Simple Machines Community Forum

Archived Boards and Threads... => Archived Boards => Install and Upgrade Help => Topic started by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 04:53:03 PM

Title: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 04:53:03 PM
I'm the owner, admin, and chief-honcho-in-charge of an SMF forum that I started back in January of 2009. I'm currently running SMF 1.1.9 and have not upgrade to 2.0.x because I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But now it's broke. Last week we started getting the ubiquitous "Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated..." blah, blah, blah message while I was out of town and far away from a computer. (Sigh. Figures.) So from what I've read, we've been a victim of our host upgrading to PHP 5.5 or greater and the time has come for us to make the move to the latest version of SMF (2.0.11).

Okay, fine. It's been a long time but I think I can manage with the exception of a few Basic Server Requirements. First, the SMF upgrade instruction say I need to make some changes to the php.ini file. I know what an .ini file is and how to modify it, but I don't where the php.ini file is. Using FTP to look at all the site files and folders I can't find it anywhere. Where is it? Is this something our host (SiteGround) needs to do? Second, we're running on MySQL, but I don't know what PHP MySQL client API is. My cPanel lists PHP Version Manager, PHP Variables Manager, phpMyAdmin, and phpPgAdmin.  But I don't see anything about a PHP MySQL client API. And by the way, can I get to the php.ini file through one of those?

Finally, any other hints, suggestions, or lessons learned from anyone that has dealt with a similar situation would be most helpful.

Sorry to be such a dunce, but I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous. So any and all help would be greatly appreciated (before my members assemble a lynch mob).

Thanks, Ops
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: d3vcho on September 09, 2016, 05:02:44 PM
Hello and welcome to SMF!

Sorry to ask, but it seems that you haven't had a look at this Upgrading SMF (http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Upgrading)? Here I can't see any instructions regarding the edition of the php.ini or whatever.

Please always remember to do a backup of your forum before doing any changes. Regards :)
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: LiroyvH on September 09, 2016, 05:09:05 PM
Exactly what needs to be modified in php.ini, according to the error you're getting?
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 06:16:58 PM
Thanks for the welcome and the replies. I'm not getting any errors other than that previously noted as I haven't attempted the upgrade yet. What I'm reading is in the SMF Basic Server Requirements found here:
http://download.simplemachines.org/requirements.php

QuoteThe following must be changed in the php.ini file:
◦ The engine directive must be set to On.
◦ The magic_quotes_sybase directive must be set to Off.
◦ The session.save_path directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.
◦ The file_uploads directive must be set to On.
◦ The upload_tmp_dir directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.

And,

QuoteOne of the following databases must be installed:
◦ MySQL 4.0.18 or higher (at least 4.1.0 would be better) and PHP MySQL client API 4.0.18 or higher.

Now I suppose that since I'm already running SMF 1.1.9 on the host server this isn't an issue. But I just want to make certain I have all my ducks lined up before I proceed. And, yes, I have read "Upgrading SMF," and in addition to regular backups I'll make a final one just prior to the upgrade.

Thanks, Ops
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Illori on September 09, 2016, 07:02:15 PM
as long as you have a good backup of both your files and the database i would suggest you move forward with the upgrade and not worry about that. if you run into an issue with the upgrade or how the new forum functions then we can look into that further if or when it occurs.
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 08:14:17 PM
Roger that. We'll take a whack at it tonight and see what happens. Let you know in the AM.

Thanks, Ops
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 10:04:09 PM
He He He. Well, upgrade is postponed. Wish I'd known about this a couple days ago. Turns out there's a PHP Version Manager on my cPanel. Select the forum root directory, click on PHP 5.4.45, click Install, and the "Deprecated: preg_replace():..." error is instantly gone. YAHOO! ;D

We'll still upgrade to SMF 2.0.11, but now I can do it in a more orderly manner without my feet to the fire.

But thanks anywhere for the support and assistance, it's much appreciated, Ops
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on September 09, 2016, 10:06:04 PM
Don't attempt to upgrade from 1.1.9 directly to 2.0.11, doesn't always work.  Upgrade to 1.1.21, get that working, then upgrade to 2.0.11.
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 10:12:37 PM
Ah, thanks! Didn't know that. Will do.

Ops
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Kindred on September 09, 2016, 11:56:30 PM
Also, as a note "if it's not broke, don't fix it" might have been and ok reason for staying on 1.1.x until the php or MySQL version required an upgrade...  But it is NEVER a valid reason to skip updates winning the series.

Once we go gold, (e.g. 1.1.0), all future revisions are security or major functionality updates and should never, ever be skipped. You should always keep up to date within the series, else you risk getting hacked.
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Tony Tran on September 12, 2016, 12:47:08 AM
Quote from: Opsboss on September 09, 2016, 04:53:03 PM
I'm the owner, admin, and chief-honcho-in-charge of an SMF forum that I started back in January of 2009. I'm currently running SMF 1.1.9 and have not upgrade to 2.0.x because I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But now it's broke. Last week we started getting the ubiquitous "Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated..." blah, blah, blah message while I was out of town and far away from a computer. (Sigh. Figures.) So from what I've read, we've been a victim of our host upgrading to PHP 5.5 or greater and the time has come for us to make the move to the latest version of SMF (2.0.11).

Okay, fine. It's been a long time but I think I can manage with the exception of a few Basic Server Requirements. First, the SMF upgrade instruction say I need to make some changes to the php.ini file. I know what an .ini file is and how to modify it, but I don't where the php.ini file is. Using FTP to look at all the site files and folders I can't find it anywhere. Where is it? Is this something our host (SiteGround) needs to do? Second, we're running on MySQL, but I don't know what PHP MySQL client API is. My cPanel lists PHP Version Manager, PHP Variables Manager, phpMyAdmin, and phpPgAdmin.  But I don't see anything about a PHP MySQL client API. And by the way, can I get to the php.ini file through one of those?

Finally, any other hints, suggestions, or lessons learned from anyone that has dealt with a similar situation would be most helpful.

Sorry to be such a dunce, but I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous. So any and all help would be greatly appreciated (before my members assemble a lynch mob).

Thanks, Ops

The simple method to have a php.ini is that create one and put it in the same directory that you store your forum. For example, your-domain.com/php.ini

All things you put in this php.ini will overwrite the root one.
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Illori on September 12, 2016, 05:00:40 AM
Quote from: Tony Tran on September 12, 2016, 12:47:08 AM
The simple method to have a php.ini is that create one and put it in the same directory that you store your forum. For example, your-domain.com/php.ini

All things you put in this php.ini will overwrite the root one.

most hosts dont support that as most admin dont know what to do with a php.ini file in the first place.
Title: Re: A little upgrade help please
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on September 12, 2016, 01:10:46 PM
Quote from: Illori on September 12, 2016, 05:00:40 AM
most hosts dont support that as most admin dont know what to do with a php.ini file in the first place.

Very bad idea to mess with php.ini when you don't know what you're doing, and not necessary when upgrading a forum.