A lot of mods in phpbb 2

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computersOC
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A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by computersOC »

Hi! It's been awhile since I have done anything with phpBB. Looks like it is time to update to phpBB 3 for me. How has the upgrade process been for everyone who had a phpbb 2 board with a lot of mods? Anything to keep in mind or do? I plan on doing a test board and then moving the db over but figure I'd ask ask if there were any major problems. Thanks!
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Sam »

Just make sure everything is backed-up, files and database, in case something should go wrong and follow the directions carefully. Good luck, it is quite worth it. :)
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

none of your MODs will work in phpbb3 if you were using the attachment MOD then that will carry over but nothing else.

Information on how to convert from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is here.

Basically, you must have both phpBB2 and phpBB3 installed on the same server. After you have finished installing phpBB3 you will have the option to convert your phpBB2 board using the built in converter. The information it asks you for is related to the phpBB2 installation and can be found in its config.php file on the server. All of your users, posts, forums, PMs etc are converted. However, styles and MODs are not (with the exception of the birthday and attachment MODs which are supported by the converter). The phpBB2 database is not converted per se, it is merely read and converted/moved to the new phpBB3 database, so if it goes wrong your old board will not be affected at all. At the end of the conversion, once you're happy it's all working, your phpBB2 database and files can be backed up and removed if you so wish. They are not connected to the new installation in any way.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by computersOC »

If someone bookmarked a thread when the board was phpBB2, and then the board gets converted to phpBB3, will everything point to the same place? My concern is about Google finding everything.

I will have to take a look and get it setup, but from the way you described it, it sounds as if the address of the board will change? Or will I just have to delete the actual phpBB2 files and move the phpBB3 files to the old folder once everything is up and running?

Oh, when I mentioned, "a lot of mods" in the first post, I should have specified. I know the mods won't carry over, but if there were any changes made in the db (example, there is no trace of messenger things in my db since I deleted them since it was not ever used, and then I edited all the PHP files and .tpl files to remove those traces too), will that affect anything when upgrading?

Thanks!
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

the "conversion" ( it is not technically an upgrade) will take the users, categories/forums/topics/posts, permissions, PMs, and maybe a couple of other things from the phpbb2 database and convert them into data that will work in the new phpbb3 database.

no other data like MODs or styles, etc. etc. will be converted.

so, you will start over with a completely fresh unmodified phpbb3 with all your old users and posts and that is it.

in order to maintain the links, you will need to rename/remove the old phpbb2 folder and then rename the new phpbb3 folder to the old name.

most everything will still be the same for google etc.


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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Darth Wong »

computersOC wrote:Hi! It's been awhile since I have done anything with phpBB. Looks like it is time to update to phpBB 3 for me. How has the upgrade process been for everyone who had a phpbb 2 board with a lot of mods? Anything to keep in mind or do? I plan on doing a test board and then moving the db over but figure I'd ask ask if there were any major problems. Thanks!
It went smoothly for me but I had to do a lot of preparatory work beforehand. Some tips:
  1. Make a copy of your old phpbb2 board on a test server before you try anything. Never do anything for the first time on a live server.
  2. Make a list of all the mods on your old phpbb2 board. This can be a very time-consuming process, especially if you failed to properly document them in the first place. It can be helpful to get a stock copy of the version of phpbb2 you were using, and then use diff to find all of the discrepancies.
  3. Go through the list of mods and see which ones' functions can be duplicated in phpbb3. Some of them may be reproducible with phpbb3's built-in functions. Others may be reproducible with mods that are already available for phpbb3.
  4. Find or create a custom style for phpbb3 to duplicate the one you were using (if applicable) with phpbb2. In my case, I modified copies of subsilver2 until they looked reasonably like the themes I was using in phpbb2.
  5. Run the migration script on your test server and see how long it takes. Depending on the power of the server host you're using, you may want to disable your phpbb2 board, copy a current version of the database to your test server, run the database migration on your test server, and then copy the resulting phpbb3 database to your host. A lot of hosts, particularly shared hosts, will have trouble with the large database migration operation, which involves parsing pretty much all of the post text in the entire database (among other things).
I'm not going to lie to you: it will be a time-consuming and difficult process, but you'll feel a whole lot better afterwards.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Pony99CA »

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:in order to maintain the links, you will need to rename/remove the old phpbb2 folder and then rename the new phpbb3 folder to the old name.
Can't you just set up HTTP 301 permanent redirects from the old directory to the new one?

