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I'm at my wits end. I can't get a staging site working. Currently, if I try to publish from LR I get all sorts of odd problems.
The publish task will start, but never end. I eventually have to quick LR and get the message that I'm interrupting a publishing task. One photo in the album will never publish.
Sometimes I was able to add albums, and publish them. But they didn't work right. Adding/deleting photos with them album would end up causing a new copy of the album to appear on the server. So I'd end up with multiple copies of "Album" all with zero photos, but the one I started with.
I was using the custom thumbnails trick. That's where the custom thumbs album is hidden and has the magic slug. That album got published ok, but then the second album would never see any of those thumbs.
I'd delete all albums, but then get a message in LR that the albums couldn't be deleted from the server.
So I started over. I wiped my entire staging site (expect for WordPress) and then start with a blank slate.
Got everything copied from the live site, then updated to BL 2 files (including the hidden .htaccess). Ran through the updating process, but got errors in BL. After wiping and starting again, a few times, I eventually got it all setup.
My photos directory is empty on the server, but the clone of BL thinks the staging site does have albums. So I just to into the publisher and delete all of 100 of them. Not I have an empty photos directory on the server, plus publisher thinks it's empty.
Launch LR, setup the TTG publisher plugin to point at my staging site. I ignore anything and everything to do with the exiting BL1 files in LR. I'm only trying to test the BL2 as isolated as I can within LR.
But no matter what I try, publishing within LR to BL2 isn't working. I've had all sorts of errors. Here's the current situation.
There's nothing on the server. BL shows there's no albums. There's no albums in LR.
Create an album in LR. Check on the web site, there is the new empty album. BL also agrees. All is good so far.
Add four photos to the album, and publish. LR stalls. There's no error message. LR is just hung trying to publish.
No error message in ttg.log
Refreshing the photo page on the site, the album now had a thumb for it. It's the first image from the album.
Looking at the server with FTP, there is that one image in the /photos/ dir.
Checking the BL, it says there's an album but no photos in it.
So it looks like LR has been able to almost publish just one of the image, and then the process hangs. There's no error message.
As I'm typing this, Adobe just notified me there's an update pending for LR - I'm spending all my time with updates and installs, but not making any progress. I hate computers!
How to proceed?
--Jim
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So I started over. I wiped my entire staging site (expect for WordPress) and then start with a blank slate...
.....Got everything copied from the live site, then updated to BL 2 files (including the hidden .htaccess). Ran through the updating process, but got errors in BL. After wiping and starting again, a few times, I eventually got it all setup.
Is the site based on WordPress or Backlight?
If WordPress, which index.php and .htaccess files are you uploading, and to where?
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I only updated files within Backlight on the server. That was uploading from my local copy of BL to the server, via FTP.
My site has root/wp/ for all of the WordPress files which I haven't touched.
I have root/index.php which points to root/wp/wp-blog-header.php which is normal. That's how you bring up my WordPress theme and get to the home page.
I have root/photos/ which is where all the photos are published. It's always been that way, going way back to the first TTG release. I set the LR publisher to point at that directory.
There's hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/index.php within the local copy of the BL folder I get by unzipping the installer. The instructions don't seem to cover where that file should go on the server. It would make sense for that file to be at the root if you're not using WordPress. If you are using WordPress you don't want to wipe out your root/index.php
Comparing that hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/index.php with root/photos/index.php they look obviously similar enough. So that's where it belongs. It's the top of the tree for BL publishing.
I had tried an install without updating root/photos/index.php and had problems. Wiping the entire install and starting clean, I updated root/photos/index.php with hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/index.php
hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/.htaccess.php can't go to root/.htaccess because it would wipe out required setting to run my WordPress site. I've tried copying the rules from BL into my existing file. With or without the BL rules, the problem continues in the exact same way.
The only other copies of .htaccess I find to copy are:
hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/backlight/.htaccess.php to root/backlight/
hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/backlight/installer/.htaccess.php to root/backlight/installer/
After several attempts, I could complete the BL update process. I ran through the db updates and installed the modules updates (WP and CRG addons).
At this point everything seems to be working. The WordPress theme is working, and the BL publisher is empty.
I setup LR publisher, pointing at root/photos/ just like I've always done.
I added one album in LR. I find the empty album on the server, and BL confirms it's there.
