Well I finally got around to upgrading one of my WSN-Links installations. I skipped the normal update procedure since I had a lot of highly modified templates and figured why not start from scratch -- script wise. Also I moved the site to another server and OS in the same effort.
The 'upgrade' was from 3.3.14 to 3.4.5 -- doesn't seem like much just looking at the numbers but that comprises some 10 or more revisions perhaps since my last update. After a look-see of 3.4.3 it seemed like I should just go ahead and do a fresh install and migrate the SQL. Much new looks and table changes made me think the fresh install / upgrade would ensure everything was in order and I decided it would be a good time to ditch and rebuild my customizations since some of them were 'work-around' mods that might not be needed now.
Also I had changed many default .gif images to my own .jpg which was a pain to modify each upgrade. I did a couple new images matching the same extension as the defaults, just for a little less hassle upon a future upgrade.. Part of my process has been manually modifying new templates, laguage, css and php files each time I upgraded as to not miss anything new Paul had put in. To follow up with my promise above -- this was my main headache with upgrades, not relying on upgrade.php since it always missed certain aspect of my mods.. I suppose I can't really lay that on the script. I think there is just a point of no return with customizations where it simply turns into more than just setup.php and upgrade.php..
Basically I did a fresh installation on the new server. Then imported the old site mySQL and ran upgrade.php to tweak the tables from v3.3.14 to present and looked it over. All seemed to be okay and actually a broken function from my old server (list all users comments from their profile area) began working with the new install. From here I did my usual removal of the tell-tale signs of what the script is, despite the fresh look pretty much being a dead give-away until I dig into the templates and css. Mind you this isn't to detract from promoting the script but to add a little security by obscurity.
Ah well. Now I am going to have to try and dig up all my old notes to remind me of things to test which some of my old mods were working around.
For my second site I think that I'll try a simple upgrade and see what happens. It's heavily template modified so it's kind of a toss-up. I would rather have the fixed/new templates and all a fresh install offers but them I have to rework them to get my look back. On the other hand it's hard for me to confide 100% in the simple upgrade to cover everything anyhow since I've got so many customized areas and have often had to go back and fix stuff after quick upgrades.
I'll probably take a bit different approcah this time and do a quick upgrade just to get the tables in order, then wipe the site and do a fresh installation. Given the heavy amount of new stuff since 3.3.14 it's probably a good place to 'checkpoint' my mods and begin again with the new foundation 3.4.5 provides.
With any luck all that make some sense. I'm too tired to proof it now. Have to looks for some old messages on here still.
Part of my process has been manually modifying new templates, language, css and php files each time I upgraded as to not miss anything new Paul had put in.
No reason to worry about css, upgrade.php upgrades your stylesheets for you. Language is a little tricker, since it adds new items but doesn't make changes to old ones if there are any (though it's never essential to change).
As far as PHP changes (or even template changes and language changes, though I'm not sure it's as practical there), that's what 4.0's modifications system is being introduced for -- create mod files for yourself that'll automatically apply changes.
Given the heavy amount of new stuff since 3.3.14 it's probably a good place to 'checkpoint' my mods and begin again with the new foundation 3.4.5 provides.
The 3.4 series is just maintenance releases on the 3.3 series, as far as I recall the only new functionality is the email submitter option. Personally I don't think there's much point in wiping the templates if you aren't going to use the new theme in the end anyhow, though there may have been a few little template fixes back there somewhere.
In creating WSN Knowledge Base 2.0 I had to apply a bunch of template changes from WSN Links 4 to a WSN KB that had the same look as WSN Links 3.3.14. I went through introducing the changes to the KB templates (not wiping them in favor of Links templates and recustomizing to KB as I could have), though it did take quite some time.
I failed to mention that my css mods were pretty much limited to hand checking that my alternate style was still in harmony with the new default style. It's not a common occurance but in the past I've seen the css get reorganized a little and new classes pop up or a graphic file change/addition which I needed to compensate for in an alternate style.
The mods system sounds interesting. I'll try and check it out in the RC2 when I get time for a look.
PS: obligatory rant about new posts now being reset after this post... almost like there is a timer set once I login and after xx time passes and I've posted messages the 'new posts' display gets reset to my current login date/time.
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Comments on Security breach in 6+ month old versions
Forum Regular
Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Jan 11, 2006
Total Topics: 48
Total Comments: 166
Well I finally got around to upgrading one of my WSN-Links installations. I skipped the normal update procedure since I had a lot of highly modified templates and figured why not start from scratch -- script wise. Also I moved the site to another server and OS in the same effort.
