Can I easily upgrade a 1.8.3 database to 1.8.6 without loosing the data? Should I wait a bit, are more DB changes foreseen?

Agree with Slider - forgive me if I grumble every now and then in this forum...

renehaentjens, I think you posted this in the wrong forum.

might try in the how to forum next time because this really looks out of place amid the other posts.

jmitchell

I was able to upgrade to 1.8.6 with no difficulty or lost data. Given the fact that a code exploit is the reason for this newest version, I'd say the sooner you upgrade the better off you'll be.

jmitchell: I shall be more than happy to see your answer to my question appearing in the how to forum. Most recent posts there are of a general nature, not related to upgrades, while quite some technical info about upgrades appears here...

vinyl-junkie: Thanks for comforting me. Did you just apply the update_db_to_1_8_4.sql, update_db_to_1_8_5.sql, and update_db_to_1_8_6.sql one after the other? So, in your opinion, could I simply merge these three, store the result in update_db.sql, and run the install.php script, selecting 'Update existing database'?

As the 1.8.6 code still changes every day, I'll wait a bit with re-applying my customizations. I am discussing with the system team whether we should temporarily close down the 1.8.3 site...

I think I was having a senior moment when I posted in this thread earlier. :eek: I had forgotten that I rebuilt my database and version of phpdig from scratch. Sorry about that. I didn't want to leave the impression that I had just upgraded from 1.8.3 to 1.8.6. I have a lot of customized code in mine so it's just easier for me to rebuild from the ground up to make sure all code changes are applied. Even so, I don't think upgrading would result in any lost data for you.

One of the things you might consider if you don't already have it in place is a mirror of phpdig on a test server, or at least a test folder so when upgrades like this come along, you're able to ensure that any changes you apply won't clobber your production application.

I should also mention that one of the things I did while performing the upgrade was to replace my phpdig search page with one that basically said that search was unavailable pending the upgrade. I think it's a nice way of not leaving visitors in the lurch.

I did a first try on my test server, proceeding as follows:

# - saved a copy of includes/connect.php, config.php
# - made the PhpDig 1.8.3 directory inaccessible
# - restored the 1.8.6 backup to a new directory .../phpdig-1.8.6
# - replaced phpdig-1.8.6/sql/update_db.sql by the merge of update_db_to_1_8_4.sql, update_db_to_1_8_5.sql, and update_db_to_1_8_6.sql, as explained in a reply above
# - ran phpdig-1.8.6/admin/install.php, selecting "Update existing database", and providing the parameters from the old connect.php
# - adapted config.php (cfr. my old config.php)
# - re-applied customizations

Seems to work... no data lost... I'll do more tests and report here when needed.

That's great news! Let us know when you've totally completed the upgrade and how everything went.