I add one photo to the album and publish. I find two copies of the album on the server and BL also reports there are two copies. Only the newest album has a photo.
I mark the photo to be republished and click publish, the server now has three albums, all with the same name. The first is still empty. The second only has a thumb, but no photo. The third has the thumb and the photo.
Adding a second photo to the album, publishing results in a fourth copy on the server and within BL. The previous copies are as they were. The fourth copy only has the second photo I added.
I've installed TTG and BL1 on sites before. With TTG I used my own WP theme, and had TTG publishing to root/photos/. When I updated to BL1, I also started using it for my WP theme and photos. I even developed all of that at a staging site as well.
--Jim
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There's hd/Backlight-2-Installer-107/index.php within the local copy of the BL folder I get by unzipping the installer. The instructions don't seem to cover where that file should go on the server. It would make sense for that file to be at the root if you're not using WordPress. If you are using WordPress you don't want to wipe out your root/index.php
Inside the Backlight-2-Installer-107 folder is:
backlight/
galleries/
index.php
.htaccess
The index.php and .htaccess files at this level are for installations where the site is based on Backlight. If the site is based on WordPress, don’t use them.
If you are setting up a test site based on Backlight, then everything inside that ..Installer-107 folder will go inside of the test site folder.
But it looks like you want to publish your albums to the /photos/ folder.
In that case, the backlight/ folder should be installed at the same level as the photos/ folder (and presumably the ttg-be/ folder if you were using CE4 Publisher.
In that case, you won’t use the index.php and .htaccess files next to the backlight/ folder in the unzipped Backlight-2-Installer-107/ folder.
Just upload the backlight/ folder to the root and install Backlight per the Backlight 2 installation instructions.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Rod, basically your suggestions mean:
use the original root/.htaccess
delete root/photos/.htaccess (in fact the live site does not have this file)
My staging site is basically like this, as is the working live site, at the root:
/backlight/
/photos/
/wp/
But it's still not working. I still have problems with LR creating multiple copies of the same album, or hanging. I deleted all the albums again and started from zero, but again I ran into odd problems.
I'm following the instructions carefully. Maybe I'm a dumbass (I've witness this myself). I've gone through this 10 times, in various combinations. Mostly it fails straight away, from crashing the server to puking PHP errors to my web pages. Sometimes it starts to work, but then fails in odd ways. I've done many trail and errors. I'm not getting something.
I'm willing to do a complete fresh install as if I don't have BL1. But, i do have several templates I need to migrate. If I do a totally clean install, how can I migrate my BL1 templates?
If I can go that route, I need complete instructions on how to migrate BL1 to BL2 with WP themes. Something is missing in the instructions and I don't know where it goes off track.
Or, I can clone the old site (again) and try another update. Just realize that the BL1 to BL2 instructions are not complete if I'm also using WP themes.
What am I missing?
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-08 12:59:34)
--Jim
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OK, tried again. I start with a staging site that is working. It's a clone of the live site running BL1. I follow the instructions for updating BL1 to BL2.
I go to root/backlight and get the updating sequence. I update designer and publisher. I install the new modules, WP and CRG.
At this point things look good, right? The Backlight back-end seems good. I check everything I can think of and it's looking good.
I go to stage/photos and get:
Warning: require_once(./../backlight/framework/Framework.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in xyz/stage/photos/lib.php on line 48
Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required './../backlight/framework/Framework.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php70/pear') in xyz/stage/photos/lib.php on line 48
Line 48 in my copy of /photos/lib.php reads:
require_once($base_dir.'/'.TTG_BE_DIRECTORY.'/framework/Framework.php');
I go through every BL setting I can find, and confirm the settings are good. I click SAVE at every setting page just to hope that it might clean up things, flush a cache, or help.
After doing all that, I try going to root/photos/ again and this time it's working.
Strange, right?
But, now I've got /photos/ on the staging site that are not in sync with LR. That because LR only knows about the original /photos/ on the line site and nothing about my staging site. So I can clean those out, again, using BL publisher to delete the 100 albums cloned to the staging site. But, before I even do that for the 10th time, I simple try creating an album.
I create one with the default "album" title and simply click save. It shows up at the site, and in BL. So far so good.
I add a photo, and click publish. Fail. The album doesn't have any photos. I can open the album on the web site, but it's empty.
Go back to LR, and mark the photo to republish. Click publish. LR hangs. No errors or messages. Just hangs trying to publish.
