I've been using Drupal for over 3 years, and every time I go to do an upgrade of a site, I get nervous and scared. It's a terrifying thing. Typically, I just say screw it and don't mess with it. (Considering the number of Drupal sites I've set up, that is scary).

I find in the UPGRADE.txt that it is not descriptive enough in step 3.

It should tell you EXACTLY what to remove. Not just tell you to "remove old Drupal files".

Comments

chx’s picture

chx commented

something along the lines "remove includes and modules" directory would work. of course with ample backup. this gets rid of contrib sometimes? no problems, your contrib needs upgrade anyways.

FiReaNGeL’s picture

FiReaNGeL commented

+1 from me, as apparently I've been doing it the BAD way : i.e, copying everything over my old files. It potentially leaves old core modules / files that were removed in that version, and that could cause problems. I suggest we put a warning against this in the new upgrade.txt.

protocol’s picture

protocol commented

I have found the best way to upgrade from one version to anther is like this.

Check the new version has all the modules you need. Then backup your database (mysqldump -p database > databasebackup.mysql) and then move your current drupal dir to a backup (mv www www-old) and create a new dir with same permissions. untar the new drupal into the dir ( I also make a file called version.txt and put the version number of the drupal im using in there ) and then setup the sites/settings/default.php file.

Next I copy all the modules (the new ones for this new version) into the modules dir. After that I will login and then make sure the page shows up, even if some stuff is broken, as long as I can login im happy. If not then I edit the update.php file and change the line that says $access_check = TRUE; and then go to http://sitename/update.php and let it do its thing.

Once that is done I go into admin/modules and enable all the modules one by one to make sure they all work as expected. After that I try 'port' the old theme accross, or see what new ones there are that i can use as a starting point.

pwolanin’s picture

pwolanin commented

usually I remove everything except .htaccess and /sites and /files, since even update.php, index.php, or drupal.css could be updated.

dale42’s picture

dale42
he/him
Primary language English
Location Vancouver, Canada
commented

Step 3 is completely correct if you add these steps after step 3 (this is rough):

new 4:
Copy the contents of your 'files' directory from your backup to your newly upgraded instance. If you have modules that created other file directories, these will need to be copied back as well.

new 5:
Copy your installed modules and themes back into your new instance or install the newest version, as appropriate

In other words, you really do remove all of the files after you've backed them up.

It also wouldn't hurt to put a reference to the Handbook upgrade page (http://drupal.org/upgrade/). Lot's of expanded information there.

mfer’s picture

mfer commented
Status: Active » Closed (duplicate)

Please see http://drupal.org/node/102011. Any and all feedback is openly welcome. There is a patch and the actual text for an update.