> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sweatyspice.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # That sucked... - URL: https://www.sweatyspice.com/that-sucked/ - Published: 2025-12-05T23:14:16.000Z - Updated: 2025-12-05T23:14:16.000Z - Description: Free time, a nagging error, and almost catastrophic results. How not to spend a day off. - Author: Geoff Anderson - Tags: Tech Alas, sometimes, a "quick" fix really turns into a shitty day. This is going to be a whine about technology, and someone who knows just enough to be dangerous\[1\] who about screwed the pooch. A few months back, the update of the underlying system that this publication runs on, [Ghost](https://www.ghost.org/?ref=sweatyspice.com), had a major update. That update necessitated the upgrading of one of the components, node.js.\[2\] so I followed the instructions and upgraded from 18.x to 22.18.0 (a long term stable version). Alas, being a bit of a spaz, I left some remnants of the old version, and every time I went to do a routine update, I got a warning that there was an old version. Since I am taking a week off of work, I figured this would be an easy thing for me to fix. All the recommendations I researched recommended that I move to the nvm (nodes version manager) system to make it easier and intuitive to manage. So, I stripped out the old stuff, added the nvm package, and followed the directions to get the version I needed up and running. And it fucking barfed on me. Suddenly, I had two non-functioning publications, and a headache that was killing me. I got the original version of Node.js installed. No dice. I rebuilt the system. No dice. I went to the systemd services descriptions. No dice. I was poking around the log files, and it was not very helpful. I was getting error 203 thrown, and searching the internet didn't help one iota. I am going to admit that I was a bit chuffed, and about this close to just saying "fuck it" and just pulling it all down. (this close -><-) ### What was the problem? Turns out that nvm maintains the node versions in the user's home directory, and no matter how I set up the permissions, the systemd daemon couldn't execute the runtime file. The fix was somewhat straightforward, once I figured that out. - I stripped the nvm bits out. - I reinstalled the original nodejs package and defined the version I wanted. - I edited the systemd service files with the new location. - I had to force systemd to reindex (that took some sleuthing in the logfiles) - I had to force a new update to make sure that the underlying ghost system was all copacetic. Fingers crossed, and it started up. Both properties. And **finally** no more node version warnings being thrown. ### Final thoughts I do this for fun, but I have to admit that the past 24 hours has been super stressful and frustrating. All caused by my rash impulsive actions. I do need to turn on the backups so if I do decide to roll up my sleeves in the future, I can go back to where I was. I am my own worst enemy... --- 1 - that would be me... 2 - node.js is a pretty sophisticated framework and package manager that is quite useful.