Do you have a backup of your database? If so upgrading will be no problem. If not upgrading will be sucky terrible, so let's hope the answer is "why yes I do". Or can you get one from back when it worked. Getting one or having one being close enough yah?

This would be a file that ends in either .sql or .gz probably, but actually it'll be a backup of your database. A backup of your files is also a good thing. We'll need that too, but not near as much as we'll need your database.

yes, I can make a backup. In my previous attempts to restore backups they have never been successful so I'm wary of the whole process. But Yes...I can do that.

Hold on a second... MAKE a backup? Is your blog currently actively running? If so then making a backup is a good idea. If not then your database could be wanked up a bit by trying to upgrade and getting stuck.

Does that make sense? You files run your blog, but your actual content is stored in the database. LOTS of information is in the database actually - more than just posts and comments. So IF you tried to upgrade AND it failed for some reason then it is very possible that your database RIGHT NOW is simply not compatible with any known version of b2evolution.

But having a backup is always a good idea.

So what's really important is a backup of the database from a point when you know it worked. The newer the better, but for sure it needs to be from a point in time when you could post stuff and see your blog online.

Got link by the way?

Ed, I think what your saying about it not being compaitable with any version might make sense. Because I've never been able to get a backup of the database to be useful at all. I've always had to have my host just restore my whole site from a previous week. Maybe I did wank up my database. And I know for a fact I don't have a copy from before that time.

Here is the addres: muncherw.com

Would it help you to look at the back end of things? I'd be happy to supply you with a link and password to get in if you think you can get more information that way.

(Also, I know I need to put the b2evolution link on the bottom of the blog. I've seen you talk about this before in other posts and you make a very persuasive case. I have plans to do so if this thing ever gets fixed.)

And, Ed, I appreciate your help.

Backup successfully created.

Hi muncherw,

Have a look at [url=http://manual.b2evolution.net/Upgrade_from_an_older_version]http://manual.b2evolution.net/Upgrade_from_an_older_version[/url] for the next steps in your upgrading process. If you have any questions, please report them in the forums.

Good luck

The big question really is to what version should a 0.9 installation go in order to be able to go all the way. My understanding is that there is a backwards compatibility cutoff.

Based on the documentation only, it looks like going from 0.9.* to 1.8.something is a doable step. I would try going to 1.8.2 not because it is a great version or anything - just because that's where I would go. Then - assuming you are successful at logging in and seeing your blog - immediately go to 1.10.3 because that is the lowest version you actually want to consider stopping at.

IF you can upgrade to 1.8.2 then absolutely do another backup of both files and database. The 0.9.* backup will be obsolete at this point, so a fresh one makes sense, but of course it has to work to justify a new backup.

By the way that manual page is too up to date. You do not have a conf/_basic_config.php file to backup, but you certainly have a conf/_config.php file that you absolutely need. And your media folder of course.

Anyway it's really not hard to upgrade as long as you keep in mind "conf/config has the database connection info and a few other bits" and "no one but you has your media folder so back it up or lose it forever".

Oh and the 1.8.2 step, again, is ONLY as a waypoint to 1.10.3 - and I only say this because I haven't had the time to research exactly how far you can go from a 0.9.* installation. That is what I wanted to do before getting back to you here, but I'm back at work now and it sucks as much as it did before. boo hoo for me yah?

EdB wrote:

Oh and the 1.8.2 step, again, is ONLY as a waypoint to 1.10.3 - and I only say this because I haven't had the time to research exactly how far you can go from a 0.9.* installation. That is what I wanted to do before getting back to you here, but I'm back at work now and it sucks as much as it did before. boo hoo for me yah?

If you feel lucky you can upgrade to 2.4 right away. Somewhere along the development path there's been a recheck of the upgrade process. This is only valuable if 2.4 is your goal.

Thanks, Afwas. I am familiar with that document. This is really why I'm asking about this here because following the instructions hasn't worked for me in the past so I think there is a deeper issue.

If you PM me access code / URL of your cPanel I will have a look at it.

So what version did fantastico try to upgrade you to?

Oh and upping to even 092 would be a good idea. I haven't totally followed the manual page, but upgrading is really simple. Save your conf/config file, save your media folder. DELETE all the b2evo files from your server. Unzip your new version. Edit the conf/config file and add the important bits from the file you saved. 7 lines total, one of which starts and ends as 'localhost' most of the time so really 6 lines total. (4 for the database, your $baseurl, an email address that'll almost never be used by b2evo, and "config_is_done" gets set to 1.)

Now upload all the files and go to baseurl/install/index.php and follow the prompts.

Confirmed: upgrading from 09012 to 240RC2 can be done in a matter of minutes. In fact, since my last post I downloaded 09012, installed it, transferred the important bits over to 240RC2, wiped out all the 09012 files, and successfully upgraded the installation.

Easy, and more importantly, confirmed.

Trying to upgrade to 1.10.2. I wish fantastico had a more recent version. I'm at work so unfortunately I can't try all t his stuff at the moment but I'm trying to look at it in between calls.

I really want to be available for you guys since you are putting time and effort into this. Customer services is good. Free customer service is even better!

um... customer service? I don't do customer service and if I did I would be hella expensive :-/

You can stop at 1102 if you like, but there is a chance that is one of the points where backwards compatibility wasn't strong. All I know for a fact is that 09012 to 240RC2 works with minor awareness. Like how $baseurl used to have no / at the end but 240 does. I think 1103 does as well.

Oh if you're going to use 1102 you might as well use 1103 because there is simply no good reason to not upgrade to the absolutely most stable version in the 1.* generation.

I guess if I can bypass this whole fantastico thing and get it to work I'd prefer to upgrade all the way. no reason not to, you know.

I tried again and got the same problem and had to restore everything again. I'll have to try again when I get home and can spend some uninterrupted time on it.

Used to be that all my installations were done with Fantastico then immediately manually upgraded to whatever version I needed. Actually ... that's still how I do it ;)

To test 09012 to 240RC2 I added an 09012 installation to an existing database, but really there is nothing Fantastico does that would make upgrading not work.

Do note that your old $baseurl ended with NO trailing slash and your new one ends with a trailing slash.

Also way back then the way the bits for the database got defined was different. I THINK the order of items is the same, but it takes a wee bit of thinking through the names of the bits to be sure you are using them correctly.

EdB,

muncherw asked me to do the upgrade. The problem is with an 0.9 DB and an unsuccessful upgrade in the backup. That gives errors when the installer (SQL) is trying to ADD tables that already exist.
Currently I have an updated database ready.

--F

Afwas,

So how did you seperate the errors out of the databse? I'm not sure I totally understand what initially went wrong but I'd like to learn.

muncherw,

When the installer is ran twice it will encounter tables that already exist. SQL gives an error when it tries to create a table that already exists.
So I take the upgrade script and run it. If there is a table that gives an error, I comment out that part in the upgrade script and run the script again. This needs to be repeated until the script finishes. In your case you tried an upgrade to 1.10, so It ran smooth for the upgrade from 1.10 to 2.4

Great! Thank you very much! Thanks for your help as well EdB!

I still have some stuff to do but I can take it from here. Afterall, you did the hard work.

Thanks again. I beleive we can consider this issue closed.