Help! Where are the Upgrade instructions?
Permalink
Are there any instructions on how to upgrade?
I've looked at the documentation and there doesn't seem to be much there.
When i press the Update Now link in my dashboard all it does is take me to a download pagehttp://www.concrete5.org/developers/downloads/...
with no instructions on what to do.
I'm on 5.3.3.1.
From what I can make out, I have to reinstall C5 in order to upgrade. That doesn't seem like an "upgrade gracefully" process.
If anyone can tell me how to upgrade easily, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
I've looked at the documentation and there doesn't seem to be much there.
When i press the Update Now link in my dashboard all it does is take me to a download pagehttp://www.concrete5.org/developers/downloads/...
with no instructions on what to do.
I'm on 5.3.3.1.
From what I can make out, I have to reinstall C5 in order to upgrade. That doesn't seem like an "upgrade gracefully" process.
If anyone can tell me how to upgrade easily, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Thanks,
don't know why I couldn't find that.
don't know why I couldn't find that.
Also see a slightly different approach to upgrading:
http://adamjohnsondesign.com/blog/upgrade-concrete5-with-minimal-do...
This method requires a bit of knowledge about FTP clients and such, so it's not ideal if you are unfamiliar with that type of technology.
If you still are struggling, I'm sure someone here would be willing to help you out for a small amount of $ if you post on the Jobs forum.
http://adamjohnsondesign.com/blog/upgrade-concrete5-with-minimal-do...
This method requires a bit of knowledge about FTP clients and such, so it's not ideal if you are unfamiliar with that type of technology.
If you still are struggling, I'm sure someone here would be willing to help you out for a small amount of $ if you post on the Jobs forum.
Thanks,
that's actually how I did it last time, but it was a while ago, so thanks for the refresher.
that's actually how I did it last time, but it was a while ago, so thanks for the refresher.
Just added a comment on your website, your instructions and graphics really helped me out!! I was stuck, and when I rolled back to 5.4.2.2 I lost my dashboard...
I had backed up prior to attempting the upgrade ... but couldn't 'find' my back-up. Anyway, I want to THANK YOU! for the help you provided here... :-) Karen
I had backed up prior to attempting the upgrade ... but couldn't 'find' my back-up. Anyway, I want to THANK YOU! for the help you provided here... :-) Karen
Hmmm,
judging from what I've read elsewhere in the forums the latest upgrade is a bit of a disaster.
Wiping out people's sites and all.
Think I'll wait till they get it fixed.
Also, I can't see how "replace your "concrete" directory with the "concrete" directory contained in the latest version downloaded" would actually work.
Surely you would lose any css, layout and other customizations you'd done if you did it this way.
judging from what I've read elsewhere in the forums the latest upgrade is a bit of a disaster.
Wiping out people's sites and all.
Think I'll wait till they get it fixed.
Also, I can't see how "replace your "concrete" directory with the "concrete" directory contained in the latest version downloaded" would actually work.
Surely you would lose any css, layout and other customizations you'd done if you did it this way.
Actually, the latest stable release is quite safe for upgrading, and has been completed numerous times without error. Usually, if the core team is confident in the latest stable release, they'll update the automatic notice that appears in your Dashboard when you log in.
As for replacing the /concrete directory for manual upgrades, this is EXACTLY how you do it. You should _rarely_ need to modify or add anything in the /concrete folder. Everything in there can be overwritten in the root directory. Not damaging any of your core customization or modifications when manually upgrading is the very reason they copied the directory structure from root/concrete to /root. The system automatically takes preference from files in /root.
So, if you're making layout and core modifications in /concrete, you're doing it wrong. You should copy the file you want to modify from root/concrete/_folder_/_file_ to /root/_folder_/_file_ and make your change there.
As for replacing the /concrete directory for manual upgrades, this is EXACTLY how you do it. You should _rarely_ need to modify or add anything in the /concrete folder. Everything in there can be overwritten in the root directory. Not damaging any of your core customization or modifications when manually upgrading is the very reason they copied the directory structure from root/concrete to /root. The system automatically takes preference from files in /root.
So, if you're making layout and core modifications in /concrete, you're doing it wrong. You should copy the file you want to modify from root/concrete/_folder_/_file_ to /root/_folder_/_file_ and make your change there.
Lucas,
read the C5 forums. There are a lot of unhappy people with the latest upgrade process.
I'll wait until the community says it's ok and they are happy before I risk it.
read the C5 forums. There are a lot of unhappy people with the latest upgrade process.
I'll wait until the community says it's ok and they are happy before I risk it.
