Tonight I upgraded a production site from 2.0.7.3 to 2.0.13

The patch from 2.0.7.3 to 2.0.9.2 worked perfectly, I removed the modules that I had either upgraded already or did not use anyway and uploaded everything that was left to my site root directory. The FTP client asked if I wanted it to overwrite the files, as you would expect.
I choose yes, when all was done I checked my site - and everything was still as it should be.

Next, the patch from 2.0.9.2 to 2.0.10.

This was not so good, there was the inclusion of an Install directory - (Why?) and the instructions were for a fresh install, they did not detail the steps for an upgrade.

I uploaded everything (excluding the modules I did not want, or did not want to change) and again went to my site, the admin page told me that the Install directory was there and I should remove it, and none of my custom blocks worked, although everything else did work.

I scanned the forum to find out what I should do, and one post led me to a site with a pretty damn good tutorial on it.

This tutorial said the Install directory was not needed and should be deleted when simply upgrading.
The tutorial also said that once the files are online, you need to update the system in the moules area of the control panel.

If your not sure how to upgrade a module you need to go to the Control Panel >> System >> Modules >> Look for System and click the picture of a box with a circle round it to upgrade

Well great - please forgive me if I am a complete idiot or something, but I did NOT see any instruction to this effect in the tar.gz file that I downloaded.

Once I followed these instructions the site appeared to work again, apart from a few little changes that seem to have been made to a couple of blocks, everything else was just fine.

I did still have a problem (which I have not checked to see if it is still there) with my custom blocks though, if I enable the cache, they display nothing, if I disable the cache on these blocks then they display the contents I want them to display. (But I have not checked if this is still the case after the other updates)

Anyway, the update from 2.0.10 to 2.0.12a and from 2.0.12a to 2.0.13 were painless.

However both of these files included instructions for a fresh install.

I know these instructions are small, but why include them when making the tar.gz files?

Anyway, I am off to check that caching problem out on my site.

The site is at long last up to date, and I will be trying to stay on top of it from now on!

Dave

Good work :)

I've updated one of my sites from 2.0.7 to 2.0.10 the other day, and will do the rest of the update in the next few days...

I also noticed the problem with the install folder as well... and also followed the same trick in removing folders I didn't need (like the older modules for example )

Now to update some of those modules....

I recently posted a question/comment about the XOOPS road map and that I did not agree with the idea of seperating the modules from the core package.

The idea was explained to me, and I don't really know what I was thinking before it was explained, but it suddenly made perfect sense.

Anyway, after doing these updates, I can really see how the idea of having the core as a seperate entity from the rest of the modules makes PERFECT sense.

Like you pointed out, the main reason I had to check the modules folder in the update patches was because I had newer versions of those modules already.

Just checked the custom blocks on the site that I upgraded earlier today, and the caching is now working as expected, so all in all, that has been a good upgrading experience.

I have also checked another 2 XOOPS sites I am responsible for and ... more upgrades, at least these are only 2.0.9.2, so thats one less upgrade at least.

Just my luck to need to update from the only version that seems to have the potential to mess up though

Still if they go as well the upgrades I did tonight, then its not all bad.

Dave