I'm going in circles. I don't know how to create a clone of my live site for development and update it to BL2 so I can test.
I'm also too skeptical I can update my live site at this point, since the dozen or more attempts at updating have all failed to the point the entire site is corrupt. Even clearing out the entire thing still leaves me with a site that I cannot create a single album with one photo.
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-08 14:13:24)
--Jim
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Your folder structure tells me that you are not using WP as the basis of your site but rather, it’s installed in a folder named “wp”
Is this correct?
I must admit I’m rather confused as to your set up. Maybe you could post screen shots of the folder structure on the server.
I suspect that .htaccess files could be in the wrong places.
Also, are you using the latest Publisher plugin?
The Backlight 1 to 2 iinstructions are complete. If using WP as the basis of the site (that is, you’ve actually installed it in the root) then just follow the instructions on updateing what’s in the backlight/ folder. The only thing you won’t need to do is upload the index.php and .htaccess files that are in the root of the unzipped Backlight-2-Installer-2.zip.
You can’t migrate templates, but you can export them and then import them into another site.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I’m rather confused as to your set up. Maybe you could post screen shots of the folder structure on the server.
This is the structure I've always had my WordPress and TTG site. I keep WP, Backlight, and Photos in separate directories and all at the root. There are a few reasons I do it this way. It works. I've set it up this way forever.
If you go to my domain, it opens in WordPress. It's reekes.net
Starting at the root, this is my file/folder structure on the server. This isn't every single file, but enough you can see the structure.
.htaccess (<- set by my hosting service and security plugin)
index.php (<- points to /wp/wp-blog-header.php)
php_errorlog
php.ini
robots.txt
/cgi-bin/
/backlight/
/admin/
/cart/
/client-response/
/custom/
/data/
/designer/
/framework/
/modules/
/publisher/
/search/
config.php
env.php.skel
index.php
/photos/
/01-portraits/
/02-faces/
/03-inspired/
(...plus 10 more albums)
/99-models/ (<- this is an album set)
(...includes 75 albums)
/custom-thumbnails/
autoindex.xml
error_log
gallery.xml
setup.xml
template_index.php
/wp/ (<- contains the entire WordPress install)
You can’t migrate templates, but you can export them and then import them into another site.
Maybe I can wipe Backlight entirely off the staging site, and all the Photos, then do a clean install. Then I can try to export all of the templates templates from the live site, and import into the staging site.
I assume the WordPress site could be broken until the Backlight folder is installed and all my templates are imported. I was hoping to avoid that since I have a dozen templates. But then, after I'm done developing them I guess I have to export/import them all from the staging site back to the live site.
--Jim
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Your WP site shouldn’t be broken. Just don’t replace the index.php and .htaccess files in the root.
I don’t see a ttg-be folder in that list so can I assume that you were not previously using Publisher?
Are those albums exported from Lightroom and uploaded?
Or are the albums in the photos/ folder Backlight albums and the other goles just leftover CE4 files (template_index.php for example)?
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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>I don’t see a ttg-be folder in that list so can I assume that you were not previously using Publisher?
The current site is based on BL1. I did use the older TTG plugins, but updated to BL1 soon after it was released. As far as I understand I wouldn't have ttg-be for any reason at this point. The live site has been working without problems.
>Are those albums exported from Lightroom and uploaded?
Yes, I've cloned the entire live site to staging. That works and all is well (but obviously LR doesn't recognize it because that's pointing to the live site).
The problems start after I upgrade to BL2.
>Or are the albums in the photos/ folder Backlight albums and the other goles just leftover CE4 files (template_index.php for example)?
I haven't used CE4 in years. I'm on BL1. All of my photos are entirely within /photos/.
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-09 04:57:36)
--Jim
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I just completed a clean install. I started with an empty /backlight/ and empty /photos/
I exported all the templates, and imported them into the new environment. I found this process doesn't let me export BL settings, uploaded images, or menus. After manually copying all of that into the new environment, I continued.
I found the WordPress templates did not import properly.
My WP pages were black on white, but the imported template is white on white. I'm still trying to find why text is white, instead of black. Several of the settings I've tried have not gotten me black text.
All the images are wrong. I had to go through each template and reset them.
The import process didn't include the template identifiers. So I manually set them.
