Trouble with Baikal after upgrading to bookworm - Solution: php-sqlite3

Creating a bug report/issue

I have searched the existing open and closed issues

Required Information

  • DietPi version | 10.1.2
  • Distro version | bookworm 1
  • Kernel version | Linux DietPi 6.12.75+rpt-rpi-v6 #1 Raspbian 1:6.12.75-1+rpt1~bookworm (2026-03-11) armv6l GNU/Linux
  • Architecture | armhf
  • SBC model | RPi 1B
  • Power supply used | 5V 1A
  • SD card used | SanDisk ultra

Additional Information (if applicable)

  • Software title | Baikal, Pihole
  • Was the software title installed freshly or updated/migrated? I upgraded to bookworm

Problem

I upgraded from a DIetPi 9 Bullseye version to the Bookworm one. I also updated Pihole to version 6 and was asked whether I wanted to disable Lighttpd, I disagreed. After that Pihole worked, but Baikal didn’t - I couldn’t even visist the local Baikal website. Upgrading to DietPi 10 didn’t help either. Mind you, I’m using sqlite as my database for Baikal.

In case anyone else has the same problem, here’s what I did:

Solution

I first replaced the following files with a backup that I made beforehand:

mnt/dietpi_userdata/mysql (just in case)

/var/www/baikal/

Then had to change the rights and restart lighttpd:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/baikal/Specific/db/
sudo chmod 775 /var/www/baikal/Specific/db/
sudo chmod 664 /var/www/baikal/Specific/db/db.sqlite
sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Since there still was an “Error code: 500 Internal Server Error” when visiting “http:///baikal/html/admin/”, I checked the PHP log with:

sudo tail -f /var/log/lighttpd/php-error.lo

Turned out I had to manually install php-sqlite3:

sudo apt install php-sqlite3

After that I reinstalled Baikal and then restarted lighttpd

dietpi-software reinstall 57
sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Suggestion

Please include php-sqlite3 with the DietPi installation of Baikal.

DietPi expect MariaDB/MySQL as database backend as stated in our online docs Social and Publishing Software Options - DietPi.com Docs . Therefore no SQLite module is include.

I initially installed Baikal with DietPi, not manually, so there must have been a time where DietPi supported choosing between sqlite and MySQL in Baikal. There must be others like me with a grandfathered Baikal installation where sqlite is used.

similar you would need to take into account if you consider moving on to Debian Trixie Trixie Update Baikal issue