Removing Hacks for 3.5.4 to 3.6

[johnstires]

I am practicing upgrading my site and am following this thread's directions:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187770

I am stuck at this part:

Removing hacks: It's at this stage if you have hacks on your database, you can remove them from this test duplicate copy of your database you just created in step 3 - which has your imported back up sql file from step 4. This leaves all hacks and php edits intact on your live original database untouched. All you are doing is removing hacks and php edits from a copy of your original database

I don't understand what it means to remove hacks.

I currently have vba cmps and GARS as large add-ons. I also have some minor php hacks which I probably forget and some template modifications.

How does one remove hacks?

[Paul M]

By reversing the install instructions for them.

[johnstires]

Sorry to be a bit thick here, there is some core element that is eluding me.

I have kept track of the add-ons and php hacks that I did: vba cmps, GARS and some minor php edits.

By "remove them (hacks) from this test duplicate copy of your database" does that mean I delete the mysql tables from the hacks that are in my new temp database?

"All you are doing is removing hacks and php edits from a copy of your original database"
How do I remove php edits from the copy of my database? My database doesn't have php hacks, my php files have hacks. And I can't edit those because tthe php files in my temp database are all v 3.6? Those php files are brand new. THey have never been edited.

[Paul M]

By does that mean I delete the mysql tables from the hacks that are in my new temp database?If the hacks created their own tables then yes, you can delete (drop) them - however, this isn't necessary as they won't harm anything (unless of course they happen to have a name that clashes with a new vb table, but that's unlikely).

How do I remove php edits from the copy of my database? My database doesn't have php hacks, my php files have hacks. And I can't edit those because tthe php files in my temp database are all v 3.6? Those php files are brand new. THey have never been edited.You cannot "remove php edits from the copy of my database" because as you say, that statement makes no sense. I assume it means remove the php edits you made to files - and again, as you say, if you have uploaded the fresh 3.6 files then that step isn't necessary as the fresh files will not have any edits.

[johnstires]

So what I really should do is skip that step. Install the board on my second temp directory. Then install my new hacks and edit my php files on my new directory. Then edit my templates as necessary.

[Paul M]

Sounds like a plan.

[johnstires]

okay so now I have a new problem. If I have vba cmps in my root directory along with forums and forums2 (my temp), how do I upgrade vba cmps without touching my currently live files?

Also I am getting this error on my forums2/admin/index.php

Database error in vBulletin 3.6.0:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT adminmessage.adminmessageid
FROM adminmessage AS adminmessage
INNER JOIN adminlog AS adminlog ON (adminlog.script = adminmessage.script AND adminlog.action = adminmessage.action)
WHERE adminmessage.status = 'undone'
AND adminmessage.script <> ''
AND adminlog.dateline > adminmessage.dateline
GROUP BY adminmessage.adminmessageid;

MySQL Error : Illegal mix of collations (latin1_swedish_ci,IMPLICIT) and (latin1_general_ci,IMPLICIT) for operation '='
Error Number : 1267
Date : Thursday, August 10th 2006 @ 11:11:51 PM
Script : http://localhost/forums2/admincp/index.php?do=home
Referrer : http://localhost/forums2/admincp/index.php?do=nav
IP Address :
Username : admin
Classname : vB_Database