BarrySamuels
Member
Posted 3 years ago #
I am running WordPress 2.0.2 (that's what it says at the bottom of the page) and was thinking of upgrading to the latest version. I find upgrades like this rather worrying in case something goes wrong so I though I'd found the ideal solution. I would upload a new copy then update the wp-config.php file to point to my current database and see if it all works. I went through a similar exercise when upgrading my forum although that doesn't use a database.
Then it occurred to me that the update may change the MySQL database structure which would mean I couldn't go back to the old version. Is that the case?
I also have a theme called 'Blue Horizon' installed which I want to keep. Does anyone know if that will work with the new version of WordPress.
Of course you CAN roll back, but your database will indeed be much altered when going from a stone-age WP to a more recent one. Of course you can just backup your database (there're plugins to do that) just in case (you should do that anyway). I don't know if your theme still works, but there's some functionalities added since 2.0.2, like widgets so you might have to change a few things before everything works properly again (or just leave the widgets for what they are). What you can do too, is just make a test site do try a few things before you upgrade.
UPGRADE STRESS REDUCTION
Before I upgrade I import everything into a second database (test that this works by temporarily pointing to the second database in wp-config). Then I upload the new WP core files (except those in the root) into folders named eg: wp-includes-abc etc (or some such thing). And then I delete the root wp- files and upload the new versions. Finally I change the names of the original wp-includes etc folders to something else and change the names of the wp-includes-abc etc folders to the correct ones - wp-includes etc.
Then run /wp-admin/upgrade.php
If something goes wrong with the upgrade, all I need to do is (i) reverse the folder re-naming, (ii) replace the root wp- files with the originals (from backup), and (iii) point to the second database in wp-config. This would quickly take me back to where I was before the upgrade.
Roy
