Updating AllScan on the ClearNode

Moving from AllScan v0.40 to v0.48 required a bit of command line work

My ClearNode device runs HamVoIP, an updated version of AllStarLink. I previously installed AllScan by David Gleason because I liked his simple, easy way of letting me manage my favorites.ini file.

Here is the opening description from the README.md file for AllScan:

AllScan description

However, the version of AllScan I had previously installed (v0.40) had no security. That’s not a big problem for my ClearNode at home because it’s on a non-public IP address, but my node-in-the-cloud at Vultr.com is on a publicly accessible IP address.

David recently updated AllScan by adding some security features so this evening, after a long week of legislative work, I went to update AllScan on my ClearNode. (Later, I updated my public node on Vultr which is running AllStarLink, not HamVoIP. That update went perfectly the first time. The screenshots below are from updating my ClearNode at home.) I had seen a notice about version 0.45 of AllScan but when I ran the update on the command line, I saw the version I was installing was v0.48. Nothing wrong with that!

However, after following the automatic installation/update instructions, it didn’t work.

AllScan error message

Fortunately, the AllScan error screen returned helpful information. My first task was to find php.ini and to do that, I needed to open a shell to the ClearNode. From my Windows computer, I used Putty to access the command line, logging in as root.

Logged into ClearNode as root

Digging around a little revealed that PHP was installed in /etc/php. Listing the files in that directory showed that php.ini was available in that location.

PHP in /etc/php

I ran sudo nano php.ini to edit the php.ini file. The next problem: where are those two extensions (pdo_sqlite.so and sqlite3.so) in the php.ini file? It’s a long file and rather than scroll and scroll and scroll, I used the Ctrl W command in nano to look for sqlite. Once I found the two extensions, I uncommented them and hit Ctrl X (and answered Y) to save the edited file.

Two extensions uncommented

While I was at the command line, I thought I’d better confirm that sqlite3 was actually installed. It should be, but better safe than sorry. I found it at /sbin/sqlite3.

Confirmation that sqlite3 is installed

OK, with that out of the way, it was time to reboot the ClearNode. I did that from the command line with sudo reboot.

After the reboot, AllScan v0.48 appeared when I went to the local IP address of my ClearNode, appended with /allscan. What greeted me was something that was not in the 0.40 release: an Add User screen! The instructions were clear and adding myself as a superuser worked perfectly the first time.

Welcome to AllScan

After that, AllScan v0.48 was up and running.

AllScan 0.48 showing my favorite nodes

I did edit the default settings by clicking the “Cfgs” link (top of the image above) and changing the Public Permission setting to “None (No Access)”. Done! And I see that VK3IRL is active so I might just pop in and listen to the VK accents for a while. Our son was born in Australia so “down under” holds a special place in our hearts!