[Mediawiki-l] Hoe wo upgrade from 1.5.x (was: Search engine rendered useless by cookies)

[Rob Church]

MediaWiki releases contain complete copies of the software which
should replace all the existing files of the previous version. The
LocalSettings.php file can be left unaltered.

When upgrading within the same branch, i.e. from 1.X.Y to 1.X.Z, it is
unusual to find large schema alterations made. Therefore, it is
sufficient in most cases to replace the existing files with the new
ones. If database errors do occur, then the maintenance/update.php
script can be run from the command line to check and alter the
database as needed.

[Now, I happen to know that despite this guideline, there *is* a
schema change somewhere between 1.5.0 and 1.5.7. The transwiki table
is missing from the table definitions somewhere along the line,
although it has been included in the updaters.]

It might be worth us taking the time to write up a clean and reliable
set of documents on upgrading from 1.4 to 1.5, and from 1.5 to 1.6,
and storing these on MediaWiki.org, then removing and pruning all the
dud, old or potentially inaccurate stuff from Meta and anywhere else
it may be hiding.


Rob Church

On 26/03/06, Andy Roberts <aroberts at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > This is from the UPGRADE file from the 1.5.7 distribution:
> >
> > Basically, to upgrade a wiki you:
> > * Back up your data! (See Backups! below)
> > * Extract the new archive. If you can do this in a clean directory that's
> >   great, but it should work to extract over the old files too. This may
> >   be easier if you have images etc in place and don't want to move them
> >   around, but remember to back up first!
> > * Run the installer to upgrade the database schema (if necessary).
>
> I've seen thses, but unfortunately they are just a little bit
> ambiguous and far from foolproof.
>
> Has anybody sucessfully upgraded from 1.5.0  to 1.5.7 and documented
> the precise steps involved please?
>
> For example, if uploading the extracted files of the new version via
> FTP, does the localsettings file need to be reconfigured, or can you
> keep the old one in situ?
>
> Which other files, if any might need to be retained?
>
> I talke it the last step, running the installer should be ommitted
> when upgrading fom 1.5.0 to 1.5.7,  so it's just a case of copying
> over some new versions of the php scripts and libraries, but which
> ones?
>
> Given that there will be quite a few people attempting this on a
> regular basis, it may be worth fleshing out the documentation a bit,
> if anybody can spare the time to do so.
>
> --
> Andy Roberts
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