Import process didn't set the template to my custom css or phpplugin files, so I manually set them.
So far I'm just trying to re-create the WordPress site. Hopefully when/if I can get that working, I can try once again to publish photos (and get that working).
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-09 05:17:10)
--Jim
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Hi Jim, the error on missing Framework is because your site is still looking for Backlight 1 files. Running the command "Update Album Files" under special links on the Backlight admin landing page should fix that.
Your listing of the directories shows that Backlight 1 files are still on the server. These will interfere with Backlight 2 and need to be removed. In particular, the /backlight/publisher/ directory should not exist. In Backlight 2 this is a virtual directory handled with URL Rewriting via backlight/.htaccess
See these steps in the upgrade process: http://backlight.theturninggate.net/doc … acklight_2
I would also take Wordpress out of the equation until you get past all of these issues. I have seen that Wordfence in particular can interfere with interactions with the backlight/ directory. You might find a hidden file within backlight/ that injects a call to WP and Wordfence before continuing to call backlight/
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Next problem...
In the Iconography panel of Advanced Setup, within the Design Template for my Page Template, I cannot select the Favicon nor Apple Touch Icon.
Those images were uploaded. I know there there, because I did this manually after setting up the new clean site. I had to download the images from the live site, and then upload all the images associated with templates. Then I had to go into each template to set the image because after importing I found all of the images were not set to the wrong image.
Unfortunately, I cannot set the Favicon nor Apple Touch Icon. Both of those drop downs are not functioning. I've disabled the on/off switch and reenabled it. Still, the drop down for the photo page templates will not allow me to set the image.
I've put that problem on hold, just to see if I can actually publish an album.
Another problem...
I got to the point where I could create my first album in LR. Adding an empty one worked. I can see the empty album on the web site at domain/photos/
Then I added my first image to the album and published. That (finally) worked. I went to the web site and refreshed domain/photos/ and saw the album now has its thumbnail. Progress.
Then I attempted to open the album. Failure. It's showing the Paradox 404! page. Oddly the URL is domain/photos/album/client-response/
Why is my album going to /client-response/ ??
I've double checked the templates I've used to create the one photo main page and the one album. All of these templates were imported from the BL1 site. Something about exporting from BL1 and importing to BL2 doesn't work. I've already found several issues, now this.
I don't see how/why BL2 is trying to open the album as if it were a CRG. Within the album's template, in the Add-Ons panel the Enable Add-on option is set to none.
For curiosity, I check the actual CRG template I'm using and found the Enable Add-on option was ALSO set to none. Yet another bug in the import process. I change it to Client Response.
Feeling like I've got nothing left to lose, I go back to the web page domain/photos/ and refresh. The one album with the thumb is there. I try opening it again. This time it works!
My head hurts. This is taking too much time, and all I'm trying to do is upgrade an existing BL1 site. Then after I address some issues, like the CSS I found that's changed, I have to somehow update the live site. O M G - how?
--Jim
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error on missing Framework is because your site is still looking for Backlight 1 files.
I gave up on trying to update. I tried that so many times and spent so many hours. It always ran into a major problem.
Now I'm starting with a clean install. I've deleted BL entirely from the staging site, and all the photos. Clean slate.
I'm running into several problems going down this path too. The export from BL1 and import to BL2 has problems. It doesn't import all the old settings, and in some cases used the wrong settings.
I think I've managed to get all the templates and all the settings working at this point. I'm just now trying to test publishing from LR.
I would also take Wordpress out of the equation until you get past all of these issues
Actually, just getting the WordPress theme working has been the source of all of today's problems. I need that working before I move on to getting the rest of things working.
--Jim
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In the Iconography panel of Advanced Setup, within the Design Template for my Page Template, I cannot select the Favicon nor Apple Touch Icon.
I think they need to be png and of the correct size before they will appear available to use.
How did you upload the favicon and apple touch images? Hopefully by using the Backlight uploader?
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I think they need to be png and of the correct size before they will appear available to use. How did you upload the favicon and apple touch images? Hopefully by using the Backlight uploader?
rod, these were the images I had in BL1. They are working images. I didn't create new ones or alter them. I simply downloaded them from the BL1 site, and uploaded them using the BL2 uploader.
The same images are working in another template. They're also showing in the other template's drop down menu.
All I can say is exporting from BL1 and importing to BL2 isn't working. I've found several problems. Some settings are lost. Some are missing. I ended up with broken templates.