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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

Pony99CA wrote:
Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:in order to maintain the links, you will need to rename/remove the old phpbb2 folder and then rename the new phpbb3 folder to the old name.
Can't you just set up HTTP 301 permanent redirects from the old directory to the new one?

Steve
you could, but why? renaming the directory to the old name solves the problem without worrying about it.

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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Pony99CA »

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:
Pony99CA wrote:
Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:in order to maintain the links, you will need to rename/remove the old phpbb2 folder and then rename the new phpbb3 folder to the old name.
Can't you just set up HTTP 301 permanent redirects from the old directory to the new one?
you could, but why? renaming the directory to the old name solves the problem without worrying about it.
I've found that renaming directories seems to cause problems with cookies. So not only do you have to rename the phpBB 2.x directory and then rename the phpBB 3.x directory, you'll have to make a few updates in the phpBB 3.x ACP (Server and Cookie settings, at least, I think).

Plus, alternatives are always good.

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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by stevemaury »

Nowhere that I am aware is the folder name any part of any of the cookie settings.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by ToonArmy »

stevemaury wrote:Nowhere that I am aware is the folder name any part of any of the cookie settings.
Cookie path.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Eelke »

Ideally, your URLs should not depend on the technology behind them. If you now have www.yoursite.com/forum, by all means continue to use it after your conversion, don't feel forced to use something like www.yoursite.com/phpbb3. (If, on the other hand, you were using www.yoursite.com/phpbb2, maybe now is a good time to take the opportunity and move to www.yoursite.com/forum or something like that).

Yes, it will take a little planning, but when you follow Darth Wong's list, it should only be a small step in the entire process.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by stevemaury »

ToonArmy wrote:
stevemaury wrote:Nowhere that I am aware is the folder name any part of any of the cookie settings.
Cookie path.
Doh.
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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

renaming the phpbb2 folder won't matter because you won't be using it any longer.

if your cookie path is set to / and is working for your situation, then you won't have to change it either.

if not, it is a small 1 second operation . ( and you should change the cookie name while you are at it so that your members will have to get a new cookie )

as for the server settings ( script path ) unless you have the force settings set to yes, then that won't have to be changed because phpbb3 knows where it is anyway.


the only issue with changing the folder name is for members that might have bookmarks/favorites

and for the search engines. You can do the 301 redirect if you think that is a problem.

put the redirect code/page inside a folder with the old name. that is the only file that has to be in that folder.

for instance, if your phpbb2 folder was named phpbb2 and your new one is named phpbb3

you put a index.php file in the phpbb2 folder with nothing but the redirect command in it.
you can then delete all the other files and folders in that phpbb2 folder if you wish.


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Re: A lot of mods in phpbb 2

Post by computersOC »

When the phpBB3 converter trys taking data from the screen name field of AIM on my phpBB2 board, and finds no such instance in the database, will it run into a problem? I went into phpMyAdmin and deleted any columns or references to anything like that ("drop" command I think it is, rather than just an "empty" command).

Right now, my forum is at mydomain.com and I will have to make a mydomain/phpBB3 folder. Once I get phpBB3 working how I want, I can delete the files and folders out of the root directory (except the phpBB3 folder) and then just drag and drop the files, right?

BTW, I have a change log with a link to all mods I did. I was planning on adding/changing the site, then making it live.
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