Upgrade from phpBB v3.0.12

[Tourex]

Hi All

I have taken over a forum that has not been updated since v3.0.12. I want to upgrade it to the latest stable version (v3.2.2?) and would value advice and help on the sequence of steps I should take in the simplest layman's terms possible.

I think the old forum is fairly standard except for custom headers and footers. The only mod showing as installed is 'Manage country flags'. I would like to keep this if at all possible. To achieve a cleaner install/upgrade, I would appreciate advice on how I can upgrade to a clean version ignoring/overwriting the custom headers/footers and mod.

I cannot just use a clean install of a new v3.2.2 forum because it is important to keep the existing data files (45,000 posts/1,000 users) as the associated main website has hundreds of links to specific forum topics and posts.

In an ideal world, I would like to do the upgrade on my local Windows machine (running WAMP) before uploading the final modified version to the live Linux server that hosts the forum.

Your help would be most appreciated and allow me to sleep nights.

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

you really need to do it in steps. yes, the official idea is that you can upgrade straight to 3.2.2 but I have not seen it work without problems.

I would go:

1. backup everything, files, database etc.
2. install your 3.0 board on your local wamp server using those backups.
3. https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... /upgrade3/
4.make a new database backup and save it.
5. https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... upgrade31/
6. make sure it is all working on your localhost.
7. make a new database backup of the working 3.2.2 board.
8. using ftp, remove all the 3.0 files from the server. except for the config.php file and the folders named files and images.
9. upload all the phpbb files from your localhost to the server except for the file named config.php
10. using phpmyadmin or whatever you have in your hosting control panel to manage databases, import the 3.2.2 database backup from your computer to your current database on the server. it will delete and then replace the tables with the new ones from the backup bding restored.
11. stand on one foot and spin around three times saying "I am a phpbb guru!"


luck,
robert

[warmweer]

Just to add to Lumpy:

For the upgrade to work properly you absolutely need to remove all database modifications before upgrading.
Also any style modifications will be lost by the upgrade (styles form 3.0 are not compatible with 3.2.x). However you may be able to adapt the 3.2 style to your needs (AFTER upgrading).
My experience with multiple upgrades from 3.0.x to 3.2.1 is that it gave timeouts when upgrading in 1 go, but passing through 3.0.14 and then 3.1. latest, and then to 3.2.1 went without problems. A secondary advantage of this is that if any errors occur, you'll notice them immediately and can always fall back on a working intermediate stage.
BTW as per Lumpy: do the upgrade on localhost (using the same php version and specifications as on your live server).

[Tourex]

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of helpful advice I really was hoping for, and need.

One question, warmweer. How can I check what database modifications need removing? As far as I know, the only mod is one that displays a flag corresponding to the user's country of residence, but the forum is 15 years old and there may have been other mods in the past. Is there any (easy) way of checking for non-standard database fields in the core files?

Finally, what changes to files or database fields do I need to make to get the forum working on localhost. When I tried this once before, it constantly kept connecting to the live site, so I assume there are both database and/or script changes that need to be made.

Thanks for your help guys - REALLY appreciated.

[warmweer]

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of helpful advice I really was hoping for, and need.

One question, warmweer. How can I check what database modifications need removing? As far as I know, the only mod is one that displays a flag corresponding to the user's country of residence, but the forum is 15 years old and there may have been other mods in the past. Is there any (easy) way of checking for non-standard database fields in the core files?

Finally, what changes to files or database fields do I need to make to get the forum working on localhost. When I tried this once before, it constantly kept connecting to the live site, so I assume there are both database and/or script changes that need to be made.

Thanks for your help guys - REALLY appreciated.

Sorry about the late answer
First of all: removing the modifications is not necessary for your forum as is to work on localhost. However in order to upgrade without errors, the modifications should be reversed
About finding out which modifications where made and whether they include database modifications, I fear there's no simple solution since you didn't set up the forum yourself and have no records. It's not really a question of which database modifications have to be removed: all of them should be removed, including all new modules and corresponding new permissions. This implies that extra tables should be removed (but keep a backup in case the data could be reused with an extension), the same with extra fields, and even some extra table records (e.g. the extra modules)
What I usually did was to compare the database structure of the database of a clean phpBB installation with the database to be checked and single out the differences.
For 3.0.x there is a utility available which can clean the database (but I can't find it - it's certainly mentioned on phpbB.com but i can't even remember the name.) There is also a "modission" (or something like that) for 3.1/3.2

As for the connection to the live site - there are fields in the config table defining the host: you should be able to recognise them immediately by the fieldvalue.

If you make a new (empty) phpBB forum on localhost : compare the config_tabel from that one with the config_table from your live forum.

When in doubt on whether or on how to do something - always take a backup beforehand os that you always have a working fallback.

[warmweer]

found it (database cleaner for 3.0.x):
https://www.phpbb.com/support/stk/

[Tourex]

Hi warmweer

I am delighted to say that thanks to such helpful advice from yourself and Lumpy I have now got a totally clean (????) and working copy of the upgraded board running on localhost. By following your steps, the process went almost seamlessly. I am littered with file and database backups, buy hey-ho, such is life.

The forum is associated with a travel information website. We have just finished rebuilding the main site and would ideally like to 'wrap' the forum in custom headers and footers that provide links to the main pages of the site, etc. Are there any tutorials or advisories showing how this should be best done? Would doing this interfere badly with the update process when new versions of phpBB come out? The old update system on v3.0 seemed to be a total mess and we could never get it working reliably, which is why we stopped updating the forum. I want to take a new look at things and forget the past. So, any advice on customising the headers/footers 'properly' would be appreciated.

[Mick]

We prefer one subject one topic to be able to better follow requests but for your customising I suggest you have a search of the extensions forums and, if you don’t find anything that suits your purpose you can make an extension request. Extensions *shouldnt* interfere with any future updates but you can always check an extensions version compatibility either by going to the extensions contribution details or the in the dedicated discussion/support forum for the extension. Extensions are very easy to disable, unlike mods, so if there are compatibility issues you can disable the extension with a couple of clicks.