Unable to Install EspoCRM 8.x or Build 9.x from Source – Missing Packages

[PatrickNL]

Hello EspoCRM team/community,

I am trying to set up a self-hosted instance of EspoCRM, but have run into a dead end with both available options:

• EspoCRM 8.2.3 “ready-to-install” ZIPs are no longer available for download from the official website, so I cannot do a standard installation.
• EspoCRM 9.x (e.g. 9.1.7) source code is available, but building the front-end fails due to missing npm packages such as bullbone and moment-timezone-data-build. These packages do not exist in the public npm registry, and as a result the build process cannot be completed.

Is there any way to:

• Obtain the official EspoCRM 8.2.3 release ZIP (with all required JS files included)?
• Or, will the missing dependencies for EspoCRM 9.x be made available so the source can be built by the community?

Currently, it seems impossible to install EspoCRM from scratch as an open-source, self-hosted project.

Any help or clarification would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

[lazovic]

Hi PatrickNL,

Please note that for a normal installation, you should download a regular zip archive, not a source code: https://github.com/espocrm/espocrm/r...oCRM-9.1.7.zip.

You can find the correct installation instructions here: https://docs.espocrm.com/administration/installation.

I can assure you that in the latest versions of EspoCRM everything works fine, and there is no need to download an older version.

[PatrickNL]

I have downloaded the official release version from the website, 36MB in size as a ZIP for the 9.1.7 version. This is the link for download that I used: https://www.espocrm.com/downloads/EspoCRM-9.1.7.zip When trouble shooting it didn`t have the Bullbone and moment-timezone-data-build. Below the results of the search to the missing moment-timezone-data-build:

ls -l node_modules/moment-timezone-data-build/build/moment-timezone-data.js
ls: cannot access 'node_modules/moment-timezone-data-build/build/moment-timezone-data.js': No such file or directory

[lazovic]

PatrickNL,

Can you please clarify the steps you take after downloading the archive? Describe everything in as much detail as possible, and this will help find the source of the problem.

[PatrickNL]

Tried to download EspoCRM 8.2.3:

Visited the official download page, but the 8.2.3 “ready-to-install” ZIP was no longer available.

Previous downloads or uploads to my server resulted in directories without the required JavaScript files in the /client/ folder.

Searched for the 8.2.3 ZIP locally, via archive.org, and through possible mirrors—unsuccessfully.

Attempted to use EspoCRM 9.x release:

Downloaded EspoCRM-9.1.7.zip from the official website (not GitHub).

After extracting, this package did not contain a package.json file, so it could not be built from source.

Tried EspoCRM 9.1.7 source from GitHub:

Downloaded the source ZIP (espocrm-9.1.7-source.zip) from GitHub.

Solved extraction issues by adjusting permissions.

Cleaned up old directories and renamed the new source folder to /var/www/espocrm.

Started the build process:

Upgraded Node.js to v20 using nvm to meet EspoCRM requirements.

Installed yarn and attempted to install all dependencies.

Encountered a missing dependency: bullbone. Managed to install it directly from GitHub.

Then hit another missing dependency: moment-timezone-data-build, which is not available on the public npm registry.

Tried to manually install all missing dependencies:

Made several attempts to resolve dependencies, including cache cleanups.

[lazovic]

PatrickNL,

Are you going to use the developer version or the master version? If not, you do NOT need to build the project. This is for developers; a regular installation does not need a build.

Steps for the correct installation of EspoCRM:

1. Download NOT the source files, but a regular archive with EspoCRM files: https://github.com/espocrm/espocrm/r...oCRM-9.1.7.zip.
2. Unzip the archive on the server in the web server folder (e.g., /var/www/html/espocrm directory).
3. Set the correct permissions for the EspoCRM directory: https://docs.espocrm.com/administrat...-based-systems.
4. Go to the browser and try to open the page with the EspoCRM installation wizard (e.g., http://localhost/espocrm link).

Please try these steps and let me know if the installation was successful.

[PatrickNL]

Same problem:
ls -lh /var/www/espocrm/client/install.js

ls -lh /var/www/espocrm/client/main.js
ls: cannot access '/var/www/espocrm/client/install.js': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access '/var/www/espocrm/client/main.js': No such file or directory

[PatrickNL]

The error that is given at the EspoCRM install page:

Uncaught TypeError: Espo.Ui.notifyWait is not a function
at InstallScript.showLoading (install.js:532:13)
at HTMLButtonElement.<anonymous> (install.js:146:8)
at HTMLButtonElement.dispatch (jquery.js:5136:27)
at HTMLButtonElement.<anonymous> (jquery.js:4940:28)

[lazovic]

Dear PatrickNL,

Please tell me, are you sure that you repeated only those steps that I indicated?

[PatrickNL]

Yes, I followed them exactly

[lazovic]

PatrickNL,

This video may be also useful for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QxMGWkBRYE

[PatrickNL]

I have searched for the missing files again, but still:

ls: cannot access '/var/www/espocrm/client/install.js': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access '/var/www/espocrm/client/main.js': No such file or directory

[lazovic]

PatrickNL,

These are not missing files. They shouldn't be there.

Can you please clarify the details of the server where you are installing EspoCRM? What web server are you using? What version of PHP? Have you been able to install anything on a localhost successfully before? Maybe WordPress or something like that.

[PatrickNL]

We are installing on a Dell Poweredge 730, AlmaLinux 9.5, PHP 8.2.29 And yes we have already installed our hour registration and calculation software, and databases thru the localhost.