9
I recently upgraded several sites to 2.3.0 and had the same error where the system told me it could not find XOOPS_VAR_PATH/caches/smarty_compile. I am not sure if this is a proper solution but the following worked for me.
In the 2.3.0 install package locate the following file:
xoops-2.3.0\htdocs\class\template.php
Open the file and locate the following code near the beginning of the file
$this->template_dir = XOOPS_THEME_PATH;
$this->cache_dir = XOOPS_VAR_PATH . "/caches/smarty_cache";
$this->compile_dir = XOOPS_VAR_PATH . "/caches/smarty_compile";
Change the compile_dir definition line so it appears like this:
$this->template_dir = XOOPS_THEME_PATH;
$this->cache_dir = XOOPS_VAR_PATH . "/caches/smarty_cache";
$this->compile_dir = XOOPS_ROOT_PATH . "/xoops_data/caches/smarty_compile";
As I said I am not sure if this is a proper or sanctioned fix but after I made this change performing the upgrade worked like a charm.