It might sound strange, but first install version 0.9.2 and import your .txt file to it, then upgrade to 1.8.7 and you should be good to go.

EdB wrote:

It might sound strange, but first install version 0.9.2 and import your .txt file to it, then upgrade to 1.8.7 and you should be good to go.

Sounds strange indeed. :) But I'll try.

Now please help me with this: I already have some posts and comments in my b2evo blog. How can I avoid losing them when I install the previous version? And then: I installed this version using Fantastico. I suppose I won't be able to use it again next time, but I will have to do a manual install of the new version. Am I right? Could I, then, install directly version 1.9.x?

bit wrote:

Now please help me with this: I already have some posts and comments in my b2evo blog. How can I avoid losing them when I install the previous version?

This will not be easy. Effectively you want to merge two databases. AFAIK that has to be done manually. Depending on how many posts you have, you could set your "posts per page" in your new blog to something higher than your total post count, then grab a copy of your ATOM feed (or others I guess), so that you would have all the information about the posts stored in a file on your computer. After getting the older blog imported into 092 then upgraded to 1.8.* (which I hope will be 1.8.7) you would then have to manually introduce each of those posts again. Fortunately you would have all of that in one file, but the problem is when you have many many posts to deal with.

bit wrote:

I installed this version using Fantastico. I suppose I won't be able to use it again next time, but I will have to do a manual install of the new version. Am I right? Could I, then, install directly version 1.9.x?

All Fantastico did for you was (a) make your database and (b) pre-populate some info in your conf/_basic_config.php file. So here is what I would do to get the 092 version running for importing:
- Backup your 18* database, conf folder, and media folder if you've uploaded anything. Delete ALL the files that b2evolution made on your server, DROP all the tables in your database using phpmyadmin.
- Download and unzip 092, and edit the conf/_config.php file. Also edit the conf/_basic_config.php file you backed up from your 18* version. Transfer the information about connecting to your database (4 lines), your base url (1 line), your admin email ID (1 line), and change $config_is_done from a 0 to a 1. I THINK in v092 you don't have a trailing slash on the end of your baseurl, so be careful with that detail. Also the format for the database connection info changed, but what goes where will make sense when you look at the two files.
- Upload all your new 092 files to your server, then point your browser to yourdomain/yourpath/install/index.php and tell it you're creating a new installation.
- FINALLY you get to try importing your .txt file!

At this point, if the import worked for you, you would be ready to upgrade to 1.8.7 or 1.9.2. You're right though: Fantastico will not be your friend after you do this. Fantastico makes a couple of files and folders on your server that tell it what it installed (including the version). Once anything doesn't match Fantastico gets confused and gives up.

BTW I always use Fantastico to install b2evolution because it's the easiest way for me to get a database built. After that I do whatever I want because Fantastico runs out of usefulness (to me) immediately.

Anyway after the importing and upgrading you'll be able to one-by-one add your other posts back in to your new version, resulting in all your posts in one blog.

Here's an alternative method, if you want. Use Fantastico to make another blog in a folder called, for example, "oldblog". Now follow the steps above to DROP all the tables and "downgrade" to 092 then import your existing .txt file. Finally, create a post in your existing 18* installation that says "here's my old blog" and link it to the "oldblog" installation. That way you won't have to mess with the posts you have in your new blog at all.

Always backup everything frequently as you never know which step is going to make you wish you had backed up right before you did it!

EdB, thanks for your incredibly detailed explanation. I will try what you suggest. I already made a full backup, just in case. :)

Thanks again,
Sebastián