Simple upgrade question

[gfsymon]

Hi,

Is an upgrade from RC4 to RC5 in reality a 're-install'?

It seems that the upgrade is going to overwrite things like 'attachments', 'packages', 'Themes'.

Does this mean that all attachments will be lost and all installed packages will have to be re-installed and re-configured and any alterations I've made to my theme will have to be re-done?  If so, then it's very misleading to call it an upgrade, since it's really a fresh install of a more recent version.

Any help/pointers much appreciated,

Grant

[Illori]

all RC versions have this type of upgrade, but if you make a backup you can restore those files that may be overridden when the upgrade is done. once 2.0 goes gold there will be upgrades in the package manager.

[gfsymon]

Thanks for the quick reply Illori.

OK ... that's pretty clear.

Three further questions :

1/ Can I take it then, that anything that has to be restored from the backup, will be compatible with the upgrade version?  (I can imagine that mods may break, but what about attachments etc., if the database is being altered during the upgrade?)

2/ Why, when uploading/upgrading manually, do I simply not include the folders like Themes, Packages and Attachments?  (Then I wouldn't need to replace from backup).

3/ Will the 'package manager' be smart enough to leave mods in place and only upgrade the bits that it really needs to?

[Illori]

i would suggest you try option 2, option 3 is not really a full upgrade to 2.0 RC5, it is just a security fix for RC4.

all attachments will work either version, the question is will your mods install cleanly with the upgrade, they may or may not but you can always manually install them if the install fails.

[gfsymon]

Thanks Illori.

Sounds like it's best to wait for vs 2.0 to ship, with the web-upgrade, so that it can be handled automatically.

[Kays]

Hi, if you look at the announcement, there's also a RC4 security patch available. It will install using the package manager so you don't need to do a complete upgrade.

[Norv]

Is an upgrade from RC4 to RC5 in reality a 're-install'?

It seems that the upgrade is going to overwrite things like 'attachments', 'packages', 'Themes'.

Does this mean that all attachments will be lost and all installed packages will have to be re-installed and re-configured and any alterations I've made to my theme will have to be re-done?  If so, then it's very misleading to call it an upgrade, since it's really a fresh install of a more recent version.

No, your attachments will be preserved by the upgrade. All your data will be preserved as well, and that includes the settings of mods, or their content. All avatars remain, etc. Mods and custom edits will be the only ones that need reinstalled or redone after.
Please note: in the upgrade process, you should download and unzip the package from the downloads page, then upload all its contents overwriting your forum's folders. Any FTP client will actually merge the contents, it won't remove your own attachment files, only replace the identical files (the PHP files, the files of the themes provided in SMF, but won't remove any other files you may have, like for example a different theme - it remains).
If you made changes to the default themes that come with SMF, however, then yes, those will be overwritten. Same goes for the modifications in SMF files made by your mods. So you would need to reinstall those. They will find their configuration in the database, after reinstall, though, so you shouldn't have to reconfigure them again.

However, as Kays said: if you have many custom edits and you feel there is a problem for your forum, please feel free to use only the security patch for RC4 instead of the full upgrade. It will secure your forum, and you can only upgrade when you wish and feel safe to.

Whichever way you wish to go, please make sure you backup fully your forum, both your database and your forum files!