[SPLIT] Convert MyBB to phpBB?

[Times Enemy]

My experience migrating from MyBB 1.8.37 to phpBB 3.3.11 on DreamHost.com. I am writing this post as I do the conversion.

Started at 12:45pm

1. Downloaded phpBB 3.3.11
2. Uncompressed phpBB file structure into domain.com directory on my local computer.
3. Backed up my existing MyBB instance both to my local computer and to my server.
4. Uploading phpBB files and directories into domain.com on web server. (Can be time consuming depending on network speeds.)
5. Navigated my browser to domain.com/install/index.html
6. Clicked the Install tab.
7. Next
8. Created my forum administrator account.
9. Entering my website database information.
10. Left Server Configuration options as default. Clicked Submit.
11. Left E-Mail options as default. Clicked Submit.
12. I want to change this to American English but I did not download the language files. I am adding the board name and title information, then clicking Submit.
13. "The installer has finished successfully" There was no "convert" option.
14. Navigated my browser to domain.com/install/index.html
15. Clicked the Convert tab.
16. Clicked Convert link.
17. Filled in database options. Clicked Submit.
18. Received the following error: [phpBB Debug] "Constant PHPBB_INSTALLED already defined" in file /home/wwwdirectory/domain.com/config.php on line 14" and "[phpBB Debug] "Constant PHPBB_ENVIRONMENT already defined" in file /home/wwwdirectory/domain.com/config.php on line 15"

And now I am stuck.

Looking back, the available converter was from phpBB 2.0.x not MyBB. Then when I search for MyBB to phpBB converters there are none.

The thread, viewtopic.php?f=486&t=2278536 says, "For other board softwares, you will need to upload the convertor files to the appropriate directories. The convertor files you get will consist of two files, convert_xxx.php and functions_xxx.php. The xxx will generally be the name of the software you are converting from." It also shows a link to available converters: viewtopic.php?f=486&t=2278546 .

• Downloading: mybb18_convertor_1.0.2.zip
• Uploaded two files to my server.
• Navigated to domain.com/install/index.html
• Clicked Convert tab. My browser required I do a refresh, so I did a refresh and saw the new MyBB converter.
• Clicked Submit. A bunch of errors appeared, then disappeared. Went to blank white screen with URL of https://domain.com/install/app.php/conv ... ess/mybb18 . Not sure how long to wait here. When I tried going back to domain.com/install/index.html then Convert tab, it said it sees a previous conversion attempt and asked if I want to start a new conversion or stick with the previous. I chose to stick with previous, and it took me back to the blank white page.
• Uploaded empty config.php from local to server. (This was a mistake.)

It is 2:04pm and still working on this.

Currently wiping phpBB install, and starting over.

It is 3:21pm...

I cannot figure out how to get phpBB to convert myBB instance. Reverting back to myBB for now.

[warmweer]

Is that convertor ready for phpBB 3.3.11 ?
If not you can probably still use it to convert to an older phpBB version, and once that's done, upgrade to 3.3.11

Added: you should consider doing this on personal webserver as you'll probably need an older PHP version compatible with the phpBB version (e.g. 3.1 or 3.2) you're converting to.

[Times Enemy]

If I understand you correctly ...

Create a local server within my personal network using an older version of PHP (perhaps a 7.x version).
Install phpBB 3.1.x onto my local server.
Install myBB converter.
Export MyBB databases.
Import MyBB databases into my local server.
Navigate back to phpBB install and do the conversion.
Once phpBB is fine and dandy, upgrade it to 3.2.x, then 3.3.x.
Once phpBB 3.3.x is fine and dandy export my database.
Install phpBB 3.3.x on public web server.
Import phpBB 3.3.x local data into public web server instance.
Life should be good at this point.

Does this look like a worthwhile effort?

Looking at: https://www.rosehosting.com/blog/how-to ... debian-11/

[warmweer]

...

Does this look like a worthwhile effort?

Yes but you'll have to switch PHP version twice.
Once for the conversion, and then again for the upgrade

[Times Enemy]

I am setting up a VM right now, and will keep the topic posted.

Thank you!

[Times Enemy]

This may be a non-phpBB issue but here is where I am thus far:

• Created a VM and unattended installed Debian 12.
• Logged in and added myself to sudoers.
• Followed these instructions to install PHP 7.4: https://tecadmin.net/how-to-install-php-on-debian-12/
• Followed these instructions where the above superceded: https://www.rosehosting.com/blog/how-to ... debian-11/ (I installed phpBB 3.1.12 instead of 3.3.x.)
• I can see the apache default index.html page.
• I created a phpinfo() page and I can see that as well.
• However, when I visit: http://ip.ip.ip.ip/index.php it redirects me to http://ip.ip.ip.ip/install/index.php which then just shows a white screen.

