Blank GUI after updating to pve 8.0 [sort of solved]

[m91]

Just thought I would mention I would get a blank gui after updating to proxmox 8

I looked at the brower console log and saw an error loading /PVE/StdWorkspace.js

Looking a little deeper I found syntax errors too, because my browser is old (can't update it at the moment)

It doesn't support these javascript operators:

value ??= ...
value ||= ...
value &&= ...

I changed these constructs like this:

value = value ?? ...
value = value || ...
value = value && ...

in these two files:

/usr/share/javascript/proxmox-widget-toolkit/proxmoxlib.js
/usr/share/pve-manager/js/pvemanagerlib.js

and the gui came up.

I'm not on a supported browser, but I thought it might help someone.

 

[Chris]

Hi,
is the pve-manager package installed correctly on your host? Did you encounter issues during upgrade?

Please verify the pve-managers files integrity via debsums pve-manager. You will have to install it via apt install debsums first.

 

[m91]

Yes, I reinstalled.

Actually I went back to square one and did a fresh install of pve 8.0 and still had the problem.

I also reinstalled manually:

apt-get install --reinstall pve-manager proxmox-widget-toolkit

only then did I track down the browser errors and fix them in the javascipt.

Since my browser is a few years old, it doesnt' support the "nullish coalescing operator" which seems to have started in maybe 2021?

I just posted to be helpful, I know your browser support only goes back a year.

 

[Chris]

Yes, I reinstalled.

Actually I went back to square one and did a fresh install of pve 8.0 and still had the problem.

I also reinstalled manually:

apt-get install --reinstall pve-manager proxmox-widget-toolkit

only then did I track down the browser errors and fix them in the javascipt.

Since my browser is a few years old, it doesnt' support the "nullish coalescing operator" which seems to have started in maybe 2021?

I just posted to be helpful, I know your browser support only goes back a year.

Oh, yes an outdated browser will cause issues. I would recommend to use a modern browser.

 

[tempacc375924]

Since my browser is a few years old, it doesnt' support the "nullish coalescing operator" which seems to have started in maybe 2021?

Do you mind giving away the browser used and version?

 

[tempacc375924]

Oh, yes an outdated browser will cause issues. I would recommend to use a modern browser.

Shouldn't the GUI upon loading warn when being accessed from a browser that is not "supported"?

 

[tempacc375924]

Since my browser is a few years old, it doesnt' support the "nullish coalescing operator" which seems to have started in maybe 2021?

https://caniuse.com/mdn-javascript_operators_nullish_coalescing

You have to have post 2020 browser, which is quite confusing with a GUI of pre-2010s look.

So you did troubleshoot your own issue, you came to let everyone know, it's good because others can then find it.

Unless you edited your message, the staff came to tell you to do something completely irrelevant on the backend (probably did not notice you already analyzing the issue).

And then instead of filing a bug report, he waved it off that yeah, just an old browser, why bother filing a report to self so that we won't get to waste everyone's time in the future (and at least indicate upon loading that the browser is not to be expected to work with the JS).

@t.lamprecht And that's why people pay 10 times more for ESXi.

 

[Chris]

https://caniuse.com/mdn-javascript_operators_nullish_coalescing

You have to have post 2020 browser, which is quite confusing with a GUI of pre-2010s look.

So you troubleshooted your own issue, you came to let everyone know, it's good because others can then find it.

Unless you edited your message, the staff came to tell you to do something completely irrelevant on the backend (probably did not notice you already analyzing the issue).

And then instead of filing a bug report, he waved it off that yeah, just an old browser, why bother filing a report to self so that we won't get to waste everyone's time in the future (and at least indicate upon loading that the browser is not to be expected to work with the JS).

@t.lamprecht And that's why people pay 10 times for ESXi.

Just for the record: The initial comment was indeed edited afterwards.

 

[tempacc375924]

Just for the record: The initial comment was indeed edited afterwards.

I thought that, which is why I started with the assumption. I still do not like the fact that after it was clear it was an old browser issue, nothing is done to literally save everyone's effort (these are PDs in total) not just the freeloading users (they "pay" by helping you test and bug track), but also subsribers (lots of people run jump hosts with environments they cannot upgrade browser in to bleeding edge and it is safe for them to do so, because it's only to access 10 years outdated IPMIs ...), most importantly your own (every single staff member).

I am not asking for any JS shims or such, but a bug report saying "we do not warn unexpected user he needs 2020+ browser upon load-up", that's a one liner later for the JS dev to add and no more reports like this. Or at least it generates a conscious decision (are we really okay we use features that require most recent desktop browser just because of 3 lines, etc.).

This way it's literally only this post that saves you from getting more noise.

 

[Chris]

Please note that our recommendation to use a recent enough browser is very well documented, see https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/ch..._web_browsers_for_accessing_the_web_interface

 

[tempacc375924]

Filed for you: https://bugzilla.proxmox.com/show_bug.cgi?id=5057

@Chris It's not even specific enough, let alone it does not solve the problem (to have to point to a doc entry every time). You will enjoy replying these kind of questions over and over again? Are you not concerned the GUI will load but something else will break for someone mid-of-work manipulating VMs in the cluster because that particular feature was unsupported (and there was no safety check)?

 

[tempacc375924]

Just for the record: The initial comment was indeed edited afterwards.

I came now to edit my earlier message (which I always myself mark with 'EDIT'), so that it was obvious to anyone reading chronologically later.

Unfortunately I also noticed the last edit from the OP was 12:36 +0100 (mere 3min past his original post) and your first reply was 12:49 +0100. I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt (maybe you opened it right away and had it open all the time through till the reply submitted). The OP knows the best. Either way, even the canned response (to a blank GUI situation) would have been avoided if there was a tracked bug report for warning users of old browsers.

EDIT: Posted too soon, I just wonder also given the OP himself marked it as "sort of solved" that it is very strange his old browser does not work ONLY because of nullish coalescing operator (which is not required). Can you consider that as a bug report in itself, i.e. have JS use limited to a fixed year (and have it part of release notes with versions?), especially because it's such an unnecessary limitation in this case?