i've tried uninstalling and reinstalling node-theme-vanilla, but no dice. rebuilding assets separately afterwards leaves layouts weird and general problems with some plugins.
2018-12-28T18:16:59.685Z [4567/3231] - error: [build] Encountered error preparing for build
Error: [[error:theme-not-found]]
at /var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js:212:21
at nextTask (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5324:14)
at next (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5331:9)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3888:9
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
at iterateeCallback (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:992:24)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3885:13
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
2018-12-28T18:16:59.685Z [4567/3231] - error: [build] Encountered error during build step
Error: [[error:theme-not-found]]
at /var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js:212:21
at nextTask (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5324:14)
at next (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5331:9)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3888:9
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
at iterateeCallback (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:992:24)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3885:13
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
Error occurred during upgrade: Error: [[error:theme-not-found]]
at /var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js:212:21
at nextTask (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5324:14)
at next (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:5331:9)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3888:9
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
at iterateeCallback (/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:992:24)
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3885:13
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
2018-12-28T18:16:59.686Z [4567/3231] - error: [themes] Unable to parse theme.json nodebb-theme-vanilla
2018-12-28T18:16:59.689Z [4567/3231] - error: uncaughtException: Callback was already called.
Error: Callback was already called.
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:966:32
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:1137:13
at /var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js:114:7
at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:78:16
at FSReqWrap.readFileAfterClose [as oncomplete] (fs.js:511:3) {"error":{},"stack":"Error: Callback was already called.\n at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:966:32\n at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:1137:13\n at /var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js:114:7\n at /var/www/nodebb/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:78:16\n at FSReqWrap.readFileAfterClose [as oncomplete] (fs.js:511:3)","exception":true,"date":"Fri Dec 28 2018 18:16:59 GMT+0000 (UTC)","process":{"pid":3231,"uid":0,"gid":0,"cwd":"/var/www/nodebb","execPath":"/usr/bin/node","version":"v8.14.0","argv":["/usr/bin/node","/var/www/nodebb/nodebb","upgrade"],"memoryUsage":{"rss":139333632,"heapTotal":105914368,"heapUsed":72311456,"external":19339472}},"os":{"loadavg":[0.47900390625,0.3271484375,0.24462890625],"uptime":3239},"trace":[{"column":32,"file":"/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js","function":null,"line":966,"method":null,"native":false},{"column":13,"file":"/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/async/dist/async.js","function":null,"line":1137,"method":null,"native":false},{"column":7,"file":"/var/www/nodebb/src/meta/themes.js","function":null,"line":114,"method":null,"native":false},{"column":16,"file":"/var/www/nodebb/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js","function":null,"line":78,"method":null,"native":false},{"column":3,"file":"fs.js","function":"FSReqWrap.readFileAfterClose [as oncomplete]","line":511,"method":"readFileAfterClose [as oncomplete]","native":false}]}
i have my own custom theme, but i deactivated it and removed the symlink beforehand. so i don't see how it should be affecting this