From my /var/log/apache2/error.log:

[php7:error] [pid 12012] [client ip.ip.ip.ip:17769] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare utf8_encode() in /var/www/html/includes/utf/utf_tools.php on line 41

From my /var/log/apache2/access.log:

"GET /install/index.php HTTP/1.1" 500 185 "-" "Mozilla ... browser info"

Any advice? At this point, I am just trying to install phpBB 3.1.12.

[warmweer]

Any advice? At this point, I am just trying to install phpBB 3.1.12.

It's been too long ago but AfAIK phpBB 3.1.12 won't be compatible with PHP 7.4.

added: INSTALL.html states
* PHP 5.3.3+ and PHP < 7.0

You should use a personal webserver system such as WAMP, EasyPHP,, Xampp or USBWebserver (there are others similar) so that you can do the conversion with PHP 5.6 (perhaps 7.0) and once that's successful switch PHP version (minimum 7.4 but you should really use 8.0 at the lowest) for the upgrade.

[Times Enemy]

We are making progress!

I will dig deeper into this, but I am currently getting the following message from phpBB when I go to install:

PHP version: >= 5.3.3, < 7.0.0-dev: No

# php -v
PHP 5.6.40-68+0~20230902.80+debian12~1.gbpa2012b (cli)

In my mind this says, larger than or equal to 5.3.3 and smaller than 7.0.0 ... how does 5.6.40 not fit into this range?

As I said, I am looking to see how I can get phpBB to recognize this.

EDIT: just saw this at the bottom of the install tab page:

[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

[Times Enemy]

I have two VM's going.

In VM2:

MySQL with MySQLi Extension: Unavailable

I installed the exact same database software, mariadb in VM1 (which recognizes it and says it is installed) and VM2 (which shows the above message).

VM2 shows:

#mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 41
Server version: 10.11.4-MariaDB-1~deb12u1 Debian 12

VM1 shows:

MySQL with MySQLi Extension: Available

#mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 31
Server version: 10.11.4-MariaDB-1~deb12u1 Debian 12

[Times Enemy]

Progress. Progress.

How do I find my old myBB board path?
"This is the relative path on disk to your former board from the root of this phpBB3 installation."

This is the error:
Could not find path to your former board. Please check your settings and try again.

FWIW, the myBB instance is remote, as in far far away on another network across the interwebs. There is no "relative" path from there to my local phpBB3 install.

[Times Enemy]

I copied the entire MyBB website files and file structure to my VM phpBB installation. I placed it in /var/www/html/domain.com/ and then told the converter the board path was "domain.com" (sans the quotes) and it went to the next step. I then clicked convert or begin conversion or whatever, and now I am at a white screen. The URL is: http://ip.ip.ip.ip/install/index.php?mo ... anguage=en

If I had to guess, I would say it is hung. When I check 'top' it shows mariadb every once in a while, but nothing obvious seems to be cranking on that VM. It is a VM, so I am going to leave it alone for a few hours and go about my day. If I get a few spare moments I may try on a VM3 to see if I can make a few adjustments and get it going.

So far, the converter is connected to a remote database but required my old MyBB website files be located on the local server so I copied them there and it may or may not be converting.

If you know how this converter works, please let me know what to expect here.

[Times Enemy]

It has been running for nearly 24 hours ... no real evidence anything is happening.

Help?

[Times Enemy]

Looking for other options. I cannot figure out how to get this to work, and I most definitely do not want to use time to learn the intricacies of MyBB's database design in comparison to phpBB's just so I can either fix the existing converter or make my own.

If you know of any fixes to get MyBB 1.8.37 into phpBB 3.3.x that would be really helpful.

[Mick]

You could try searching here on the subject, something like ‘convert myBB 1.8 to phpBB’. There are a lot of hits, some successful some not.

[Times Enemy]

You could try searching here on the subject, something like ‘convert myBB 1.8 to phpBB’. There are a lot of hits, some successful some not.

This tends to cause more confusion than help.

So, I started using the following topic: viewtopic.php?t=2527116

I commented out the "aim" line in the converter, but I get the following error before this:

The convertor was not able to find tables with the specified prefix. Please make sure you have entered the correct details for the board you are converting from. The default table prefix for MyBB 1.8.x is mybb_.
A scan of your tables has shown a valid installation using mybb_ as table prefix.