Trust me, I have read the forums. I realize that there are cases where the upgrade process did not go smoothly. However, I can assure you there are many more cases where it completed just fine.
While you're waiting for the collective green light, the core team is about to release the next version. All I'm saying is if the process were really as bad as you're thinking it is, I'm sure the core team would be addressing it rather than moving on to version 5.5
As for "risking it", this is what database backups are for. You can always rollback to a different version if for some reason the upgrade messes something up on your site. In fact, it is ALWAYS recommended you backup before upgrading, no matter how many people say it is safe.
The deal is, there are some many variables that might affect an upgrade, such as web host, server environment, installed add-ons, core modifications, etc. Even if someone else said there was a problem upgrading, you might not have any issues. Or vice versa. I personally have not had any problems mentioned throughout the forums.
While you're waiting for the collective green light, the core team is about to release the next version. All I'm saying is if the process were really as bad as you're thinking it is, I'm sure the core team would be addressing it rather than moving on to version 5.5
As for "risking it", this is what database backups are for. You can always rollback to a different version if for some reason the upgrade messes something up on your site. In fact, it is ALWAYS recommended you backup before upgrading, no matter how many people say it is safe.
The deal is, there are some many variables that might affect an upgrade, such as web host, server environment, installed add-ons, core modifications, etc. Even if someone else said there was a problem upgrading, you might not have any issues. Or vice versa. I personally have not had any problems mentioned throughout the forums.
Lucas,
yes I understand all that about db backups etc, it's the first thing I do.
However as for the other people's posts, it seems they have gone unaddressed.
That is, if you have a lot of forum posts about it wiping out people's sites etc and there is no response from C5, then it's obviously not a good look.
It makes it look as if nobody cares, and makes other users start to wonder.
It seems to be a case of well the rest of us are all right so tough bikkies to the rest of you who are having problems.
It's a bit like playing Russian Roulette. The odds are that everything will be fine, but if it does go wrong the results are catastrophic.
Anybody would be naturally wary despite the assurances.
yes I understand all that about db backups etc, it's the first thing I do.
However as for the other people's posts, it seems they have gone unaddressed.
That is, if you have a lot of forum posts about it wiping out people's sites etc and there is no response from C5, then it's obviously not a good look.
It makes it look as if nobody cares, and makes other users start to wonder.
It seems to be a case of well the rest of us are all right so tough bikkies to the rest of you who are having problems.
It's a bit like playing Russian Roulette. The odds are that everything will be fine, but if it does go wrong the results are catastrophic.
Anybody would be naturally wary despite the assurances.
It's clear that I'm not exactly getting through to you, and it's completely within your right to be wary. I'm certainly not trying to tell you what to do with your own sites.
As Mnkras mentioned, there are a hundred thousand upgrades that went just fine. I'm only trying to instill some confidence in the concrete5 upgrade process. It's unfortunate that the forum posts you mentioned went unanswered, but that doesn't mean there isn't an answer. The core team has plenty on their plate, and it's up to the community to help in the forums, much like we're doing here.
In any case, you're free to do as you please. I just thought I would try to help ease your fear of upgrading.
As Mnkras mentioned, there are a hundred thousand upgrades that went just fine. I'm only trying to instill some confidence in the concrete5 upgrade process. It's unfortunate that the forum posts you mentioned went unanswered, but that doesn't mean there isn't an answer. The core team has plenty on their plate, and it's up to the community to help in the forums, much like we're doing here.
In any case, you're free to do as you please. I just thought I would try to help ease your fear of upgrading.
There are over 100 thousand c5 sites, and I have only seen 2 or 3 posts that had issues with the latest version, and they were either file corruption, or them just not running the upgrade script.
The latest update is by far the most stable.
The latest update is by far the most stable.
Lucas,
you are getting thru, I understand you perfectly,I only wish you understood what I've been trying to tell you as clearly, but let's move on.
In any event I did try and upgrade as per the C5 instructions and when it went to my site index.php/tools/required/upgrade
I just got a blank page.
Checking in the folders revealed that no such folder or file path exists.
No that's really weird.
you are getting thru, I understand you perfectly,I only wish you understood what I've been trying to tell you as clearly, but let's move on.
In any event I did try and upgrade as per the C5 instructions and when it went to my site index.php/tools/required/upgrade
I just got a blank page.
Checking in the folders revealed that no such folder or file path exists.
No that's really weird.
I second what Lucas is saying. I've had no issues upgrading any of my sites. Any issues folks may have had are edge case. Upgrading is completely safe and the right thing to do.
