Can't index

I'm trying to index my root folder and get the error message below in apache logs with the indexing pop up stuck at "Collecting file list..."

Anyone got the same?

Debian 9 w/ php7.0 mariaDB and apache2 all deps listed here http://docs.filerun.com/php_configuration are installed

[Tue Jun 27 13:24:12.600574 2017] [:error] [pid 2156] [client 127.0.0.1:37956] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to a member function read() on boolean in /var/www/filerun/system/classes/vendor/FileRun/Utils/FM.php:474\nStack trace:\n#0 /var/www/filerun/system/classes/vendor/FileRun/Files/Utils.php(162): FM::oneDirList('/media/data/rom...', 'dirFilterByPatt...', 'fileFilterByPat...')\n#1 /var/www/filerun/system/classes/vendor/FileRun/Files/Utils.php(178): FileRun\\Files\\Utils::collectFolderListing('/media/data/rom...', Array)\n#2 /var/www/filerun/system/modules/metadata/sections/index/php/default.php(64): FileRun\\Files\\Utils::collectFolderListing(false, Array)\n#3 /var/www/filerun/index.php(259): unknown()\n#4 {main}\n  thrown in /var/www/filerun/system/classes/vendor/FileRun/Utils/FM.php on line 474, referer: https://xxxx/filerun/?module=metadata§ion=index&_popup_id=metadataIndex

EDIT: investigated. the file was a symlink; after emptying the folder i still got the error...