of it.