[Mediawiki-l] Using export/import instead of upgrading

[Platonides]

Jan Steinman wrote:
> I believe the OP suggested export/import because they had fallen way  
> behind, and lacked confidence in an upgrade process that is generally  
> designed for Wikipedia's needs of strictly sequential incremental  
> upgrades.
> 
> I am in the same situation, running 1.3. Short of upgrading to 1.4,  
> then 1.5, then 1.6... I don't believe this posting really addresses  
> strategies for someone who is way behind to "catch up." The further  
> you are behind, the more likely something will break, no matter how  
> carefully one follows the instructions for upgrading from 1.13.1 to  
> 1.13.2.
> 
> Anyone have any good strategies going from 1.3 to current? I'm  
> planning on making a complete copy, accessed from a new URL, and  
> trying the upgrade on that. But I'm doubtful that such an upgrade will  
> be fruitful.

Theoretically, the update script should be able to move you to current 
without problems. When bugs are discovered on it, they're fixed on the 
next release. The problem is that you update once per release.
If something breaks with a current release, as many people have been 
doing it, it's more likely someone hit it, remembers that piece of code, 
etc. and can give you a better answer.

And if people avoid those updates, they're even less tested. ;)