Are the upgrade instructions incorrect...?

[beherenow_uk]

Hi,

Having just done and upgrade from 1.9.2 to 1.9.3 I have just lost [but backed up] all of the modules i originally installed as well as the images.

In reading the upgrade instructions from the /doc/UPGRADE.txt, it says to replace ALL files with those from the new version. Is this wrong? Should it be all files except the /modules/ and /uploads/ folders?

Im about to open up transmit and re-upload my images and modules, but I think this could be pretty confusing for people new to this process.

Instructions in question are:

1. Do a complete verified backup of your installation before overwriting any
files, this MUST include a database backup.

2. Untar the source package to document root dir or your webserver
- cd DOCUMENT_ROOT
- tar xvfz cmsmadesimple-VERSION.tar.gz
OR
- cd DOCUMENT_ROOT
- tar xvfz cmsmadesimple-diff-<prev_version>-<version>.tar.gz
** Validate that the prev_version number matches your current version **

3. Copy all of the files over top of your existing installation

4. Upgrade needs write access to your config.php file. This is only until
the upgrade is complete.
- chmod 666 config.php

5. Point your browser to the install/upgrade.php page to be guided through
the upgrade procedure. Some releases may not have to do any upgrades, so
if it says that it's up to date, don't panic.

6. After the upgrade is complete, for security sake, you should set your
config.php back to a read-only state.
- chmod 444 config.php

7. Check your Module Management page to make sure there are no modules that
need an upgrade. If they do, please click the Upgrade link next to each
of them.

8. Check your Module Management page for modules that may be incompatible
with your new version of CMS Made Simple and upgrade these modules through
the module manager.

[Wishbone]

The instructions do say to copy all the files.... Doesn't say to replace directories/folders. I've used rsync, FTP, and SVN to copy files, and never had this issue. You need to update modules/ as modules might have been updated.

[beherenow_uk]

Hmm, im sorry not convinced, it says overwrite everything on top of... so to me that means everything

Anyway, it's not really an issue for me, as I know how to get around it, just wanted to bring up the subject in case others (newer users) got confused about the upgrade process.

@Wishbone - If you were correct, does that mean that by only replacing 'files' in the root directory would be good enough to make an upgrade? How would the files in /lib/ or /admin/ etc get updated?

Cheers.

[calguy1000]

The instructions state this:

3. Copy all of the files over top of your existing installation

I think that that is fairly clear and obvious... and most people should understand that.

Now FTP has to be the absolute WORST way to do an upgrade or an install. The reasons are:
a: FTP is painfully slow
b: FTP is unreliable and known to fug up in transit
c: Using FTP uploads each file individually and the user has to have a basic understanding of:
i: Permissions
ii: Modification Dates
iii: Binary and ASCII mode
c: FTP clients are notoriously unstable, unreliable, and buggy
- Some clients (IIRC "transmit" for the mac) will erase the entire directory then add new files to it rather than just adding new files to an existing
directory)
EDIT: Actually, I think by default transit tries to do a 'sync'... i.e: assumes your local directory is the master, and 'syncs' the remote system and may remove stuff from the remote system that is not in your current system. You need to KNOW how to use the tools properly.
- Some clients don't display error messages properly (or at all)
- Some clients dont reliably 'overwrite'

My recommendations are:
a: Use shell access to do uploads if possible (ssh is tried, true, reliable, works great... the command line is always the best way to do things)
b: Most decent hosts provide a control panel with a file manager or other mechanisms to 'expand' a zip or .tar.gz file
(this is the second best option). It's fast, it's reliable, and the permissions don't get screwed up

If you ABSOLUTELY HAVE NO CHOICE but to upload files via a FTP client then
c: If possible, Use SFTP - It's secure, and has checksum mechanisms built in
d: Use a freaking decent FTP client. FileZilla is the best I've found.. and supports SFTP. Even if it does have an ugly interface.
e: chose 'ALWAYS overwrite'... don't let the system decide by the file date if the file should be uploaded or not... dates on files and computers
are notoriously unreliable.
f: ALWAYS upload in binary mode. Don't let the system try to decide if the file is supposed to be a text file and convert the \r\n to \n or \r or
whatever.
g: ALWAYS do a checksum validation of our uploaded files after upgrade to make sure that everything uploaded properly

[RonnyK]

In terms of an upgrade you should make sure that ALL files that are in the package (either full or diff) or transferred to the domain, and with that overwriting the existing ones.

It does NOT say, that you should delete the existing ones first. As only modified files are in diff-packages, you wont have all files there afterwards. So just make sure that all that are in the package make the transfer.

Ronny

[Wishbone]

Hmm, im sorry not convinced, it says overwrite everything on top of... so to me that means everything

Anyway, it's not really an issue for me, as I know how to get around it, just wanted to bring up the subject in case others (newer users) got confused about the upgrade process.

@Wishbone - If you were correct, does that mean that by only replacing 'files' in the root directory would be good enough to make an upgrade? How would the files in /lib/ or /admin/ etc get updated?

Cheers.

It's pretty clear. Copy all files. Not just from root. If your copy routine deletes folders then copies, then use a different method. All methods I have used will copy all files from their folders into the destination folders, but not delete any folders.

[RonnyK]

And besides... Files that you have added to your /uploads folder, like someimage.jpg, will not be part of the core-package that you download. So it wont be overwritten as it isnt part of the core-package. SO there is no way that later-added-files will be deleted by the upgrade....

Ronny

[beherenow_uk]

Ok thanks,

I've always just used Transmit on my mac to install and do upgrades. I've looked into the details of our server and it seems only to support FTP, not SFTP and I don't have a Scooby about anything to do with Shell access.

Perhaps my FTP program (Transmit 4.0) is deleting files before updating them. This is something I was totally unaware that could happen and thus probably why I was getting confused about the instructions included in CMSMS. It would be interesting to know just how many people (like me) this issue affects, I can't imagine it's just me. Although i know it's probably not possible to.

Anyway, thanks all for your input. It's going to help me, and hopefully others, to understand why this happens.

Karl.