--Jim
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were your BL 1 templates Pangolin templates?
If not, did you also install the Okapi modules in BL2?
So far, when I’ve exported templates from one site to use in another, it’s worked perfectly. Same with updating BL1 sites to BL2.
The only gotcha I’ve come across is forgetting to update album files. Also make sure to visit all the major sections of Backlight to update the data bases.
It would probably help to include links to problem albums, etc.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Nope - another fail. This was my last attempt.
This was a clean install. I started with an empty /backlight/ and an empty /photos/.
I got what I think is a working WordPress theme working, but I'm not confident considering all the other problems I've encountered. Still, I got it to a point it appears to be working, at least well enough I could try to publish some photos.
I setup LR. Odd that I point it at /backlight/publisher/ when there is no such path on the server. What ever...
I created an empty album and publish. I can see it on the web site.
I added one photo and publish. I can see that working on the site too.
I add a few more photos to the album and publish. LR hangs. No error message. Nothing in the ttg.log.
I quit LR and relaunch. I delete all the unpublished photos from the album.
I refresh the web page. I notice a second thumbnail was added to the album. There's no photo, just the second thumbnail.
So I look inside of the album's photo directory on the server. There is a second photo in there. But refreshing the web page never shows the second photo. I have to assume LR publishing failed after uploading one image. The file was uploaded, but the data files were not updated.
At this point LR will no longer publish anything. I tried adding a second image to the album. So it has one published image, and one new to be published. Clicking publish causes nothing to happen. I didn't even get the LR progress bar.
I give up and quit LR. I get a message than I would be canceling a publishing task.
I have no idea at this point how or if I can get BL2 to work.
--Jim
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were your BL 1 templates Pangolin templates?
Yes
So far, when I’ve exported templates from one site to use in another, it’s worked perfectly. Same with updating BL1 sites to BL2. The only gotcha I’ve come across is forgetting to update album files. Also make sure to visit all the major sections of Backlight to update the data bases.
I had no albums. It was a clean install of BL2.
Missing elements of trying to duplicate a site by setting up a clean install, and them exporting/importing templates...
You can't export/import the Backlight settings.
You have to find the uploaded image and manually download them. Then you upload them to the new site, trying to make sure you use the same file names.
Importing the BL1 templates lost all the image selections.
Importing BL1 templates lost the identification setting.
Some other settings were incorrect, but I've lost track of what I updated at this point. I have a dozen templates, for WP, BL, and CRG.
After getting all the templates imported and all the settings sorted out, the WordPress theme appears to be working.
But I can't publish from LR. It hangs with no error message.
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-09 10:36:27)
--Jim
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Importing the BL1 templates lost all the image selections.
What do you mean by this? Templates don’t contain “image selections”
Or do you mean inline images you’ve included with album or album set templates?
those image url would need to change.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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You can't export/import the Backlight settings.
No, you can’t. Just page, album, and album set templates.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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What do you mean by this? Templates don’t contain “image selections”
In a template, you can choose a drop down to select the image you uploaded in BL.
After importing templates from BL1, the images selected in the drop downs were wrong.
In one of my templates, the dropdown is empty. It doesn't contain any images.
Last edited by JimR (2019-02-09 11:06:44)
--Jim
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Another odd thing. LR won't publish. It just hangs. But the odd thing I just noticed...
In BL publisher, I can see the one album. In the view album page /backlight/publisher/view_album/ I see the base settings for the album. I also see just one photo in the album.
If I go to the album listing at /backlight/publisher/list_albums it shows that I have four photos.
The LR publishing process isn't updating BL properly. This is the same problem I was having when I tried to clone the live site, and then update it.
So all paths I've tried have ended up the same. LR isn't publishing, and ends up corrupting the BL databases.
--Jim
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Sounds like a server issue that Ben will need to look at
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Unbelievable - after all this time the problem turned out to be something in my LR prefs file! No idea what line(s) caused the problem. LR prefs are over 2,000 lines of settings.
I had to move my prefs file out of LR's folder, and then launched LR creating a new/clean set of prefs. After that, things with BL started working normally.
I also narrowed it down to something involving LUA during publishing.
Thanks for Ben's help and patience.
Moral of the story - when things are not making sense with LR and publishing, try a new clean prefs file.
--Jim
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