Syntax errors and 'description' field data loss upgrading from 5.x to 6.x

Having same problem.

user warning: Can't DROP 'field_object_description'; check that column/key exists query: ALTER TABLE content_type_lesson_object DROP field_object_description

Inspecting the DB shows that there is no 'field_object_description' but the description exist in the column 'field_object_data' as string array
a:1:{s:11:"description";N;}

I'm not sure if there is anything here that FileField can (or will) fix. I'll look at patches, but I'm not going to install Drupal 5 to test this out.

I can confirm this issue and that it results in data loss in the upgrade. The function filefield_update_6001() is supposed to copy data from the 'description' and 'list' columns, serialize it, and add it into the newly created column 'data'.

However the update first alters the schema, dropping the description column:

// Update database storage (add data column, remove description, set NOT NULL).
  foreach ($fields as $field) {
    $new_field = $field;

    // Setup the previous definition.
    $field['columns']['description'] = array('type' => 'varchar');
    $field['columns']['fid']['not null'] = TRUE;
    $field['columns']['list']['not null'] = TRUE;
    unset($field['columns']['data']);

    // Setup the new definition.
    $new_field['columns']['data'] = array('type' => 'text', 'serialize' => TRUE);
    $new_field['columns']['fid']['not null'] = FALSE;
    $new_field['columns']['list']['size'] = 'tiny';
    $new_field['columns']['list']['not null'] = FALSE;
    unset($new_field['columns']['description']);

    content_alter_db($field, $new_field);
  }

*then* it attempts to set the batch operation, which fails to copy the data out (silently - ouch!) and instead inserts serialized blank arrays.

It doesn't seem like the above code works well (the content_alter_db function is suspect), as I can't get it to preserve the description column. I would be tempted to remove the whole chunk and replace it with one call to db_add_field(), and then write another update to clean up the description and list columns once this update has run.

-edit-

Never mind, I see this column exists in the new schema.

Er, okay. Well back to postponed then?

quicksketch: Sorry, I should have been clearer in my comments above where I made an edit.

The original bug still exists (what I described in #7 and what NancyDru is experiencing too).

I thought I found another, related bug and made a comment #9, however I realised that I was wrong about this second bug so edited my comment saying "never mind".

To summarise the current issue: The 'description' field is lost when upgrading from Drupal 5.x to 6.x

I'm not interested in fixing this problem. Sorry guys. Patches still accepted, but as I said above, I'm not going to install D5 to fix this problem.

I don't blame you. :)