I am totally new to forum software but my quick Internet search revealed that SMF is far superior to anything else (that's free, at least). I am eager to start experimental run of SMF on my web site and I am actually interested in SMF 2.0, not 1.1.
I know that it's recommended to NOT run RC1 on an operational site yet and I read somewhere else that I won't be able to use the Package Manager to upgrade my site between SMF 2.0 RC releases, but...
Assuming that I can simply replace the entire installation with the official release when it comes, will I still retain the information already entered by forum members?
If I understand correctly, that data is store in a MySQL database, thus it's separate from the PHP code itself. So there is a good chance that I can get away with upgrading from RC1 to official 2.0 release without loosing the data (i.e. no added tables, fields/columns, etc.).
Is this the case? Can you please shed some light on this?
Thanks!
For each upgrade you replace the files + run upgrade script (to update the database).
So you will retain all members, posts, attachments etc.
As stated, all things being equal, you will not loose any data during version upgrades. That is from RC2 or even beyond.
So if 2.0 has features that you want to use/need then it's probably at this RC stage the best time to get in. If you can't wait of course.