upgrade.md

Upgrading Synapse

Before upgrading check if any special steps are required to upgrade from the version you currently have installed to the current version of Synapse. The extra instructions that may be required are listed later in this document.

• Check that your versions of Python and PostgreSQL are still supported.

  Synapse follows upstream lifecycles for Python and PostgreSQL, and removes support for versions which are no longer maintained.

  The website https://endoflife.date also offers convenient summaries.

• If Synapse was installed using prebuilt packages, you will need to follow the normal process for upgrading those packages.

• If Synapse was installed from source, then:

  1. Activate the virtualenv before upgrading. For example, if Synapse is installed in a virtualenv in ~/synapse/env then run:

     source ~/synapse/env/bin/activate

  2. If Synapse was installed using pip then upgrade to the latest version by running:

     pip install --upgrade matrix-synapse

     If Synapse was installed using git then upgrade to the latest version by running:

     git pull
     pip install --upgrade .

  3. Restart Synapse:

     synctl restart

To check whether your update was successful, you can check the running server version with:

# you may need to replace 'localhost:8008' if synapse is not configured
# to listen on port 8008.

curl http://localhost:8008/_synapse/admin/v1/server_version

Rolling back to older versions

Rolling back to previous releases can be difficult, due to database schema changes between releases. Where we have been able to test the rollback process, this will be noted below.

In general, you will need to undo any changes made during the upgrade process, for example:

• pip:

  source env/bin/activate
  # replace `1.3.0` accordingly:
  pip install matrix-synapse==1.3.0

• Debian:

  # replace `1.3.0` and `stretch` accordingly:
  wget https://packages.matrix.org/debian/pool/main/m/matrix-synapse-py3/matrix-synapse-py3_1.3.0+stretch1_amd64.deb
  dpkg -i matrix-synapse-py3_1.3.0+stretch1_amd64.deb

Upgrading to v1.57.0

Changes to database schema for application services

Synapse v1.57.0 includes a change to the way transaction IDs are managed for application services. If your deployment uses a dedicated worker for application service traffic, it must be stopped when the database is upgraded (which normally happens when the main process is upgraded), to ensure the change is made safely without any risk of reusing transaction IDs.

Deployments which do not use separate worker processes can be upgraded as normal. Similarly, deployments where no applciation services are in use can be upgraded as normal.

Upgrading to v1.56.0

Open registration without verification is now disabled by default

Synapse will refuse to start if registration is enabled without email, captcha, or token-based verification unless the new config flag enable_registration_without_verification is set to "true".

Groups/communities feature has been deprecated

The non-standard groups/communities feature in Synapse has been deprecated and will be disabled by default in Synapse v1.58.0.

You can test disabling it by adding the following to your homeserver configuration:

experimental_features:
  groups_enabled: false

Change in behaviour for PostgreSQL databases with unsafe locale

Synapse now refuses to start when using PostgreSQL with non-C values for COLLATE and CTYPE unless the config flag allow_unsafe_locale, found in the database section of the configuration file, is set to true. See the PostgreSQL documentation for more information and instructions on how to fix a database with incorrect values.

Upgrading to v1.55.0

synctl script has been moved

The synctl script has been made an entry point and no longer exists at the root of Synapse's source tree. If you wish to use synctl to manage your homeserver, you should invoke synctl directly, e.g. synctl start instead of ./synctl start or /path/to/synctl start.

You will need to ensure synctl is on your PATH.

• This is automatically the case when using Debian packages or docker images provided by Matrix.org.
• When installing from a wheel, sdist, or PyPI, a synctl executable is added to your Python installation's bin. This should be on your PATH automatically, though you might need to activate a virtual environment depending on how you installed Synapse.

Compatibility dropped for Mjolnir 1.3.1 and earlier

Synapse v1.55.0 drops support for Mjolnir 1.3.1 and earlier. If you use the Mjolnir module to moderate your homeserver, please upgrade Mjolnir to version 1.3.2 or later before upgrading Synapse.

Upgrading to v1.54.0

Legacy structured logging configuration removal

This release removes support for the structured: true logging configuration which was deprecated in Synapse v1.23.0. If your logging configuration contains structured: true then it should be modified based on the structured logging documentation.

Upgrading to v1.53.0

Dropping support for webclient listeners and non-HTTP(S) web_client_location

Per the deprecation notice in Synapse v1.51.0, listeners of type webclient are no longer supported and configuring them is a now a configuration error.

Configuring a non-HTTP(S) web_client_location configuration is is now a configuration error. Since the webclient listener is no longer supported, this setting only applies to the root path / of Synapse's web server and no longer the /_matrix/client/ path.

Stablisation of MSC3231

The unstable validity-check endpoint for the Registration Tokens feature has been stabilised and moved from:

/_matrix/client/unstable/org.matrix.msc3231/register/org.matrix.msc3231.login.registration_token/validity

to: