I just saw that GitLab has been updated to 3.0.3 so I tried again to update this appliance from a clean install (#6)... Still no joy though... :(

I just tweaked the code I am using to do this update in the above forum post. It is so frustrating that this doesn't work cause I can't figure out why. Also FYI after reading the above error I posted it seemed that the socket was the problem, with naive optimism I deleted the .socket in #5 but still errors.

The errors I get now (in #6) are:

cat log/unicorn.stderr.log 
I, [2012-10-28T03:04:46.430091 #4095]  INFO -- : listening on addr=/home/gitlab/gitlab//tmp/sockets/gitlab.socket fd=5
I, [2012-10-28T03:04:46.430805 #4095]  INFO -- : Refreshing Gem list
I, [2012-10-28T03:05:08.422747 #4095]  INFO -- : master process ready
I, [2012-10-28T03:05:08.479913 #4135]  INFO -- : worker=0 ready
I, [2012-10-28T03:05:08.495342 #4138]  INFO -- : worker=1 ready
I, [2012-10-28T03:11:11.930897 #4095]  INFO -- : reaped # worker=0
I, [2012-10-28T03:11:11.931046 #4095]  INFO -- : reaped # worker=1
I, [2012-10-28T03:11:11.931136 #4095]  INFO -- : master complete
I, [2012-10-28T03:46:36.162472 #6040]  INFO -- : unlinking existing socket=/home/gitlab/gitlab//tmp/sockets/gitlab.socket
I, [2012-10-28T03:46:36.192208 #6040]  INFO -- : listening on addr=/home/gitlab/gitlab//tmp/sockets/gitlab.socket fd=5
I, [2012-10-28T03:46:36.192752 #6040]  INFO -- : Refreshing Gem list
/home/gitlab/gitlab/app/models/event/push_trait.rb:2:in `': undefined method `as_trait' for Event::PushTrait:Module (NoMethodError)
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/app/models/event/push_trait.rb:1:in `'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `block in require'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:236:in `load_dependency'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:359:in `require_or_load'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:313:in `depend_on'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.2.8/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:225:in `require_dependency'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/engine.rb:439:in `block (2 levels) in eager_load!'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/engine.rb:438:in `each'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/engine.rb:438:in `block in eager_load!'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/engine.rb:436:in `each'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/engine.rb:436:in `eager_load!'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb:53:in `block in '
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `each'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/application.rb:136:in `initialize!'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.8/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in `method_missing'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/config/environment.rb:5:in `'
from config.ru:4:in `require'
from config.ru:4:in `block in '
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `instance_eval'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
from config.ru:1:in `new'
from config.ru:1:in `'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/lib/unicorn.rb:44:in `eval'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/lib/unicorn.rb:44:in `block in builder'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/bin/unicorn_rails:139:in `call'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/bin/unicorn_rails:139:in `block in rails_builder'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:696:in `call'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:696:in `build_app!'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:136:in `start'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-4.3.1/bin/unicorn_rails:209:in `'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/bin/unicorn_rails:23:in `load'
from /home/gitlab/gitlab/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.9.1/bin/unicorn_rails:23:in `'

So still no idea what is going on...