I have been running/hosting an XOOPS site for quite a few years now (http://www.winterslegacy.com) and while it still runs 'just fine' it is an older version of XOOPS and the forums are the 'forum' module which says that it is 'version 1' an enhanced version of phpBB 1.4.4.

I have considered upgrading to a newer version of XOOPS several times and have poked around a bit from time to time with getting a newer version up and running with a similar forum module however I've never gotten it to work to the point where I felt it would be possible to switch over.

One of the main reasons I would like to upgrade (and there might be a better solution for this) is that with all of the SMTP port blocking that ISP's tend to do these days I can no longer get email out (for new account requests etc) via my server and connection, whereas I have been able to get mail out using smarthost with newer versions of XOOPS in my tests.

So, my question is, is what suggestions would you guys have for upgrading XOOPS while retaining 6 years worth of forum activity? A newer forum style probably wouldn't be that bad IF I could reliably get all the old forum data converted over to the new... or is there maybe a quick and easy hack to get email out with this older version of XOOPS in todays smtp phobic ISP world?

1. Get yourself Xampp and install it locally.
a) choose a version that resembles your current setup (php version/mysql version) as close as possible
2. Make a backup of your websites files and database content and get it running locally under Xampp
3. Grab XOOPS 2.0 to make the change from v1 to v2
4. Grab XOOPS 2.0.7 repectively the update package because thats the next version coming with database modifications
5. Grab XOOPS 2.0.17 Full to get to the current version
6. Update the forum to cbb 3.x (which is the successor of newbb which is currently in your main menu so i guess you use that - did not register and have no access)
7. Update news module along the way. Its these days maintained by hervet/Instant Zero.
8. Check the rest of your modules for updates
9. Either upload the new database and files to your host or redo the procedure there

You can find a bunch of old XOOPS releases right over at sourceforge: sf.net XOOPS downloads

Whatever you do ... make backups first. If you have backups make sure they are working before messing around with anything.

Made this post some time ago and got sidetracked and never really looked into it anymore. I assume this info is still valid though it looks like XOOPS has evolved a bit more.

as far as the forum module goes, the info I have on it follows. It's done well for the past 7-8 years? But it sure would be nice to have something where search worked well and wasn't so... buggy? This is the biggest issue I have with upgrading the site, I really don't want to loose all these posts as they are the main thing the site is used for. Any further suggestions would be much appreciated :)

Forum

Version
1

Description
An enhanced version of phpBB 1.4.4

Author
Original phpBB 1.4.4 by
The phpBB Group
( http://www.phpbb.com/ )


Credits
Enhanced and Modularized into XOOPS by
Kazumi Ono
( http://www.mywebaddons.com/ ) Hacked to add group permissions and forum monitoring by Rich Stone (http://regenerateweb.net)

License
GPL see LICENSE