# Paperless doesn't start

**URL:** https://forum.yunohost.org/t/paperless-doesnt-start/41144
**Category:** Support apps
**Tags:** paperless-ngx, english
**Created:** [December 23, 2025, 10:48am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/paperless-doesnt-start/41144 "2025-12-23T10:48:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![jedie](https://forum.yunohost.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@jedie](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/jedie)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/paperless-doesnt-start/41144/4 "2026-01-07T17:32:27Z")

</div>

I try to fix it now, again…

First error was:

```auto
Warning: File or folder '/var/www/paperless-ngx' to be backed up does not exist
Error: Failed to collect files to backed up for paperless-ngx.

```

So i just mkdir it and tried again…

Then it ends with:

```auto
Warning: /var/cache/yunohost/app_tmp_work_dirs/app_0qm7yfeh/scripts/backup: line 19: data_dir: unbound variable
Error: Failed to collect files to backed up for paperless-ngx.

```

Seems i have a good last backup without any loss data:

```auto
root@YunoHost:~# find /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/ -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM %p\n' | sort -nr | head -n 5
2025-12-22 16:04 /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/data/log/paperless.log
2025-12-22 16:04 /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/data/log/celery.log
2025-12-22 16:04 /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/data/celerybeat-schedule.db.db
2025-12-22 16:00 /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/data/log/mail.log
2025-12-22 15:57 /home/yunohost.app/paperless-ngx/media/media.lock

root@YunoHost:~# find /home/yunohost.backup/archives/ -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM %p\n' | grep paperless | sort -nr | head -n 5
2025-12-22 16:04 /home/yunohost.backup/archives/paperless-ngx-pre-upgrade1.tar.gz
2025-12-22 16:04 /home/yunohost.backup/archives/paperless-ngx-pre-upgrade1.info.json

```

So last changed file is from `2025-12-22 16:04` as the last backup of v2.17.1~ynh1.

So i try to deinstall the app and restore `2.17.1~ynh1` from the backup. Hope that fixed the issues.

EDIT: This works: Now i have a running `2.17.1~ynh1` back … No i will create a normal backup and try to upgrade…

EDIT2: upgraded from version `2.17.1~ynh1` to `2.20.3~ynh1` doesn’t work, because `PostgreSQL 14` is needed, see:

```bash
...
Warning: File "/var/www/paperless-ngx/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py", line 398, in init_connection_state
Warning: super().init_connection_state()
Warning: File "/var/www/paperless-ngx/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 225, in init_connection_state
Warning: self.check_database_version_supported()
Warning: File "/var/www/paperless-ngx/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 201, in check_database_version_supported
Warning: raise NotSupportedError(
Warning: django.db.utils.NotSupportedError: PostgreSQL 14 or later is required (found 13.20).
Error: Failed to upgrade paperless-ngx: An error occurred inside the app upgrade script

```

So i assume `2.20.3~ynh1` doesn’t work with

EDIT3: Hm! In YunoHost v12.1 with `bookworm` Postgres v15 and v16 should be available… And it’s installed:

```bash
root@YunoHost:~# apt list --installed 'postgresql-*'
Listing... Done
postgresql-13/now 13.20-0+deb11u1 amd64 [installed,local]
postgresql-15/oldstable,now 15.14-0+deb12u1 amd64 [installed]
postgresql-16-pgvector/now 0.8.1-2.pgdg12+1 amd64 [installed,local]
postgresql-16/now 16.11-1.pgdg12+1 amd64 [installed,local]
postgresql-client-13/now 13.20-0+deb11u1 amd64 [installed,local]
postgresql-client-15/oldstable,now 15.14-0+deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
postgresql-client-16/now 16.11-1.pgdg12+1 amd64 [installed,local]
postgresql-client-common/now 264.pgdg110+1 all [installed,local]
postgresql-common/now 264.pgdg110+1 all [installed,local]
postgresql-contrib/oldstable,now 15+248+deb12u1 all [installed,automatic]

root@YunoHost:~# pg_config --version
PostgreSQL 16.11 (Debian 16.11-1.pgdg12+1)

root@YunoHost:~# psql --version
psql (PostgreSQL) 16.11 (Debian 16.11-1.pgdg12+1)

```

So what’s the problem here?!?

---

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