Omeka Classic importer, jobs not completing

cnorton · December 10, 2025, 8:07pm

Hi All,

I’m trying to import some content from Omeka classic, but the import keeps getting hung on “In progress,” grabbing a few hundred items, but not the entire amount. Here’s the log output from my most recent attempt

 Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekauj1VYx[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omeka6q9RYf.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:25 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-bsBiJgaNf38RjM6v5pdLnnEfEhGv2AzQ' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omeka6q9RYf.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:25 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaEVModw[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaktBLCp.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:10 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-EINFvGStNM9qlnZAurbMvrjp3lSF8i6d' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaktBLCp.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:10 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omeka4vH30E[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omeka9Bddkr.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:08 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-iniyRHZGm9esyXpfawyMNFCkiFiFVE6H' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omeka9Bddkr.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:08 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaFOE9jg[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omeka2NMhzX.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:05 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-7AZ68XPgwdfuR5w00yO0Jba300SI7QXK' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omeka2NMhzX.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:05 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaBhhkrg[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaqiqMl5.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:02 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-IkfGG5ivy8R8kaw1EnqE2WgLSHJVZY2R' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaqiqMl5.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:02 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaZS75nw[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaBoR7mA.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:00 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-IP21xM2hJEspQMBxJPJtLpULL9gvzbr8' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaBoR7mA.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:10:00 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaKtBw0f[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaf7FAiu.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:55 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-cP4Jfw5nQaMvOXh2T4KuWCooeqR5tAtX' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaf7FAiu.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:55 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaD8DRri[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekakcIga3.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:53 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-XhGr9vXJs4faXN3E3CEwvyB-u9MbR0F7' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekakcIga3.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:53 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaU1deqk[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaAeNXhN.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:49 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-3n6HE3S-l-D7FF5pxrvs7tclIkvwxw43' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaAeNXhN.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:49 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekajHgPz8[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaxnOxup.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:46 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-WgeyuxcbVH5IGVVWjcJw3h5Xgn6iRcS4' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaxnOxup.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:46 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omeka5Vnktv[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekaLzPflR.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:45 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-NIL1gSVpIB3GPQo4ttIZRtc09vdHfS8t' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekaLzPflR.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:45 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Command "/usr/bin/convert '/tmp/omekaWiixDx[0]' -auto-orient -background white +repage -alpha remove -thumbnail '800x800>' '/tmp/omekar0YNNK.jpg'" failed with status code 1.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:43 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
convert: must specify image size `/tmp/magick-U1PF2A0HrOjWhgPu0S2CBRAR8ANRLmRK' @ error/mvg.c/ReadMVGImage/186. convert: no images defined `/tmp/omekar0YNNK.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229.

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:43 AM 	
error
	
	
In Progress Parameters
Importing item page 1

	Dec 10, 2025, 11:09:36 AM 	
info
	
	
In Progress Parameters

The page size was 50, and this hung at 250 completed out of the 864 items to import. It’s been in progress for several hours now, but hasn’t had any movement since the first 15 minutes.

Incidentally, when “Undoing” a failed import like this, the module fails to delete item sets that it created

jflatnes · December 12, 2025, 9:31pm

It’s a little hard to read the log in that format but I don’t see anything there that accounts for your problem. Given the numbers you mentioned I’d expect to see a couple more “Importing item page” messages, though.

Almost certainly it’s not the case that the process is stalled, but that it was unable to update its status: though it says “in progress” it probably encountered an error and stopped. In that situation if we were unable to capture the error message, PHP could still log it and you might find the relevant fatal error in your server’s PHP logs, if it keeps PHP logs for background jobs like this that are run with the PHP CLI program (whether this is the case depends on how your server’s set up).

cnorton · January 15, 2026, 7:28pm

Hi John,

Looks like it’s not showing up in logs for the Apache2 server’s PHP instance nor phpcli logs. Any other ideas on what I could do to diagnose this?

jflatnes · January 17, 2026, 11:26pm

I’d expect this to show up in a PHP CLI log, as a “Fatal error” line. The most common cause probably would be exceeding the PHP memory limit.

One way to indirectly check for that specifically would be to increase your memory_limit in php.ini and see if that’s increasing how many items are getting completed.

cnorton · February 10, 2026, 4:01pm

Hi John,

We doubled our memory limit, and no change. We’re still not seeing anything in logs? Do you have any other ideas? I’m this close to just building my own import tool, but I’d like to double check that you’re out of ideas first before going down that route. If I do, I’ll be sure to share it with the community.

jflatnes · February 10, 2026, 6:19pm

I’m still pretty convinced this has to be a fatal error you’re running into.

Are you sure you’re getting PHP logs from the CLI? (Running a simple script with the CLI that calls error_log, whether from a file or interactively with php -a would be an easy way to check for sure. If you do try to check this, make sure you’re using the same PHP binary you’ve configured Omeka S to use, if you’ve set a non-default one in local.config.php.)

cnorton · February 18, 2026, 6:08pm

Putting an error_log into the show.phtml of a page and loading the page generates log traffic; I figured that was the most definitive way to ensure I was getting log traffic in the correct file. The import generates no logs whatsoever. Are there lines in the module that you’d suggest adding an error_log statement to identify the cause here?

jflatnes · February 18, 2026, 7:03pm

What I’m suggesting is that you might not be storing the logged PHP errors from the job at all, or possibly that they’re going to a different or unexpected location.

An error_log() call in a page only shows that errors are logged from web requests and doesn’t necessarily mean they’re logged in a useful way in a background job. Running a simple script on the command line or using php -a to call error_log(), those will use the CLI and so will show you where/whether you’re logging CLI errors. Adding one to the start of the import job (like, the start of the perform() method in src/Job/Import.php) could serve the same purpose.

If you have control over your php.ini, making a writable file and setting the php.ini setting error_log to that file’s path is one simple way of getting the PHP logs to be somewhere you’re sure of their location. You’d also want to make sure the setting log_errors is enabled.

Note: For some servers, there’s a separate php.ini for the CLI:

php -i | grep "Loaded Configuration File"

will tell you what php.ini file is being loaded for the CLI.

Along those same lines, this is an easy way to check what the error log settings currently are for the CLI (the top one shows what the configured log location is, the second shows whether logging is turned on):

php -i | grep "^error_log =>"
php -i | grep "log_errors"