Migrating an existing installation to Gextto¶

Gextto stores its databases and torrent state under its own names (gextto_series.db, gextto_archive.db, gextto_config.db, gextto_comics.db, gextto_torrents_state/). The migrate command copies a previous installation into this layout without touching the source, so the operation is reversible.

[!IMPORTANT] Stop the old daemon before going live. During the trial, use a different UI and engine port if the old service is still running.

What the migration does¶

gexttod migrate --from <old-data-dir> --to <new-data-dir>:

finds <prefix>_series.db, <prefix>_archive.db, <prefix>_config.db, <prefix>_comics.db in the source directory (any prefix);
copies each one with VACUUM INTO from a read-only connection, producing a consistent, self-contained gextto_*.db (safe even while the old daemon is running; falls back to a byte copy + checkpoint if needed);
copies *_torrents_state/ to gextto_torrents_state/ (fastresume and .torrent files, plus seed_limits.json);
copies a single *.json configuration file to gextto.json when present;
prints a JSON report with the paths and any warnings.

The source directory is only read.

Migration procedure¶

1. Stop the old daemon¶

sudo systemctl stop <old-service>
# or, when running in the foreground: Ctrl-C

2. Migrate the data¶

gexttod migrate --from /old/data --to /new/data

3. Trial run (no downloads)¶

GEXTTO_DATA_DIR=/new/data GEXTTO_DRY_RUN=1 GEXTTO_ACTIVE=0 gexttod
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/status
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/health

Check that the library, the archive and the torrent session are restored, then stop the trial (Ctrl-C).

4. Go live¶

GEXTTO_DATA_DIR=/new/data GEXTTO_ACTIVE=1 GEXTTO_DRY_RUN=0 gexttod

5. Install as a service¶

A system unit (replace the paths and the user; install.sh uses the local user by default, or gextto for the isolated account):

[Unit]
Description=Gextto media acquisition and archiving daemon
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=<user>
Group=<group>
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/gextto
ExecStart=/opt/gextto/gexttod
Environment=GEXTTO_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/gextto
Environment=GEXTTO_LISTEN=0.0.0.0:5000
Environment=GEXTTO_ENGINE_LISTEN=127.0.0.1:8889
Environment=GEXTTO_ACTIVE=1
Environment=GEXTTO_DRY_RUN=0
Environment=GEXTTO_LOG=info
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
LimitNOFILE=65536
TimeoutStopSec=infinity

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now gextto.service

A per-user unit (~/.config/systemd/user/gextto.service) works too, but it only starts at login unless lingering is enabled: sudo loginctl enable-linger <user>.

Verify before enabling downloads¶

systemctl status gextto.service            # or: systemctl --user status gextto
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/status
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/health
journalctl -u gextto.service -f            # or: journalctl --user -u gextto -f

The status payload must report "name": "gextto", "active": true and the expected seen counts; the torrent session should list the migrated torrents (/api/torrents).

Roll back safely¶

Because the source was never modified:

systemctl --user stop gextto.service       # or: sudo systemctl stop gextto.service
sudo systemctl start <old-service>         # the old installation resumes

The old databases, configuration and torrent state are intact.

Notes¶

Make sure only one daemon binds the UI and engine ports at a time.
The archive database can be large; the migration needs free space roughly equal to its size. VACUUM INTO also compacts it.
Archive/NAS paths stored in the configuration are copied unchanged; adjust them in Configuration if the mount points differ.
Run one verification cycle before deleting anything: keep the old data directory as a backup.