4.3.9 To 4.3.10 Upgrade Doesnt Complete

We are running the upgrade on our test server but its not completing and hangs:

Screen looks like this http://prntscr.com/dpokm1and the log file is as below:

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2016-12-30 17:21:06: Starting installation of the "core" upgrade package
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Upgrading version 4.3.9 to 4.3.10
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Running as user "fleaffai"
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Executing pre-upgrade validators
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Found 0 validators at package
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Executing "collisions" validator
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Executing "permissions" validator
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Executing "restore" validator
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Backup filename is "upg_core_4.3.9-4.3.10_30Dec2016_172106"
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Preparing restore script
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Upgrades directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Source restore script permissions: -rw-r--r-- fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Created directory for restore script at "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/"
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Created restore script at "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/restore_2016-12-30_17-21-06.php"
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Restore script permissions: -rw-r--r-- fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Correcting target restore script directory permissions...
2016-12-30 17:21:06: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Changing permissions of "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/" to 755
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Using chmod()... OK
2016-12-30 17:21:06: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Target restore script directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Correcting upgrades directory permissions...
2016-12-30 17:21:06: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Changing permissions of "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades" to 755
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Using chmod()... OK
2016-12-30 17:21:06: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Upgrades directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Checking restore script availability via HTTP
2016-12-30 17:21:06: Executing pre-upgrade script "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/var/upgrade/packages/core/content/scripts/pre_script.php"
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Preparing restore script
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Upgrades directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Source restore script permissions: -rw-r--r-- fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Created directory for restore script at "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/"
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Created restore script at "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/restore_2016-12-30_17-21-06.php"
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Restore script permissions: -rw-r--r-- fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Correcting target restore script directory permissions...
2016-12-30 17:21:07: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Changing permissions of "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades/core_4.3.9-4.3.10/" to 755
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Using chmod()... OK
2016-12-30 17:21:07: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Target restore script directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Correcting upgrades directory permissions...
2016-12-30 17:21:07: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Changing permissions of "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/upgrades" to 755
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Using chmod()... OK
2016-12-30 17:21:07: ----------
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Upgrades directory permissions: drwxr-xr-x fleaffai:fleaffai
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Checking restore script availability via HTTP
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Pre-upgrade script executed successfully
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Closing storefront
2016-12-30 17:21:07: Backing up files and database
2016-12-30 17:23:11: Backup created at "/home/fleaffai/public_html/staging/var/backups/upg_core_4.3.9-4.3.10_30Dec2016_172106.zip"
2016-12-30 17:23:11: Sending upgrade information e-mail to: admin@fleaffair.com
2016-12-30 17:23:11: Failed to send e-mail

As the last line indicated, that the mail setup is probably incorrect and the email couldn't be sent. Upgrade will stop if it can't send the restore info to the admin.

As the last line indicated, that the mail setup is probably incorrect and the email couldn't be sent. Upgrade will stop if it can't send the restore info to the admin.

Thats a bit strange since we upgraded all the way to 4.3.9 from 4.2.4 without adding the email settings since this is a test setup

It's a safety/protection effort by cs-cart. It seems like a reasonable requirement, however I would contend that (just like you're experiencing), the notification would best be logged to a file and emailed if possible. Then things like localhost and test environments can be used where there is no email support configured (for obvious reasons).

You were right , we added the email and the setup went through but its very strange that this was not mandatory till 4.3.9 since we did upgrade all the way from 4.2.4 with out adding the email setting.

I believe it was added in 4.3.8 which would make it effective in 4.3.9.

The upgrade process when through some major overhauls in the 4.2.2 -> 4.3.6 timeframe. There were many workarounds to get it to run successfully on most systems during that period.