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Troubleshoot backend issues

The Funkwhale backend is made up of lots of moving parts. This guide shows you how to troubleshoot and gather information about the most important elements of the backend.

Tools

If you have access to the Funkwhale backend, you can use logs to get more information about an issue.

  • Reverse proxy logs – check these logs if you have connectivity issues.

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log # Follow the access log
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log # Follow the error log

sudo tail -f /var/log/apache/access.log # Follow the access log
sudo tail -f /var/log/apache/error.log # Follow the error log

  • API logs – check these if you are having issues with the Funkwhale app, federation, or imports.

journalctl -xn -u funkwhale-server

sudo docker compose logs -f --tail=50 api # Follow the last 50 messages

  • Celery logs – check these if a federation or import task isn’t working.

journalctl -xn -u funkwhale-worker

sudo docker compose logs -f --tail=50 celery # Follow the last 50 messages

Troubleshoot issues

API issues

If the API isn’t serving audio files, try the following:

  • If you’re using Docker, check you have commented out the MEDIA_ROOT variable in your .env file.

  • Check the _protected/media block in your webserver points to your media path. This is /srv/funkwhale/data/media by default.

  • If you’re using the in-place import, check you have configured your media paths. Check the MUSIC_DIRECTORY_PATH, MUSIC_DIRECTORY_SERVE_PATH and REVERSE_PROXY_TYPE variables in your .env file. Make sure the webserver can read these directories.

Import issues

If you’re having issues importing files, try the following:

  • Check that the file is encoded in a supported format

Supported formats

  • flac

  • ogg

  • mp3

  • opus

  • aac

  • m4a

  • aiff

  • aif

  • Make sure your files play in another media player.

  • Make sure your files are tagged correctly.

  • Check the Celery logs for errors during the import.

Federation issues

If you are having issues accessing federated content, try the following:

  • Check that the remote library received your follow request and approved it.

  • Trigger a library scan in the Funkwhale frontend.

  • Check the Celery logs for errors during the scan.

Memory tracing

If your Funkwhale server uses more memory than expected, you can check the footprint of requests. This requires a middleware to check memory allocation. To set up this middleware:

  1. Add the middleware to your .env file.

    ADDITIONAL_MIDDLEWARES_BEFORE=funkwhale_api.common.middleware.PymallocMiddleware

  2. Enable memory tracing in your .env file.

    PYTHONTRACEMALLOC=1

  3. Restart your Funkwhale server.

    sudo systemctl restart funkwhale.target

    sudo docker compose restart

The middleware prints out the top 25 memory allocations to the API logs. You can use these to see what requests use the most memory.

To disable memory tracing:

  1. Remove the middleware from your .env file.

    # ADDITIONAL_MIDDLEWARES_BEFORE=funkwhale_api.common.middleware.PymallocMiddleware

  2. Disable memory tracing in your .env file.

    PYTHONTRACEMALLOC=0

  3. Restart your Funkwhale server.

    sudo systemctl restart funkwhale.target

    sudo docker compose restart

Get help

If you can’t solve the issue yourself, ask the community for help. Check out the get help guide for information about where to ask your question and what details to provide.