Chapter 2. Upgrading instructions

Table of Contents

2.1. Introduction
2.2. Minor and Bugfix upgrades
2.2.1. Upgrading the database
2.2.1.1. Upgrade preparations
2.2.1.2. From a webbrowser
2.2.1.3. From a system console
2.2.2. Upgrading templates and hacks
2.3. Major upgrades
2.3.1. Upgrade preparations
2.3.2. Convert the old forum data
2.3.3. Update the posted message counters for the users
2.4. Support

2.1. Introduction

This section describes the Phorum upgrading process. We differentiate between three types of upgrades:

  • Minor and Bugfix upgrades
    These are upgrades where only the last number in the Phorum version is raised (e.g. 5.2.1 to 5.2.2). These upgrades are mostly for implementing (security) bugfixes and minor enhancements that do not require any template and/or database changes.

  • Minor and Bugfix upgrades
    These are upgrades where the second number in the Phorum version is raised (e.g. 5.1.10 to 5.2.2). These are upgrades where large new features are implemented. These upgrades will always require database and template changes.

  • Major upgrades
    These are upgrades where also the first number in the Phorum version is raised (e.g. 3.4.8 to 5.2.2). Now and then, the Phorum team starts with a version of Phorum that is built from the ground up, to implement all the new insights and ideas that are gathered while building the previous version. Since completely new code is generated, the version number is raised in full. These upgrades will always require a full database and site layout conversion, which might implicate a lot of manual work.