Help me back into the fold

[djaef]

Hi guys. Long time no see.

My blogging days were put on hold to a large extent for the last year or so, but I'm keen to get back into it now.

I just did a clean install of version 1.7 and it looks nice. But my existing photoblog is still version 1.5 and I'm not sure if the upgrade wizard will help. My blog has been modified a bit and not always in the right way. I certainly remember some hacks where the php was edited, and really, it's so far in the past that I made it, that I can't remember what changes were made, except that there were quite a few. I certainly posted a lot on here in that time.

So I was thinking, what's the best way to go about it. Instead of just doing a backup and hoping the upgrade will work, wouldn't it be better (smarter) to somehow duplicate my blog on the server and try that first?

How then would I do that? I can make another MySQL database on my server, but I'm not at all sure how I duplicate the blog entirely to a different url on the same server. That way I could test the upgrade?

Or is this the wrong way to go about it?

thanks for any help. And yes, I did search but it wouldn't let me use the search term "upgrade from 1.5". It kept ignoring 1.5, which in my case is quite critical.

so any help for a seemingly-forever-to-be-a-newbie-with-this-stuff would be greatly appreciated.

Edited to ask: maybe an even better idea is migrating all the images and comments into a new installation? Is that possible? Hmm, as far as I remember Pixelpost is awesome if you are a code monkey but for the rest of us plebs it's a tough slog...

[Dkozikowski]

You've got the right idea.

Export the data from your current database.
Make a new database.
Import the exported data into your new database.
Upload Pixelpost 1.7 in a subfolder (there is no need to edit any files) and point your browser to the admin page. E.G: example.com/pixelpost17/admin/
COPY over your images and thumbnails folder.
Follow the install instructions making sure you enter in your new database information when asked also making sure the pixelpost prefix is correct.

Once you've got everything up and running how you want it, you can get rid of 1.5, move the 1.7 files out of the subfolder and update the blog path in your options panel.

[djaef]

OK, let's see if I'm following this.

Export the data from your current database. CHECK

Make a new database. CHECK

Import the exported data into your new database. CHECK

Upload Pixelpost 1.7 in a subfolder (there is no need to edit any files) and point your browser to the admin page. E.G: example.com/pixelpost17/admin/ CHECK I think...
So I upload and install a clean copy of 1.7 somewhere, before the next step.

COPY over your images and thumbnails folder. CHECK from the current blog...

Follow the install instructions making sure you enter in your new database information when asked also making sure the pixelpost prefix is correct. Hang On, didn't I install back before I copied the pictures? And pixelpost prefix?

Once you've got everything up and running how you want it, you can get rid of 1.5, move the 1.7 files out of the subfolder and update the blog path in your options panel.

Now this is the bit I'm not getting. I've made a parallel blog at example.com/17/, but now I want to move all the files to the same path (example.com/blog/) as the old blog. I just delete all the old files, move the new files to the /blog folder and then update the path in the options panel? That's it? Almost sounds too easy.

But I suppose the tough bit is the "Once you've got everything up and running how you want it" section. That would be where the work is I'm thinking. Have things changed in 1.7 in relation to modifications? I still need to edit the php files directly to add pages etc..

[Dkozikowski]

OK, let's see if I'm following this.

Upload Pixelpost 1.7 in a subfolder (there is no need to edit any files) and point your browser to the admin page. E.G: example.com/pixelpost17/admin/ CHECK I think...
So I upload and install a clean copy of 1.7 somewhere, before the next step.


Correct



Follow the install instructions making sure you enter in your new database information when asked also making sure the pixelpost prefix is correct. Hang On, didn't I install back before I copied the pictures? And pixelpost prefix?

I said to upload, not install. But either way works just fine. Install before copy or copy before install. In the end it makes no difference


Once you've got everything up and running how you want it, you can get rid of 1.5, move the 1.7 files out of the subfolder and update the blog path in your options panel.

Now this is the bit I'm not getting. I've made a parallel blog at example.com/17/, but now I want to move all the files to the same path (example.com/blog/) as the old blog. I just delete all the old files, move the new files to the /blog folder and then update the path in the options panel? That's it? Almost sounds too easy.

It is that easy!


But I suppose the tough bit is the "Once you've got everything up and running how you want it" section. That would be where the work is I'm thinking. Have things changed in 1.7 in relation to modifications? I still need to edit the php files directly to add pages etc..
What kind of modifications did you make to your 1.5 blog?

[djaef]

It is that easy!


What kind of modifications did you make to your 1.5 blog?

Thanks, it was easy.

I really don't remember exactly what modifications I made, but I do remember messing about in the php, so whatever changes they were, they'd be gone in an upgrade. I made a few extra pages and messed about with a few things and had a lot of different plugins, but really, it was time for another look at it, and I notice a lot of the newer templates are very cool and will do me fine. I'll just have to get back into it and remember how to modify stuff. And then when I've got it ready to go, I might even try upgrading the existing 1.5 blog and see how much breaks in the process.

Anyway, thanks for the help. You'll probably be hearing a bit more from me in the coming days / weeks ;)