Ok,
the official C5 upgrade instructions are obviously wrong, so hopefully this will provide a more accurate explanation of what to do.
Where the instructions say upload the concrete folder, they don't mean the top level folder they mean the second level one. (Yes having two folders called the same name is tailor made for confusion, so just upload the internal one.)
Second, the upgrade file path provided in the instructions doesn't actually exist.
IE: your site /index.php/tools/required/upgrade.
Instead try yoursite /tools/upgrade
That's what I did and it worked perfectly.
For the record this is what the official instructions say:
"When ready, replace your "concrete" directory with the "concrete" directory contained in the latest version downloaded from SourceForge."
"Go tohttp://www.yoursite.com/index.php/tools/required/upgrade... (Note: if this does not work, tryhttp://www.yoursite.com/index.php/tools/required/upgrade.php)"...
Maybe the official method works for some people, or maybe they are just blind to the obvious mistakes and automatically adjust for them.
the official C5 upgrade instructions are obviously wrong, so hopefully this will provide a more accurate explanation of what to do.
Where the instructions say upload the concrete folder, they don't mean the top level folder they mean the second level one. (Yes having two folders called the same name is tailor made for confusion, so just upload the internal one.)
Second, the upgrade file path provided in the instructions doesn't actually exist.
IE: your site /index.php/tools/required/upgrade.
Instead try yoursite /tools/upgrade
That's what I did and it worked perfectly.
For the record this is what the official instructions say:
"When ready, replace your "concrete" directory with the "concrete" directory contained in the latest version downloaded from SourceForge."
"Go tohttp://www.yoursite.com/index.php/tools/required/upgrade... (Note: if this does not work, tryhttp://www.yoursite.com/index.php/tools/required/upgrade.php)"...
Maybe the official method works for some people, or maybe they are just blind to the obvious mistakes and automatically adjust for them.
These are not mistakes.
1. The "concrete" folder refers to the name of the directory within your root install. Most people do not have a concrete/concrete folder. It's usually root/concrete. The instructions correctly refer to the "concrete" folder within your install. There is only one of these.
2. This may or may be an oversight, however, I've always had no problems going to the URL posted in the instructions. Your issue could very well be due to your server setup or site configuration. You could be a special case here, and not the way to go about doing it for everyone else.
There are no "obvious mistakes" here, just simple misunderstanding and an odd upgrade path issue. Honestly, not much to complain about.
1. The "concrete" folder refers to the name of the directory within your root install. Most people do not have a concrete/concrete folder. It's usually root/concrete. The instructions correctly refer to the "concrete" folder within your install. There is only one of these.
2. This may or may be an oversight, however, I've always had no problems going to the URL posted in the instructions. Your issue could very well be due to your server setup or site configuration. You could be a special case here, and not the way to go about doing it for everyone else.
There are no "obvious mistakes" here, just simple misunderstanding and an odd upgrade path issue. Honestly, not much to complain about.
I really don't think there is anything confusing here.
With most web systems you download off of the net, whether it be a CMS or some other large system, it is common practice to have it unzip to one folder (so it doesn't explode over your filesystem) and you upload the contents of the folder into your webroot. For example, Wordpress unzips to a 'wordpress' folder - you don't upload that, you upload what is inside it. Same idea with Joomla and its patches.
Concrete5 is the same, it unzips to a folder with the word concrete plus the version number. Your live site should never have a folder 'concrete5.4.2.2' or whatever, and there should only be one root level 'concrete' folder.
There is only one 'concrete' folder in the zip, so I'm having a hard time seeing how this is 'tailor made for confusion'!
I really like the way concrete5 upgrades - it feels clean and quick, especially if you do some easy renaming to replace the folder -http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/installation/is-it-save-t...
With most web systems you download off of the net, whether it be a CMS or some other large system, it is common practice to have it unzip to one folder (so it doesn't explode over your filesystem) and you upload the contents of the folder into your webroot. For example, Wordpress unzips to a 'wordpress' folder - you don't upload that, you upload what is inside it. Same idea with Joomla and its patches.
Concrete5 is the same, it unzips to a folder with the word concrete plus the version number. Your live site should never have a folder 'concrete5.4.2.2' or whatever, and there should only be one root level 'concrete' folder.
There is only one 'concrete' folder in the zip, so I'm having a hard time seeing how this is 'tailor made for confusion'!
I really like the way concrete5 upgrades - it feels clean and quick, especially if you do some easy renaming to replace the folder -http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/installation/is-it-save-t...
http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/installation/upgrading_concr...