The 'upgrade' was from 3.3.14 to 3.4.5 -- doesn't seem like much just looking at the numbers but that comprises some 10 or more revisions perhaps since my last update. After a look-see of 3.4.3 it seemed like I should just go ahead and do a fresh install and migrate the SQL. Much new looks and table changes made me think the fresh install / upgrade would ensure everything was in order and I decided it would be a good time to ditch and rebuild my customizations since some of them were 'work-around' mods that might not be needed now.
Also I had changed many default .gif images to my own .jpg which was a pain to modify each upgrade. I did a couple new images matching the same extension as the defaults, just for a little less hassle upon a future upgrade.. Part of my process has been manually modifying new templates, laguage, css and php files each time I upgraded as to not miss anything new Paul had put in. To follow up with my promise above -- this was my main headache with upgrades, not relying on upgrade.php since it always missed certain aspect of my mods.. I suppose I can't really lay that on the script. I think there is just a point of no return with customizations where it simply turns into more than just setup.php and upgrade.php..
Basically I did a fresh installation on the new server. Then imported the old site mySQL and ran upgrade.php to tweak the tables from v3.3.14 to present and looked it over. All seemed to be okay and actually a broken function from my old server (list all users comments from their profile area) began working with the new install. From here I did my usual removal of the tell-tale signs of what the script is, despite the fresh look pretty much being a dead give-away until I dig into the templates and css. Mind you this isn't to detract from promoting the script but to add a little security by obscurity.
Ah well. Now I am going to have to try and dig up all my old notes to remind me of things to test which some of my old mods were working around.
For my second site I think that I'll try a simple upgrade and see what happens. It's heavily template modified so it's kind of a toss-up. I would rather have the fixed/new templates and all a fresh install offers but them I have to rework them to get my look back. On the other hand it's hard for me to confide 100% in the simple upgrade to cover everything anyhow since I've got so many customized areas and have often had to go back and fix stuff after quick upgrades.
I'll probably take a bit different approcah this time and do a quick upgrade just to get the tables in order, then wipe the site and do a fresh installation. Given the heavy amount of new stuff since 3.3.14 it's probably a good place to 'checkpoint' my mods and begin again with the new foundation 3.4.5 provides.
With any luck all that make some sense. I'm too tired to proof it now. Have to looks for some old messages on here still.
developer
Usergroup: Administrator
Joined: Dec 20, 2001
Location: Diamond Springs, California
Total Topics: 61
Total Comments: 7868
Part of my process has been manually modifying new templates, language, css and php files each time I upgraded as to not miss anything new Paul had put in.
No reason to worry about css, upgrade.php upgrades your stylesheets for you. Language is a little tricker, since it adds new items but doesn't make changes to old ones if there are any (though it's never essential to change).
As far as PHP changes (or even template changes and language changes, though I'm not sure it's as practical there), that's what 4.0's modifications system is being introduced for -- create mod files for yourself that'll automatically apply changes.
Given the heavy amount of new stuff since 3.3.14 it's probably a good place to 'checkpoint' my mods and begin again with the new foundation 3.4.5 provides.
The 3.4 series is just maintenance releases on the 3.3 series, as far as I recall the only new functionality is the email submitter option. Personally I don't think there's much point in wiping the templates if you aren't going to use the new theme in the end anyhow, though there may have been a few little template fixes back there somewhere.
In creating WSN Knowledge Base 2.0 I had to apply a bunch of template changes from WSN Links 4 to a WSN KB that had the same look as WSN Links 3.3.14. I went through introducing the changes to the KB templates (not wiping them in favor of Links templates and recustomizing to KB as I could have), though it did take quite some time.
Forum Regular
Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Jan 11, 2006
Total Topics: 48
Total Comments: 166
I failed to mention that my css mods were pretty much limited to hand checking that my alternate style was still in harmony with the new default style. It's not a common occurance but in the past I've seen the css get reorganized a little and new classes pop up or a graphic file change/addition which I needed to compensate for in an alternate style.
The mods system sounds interesting. I'll try and check it out in the RC2 when I get time for a look.
PS: obligatory rant about new posts now being reset after this post... almost like there is a timer set once I login and after xx time passes and I've posted messages the 'new posts' display gets reset to my current login date/time.