[high]UPDATES[/high]
People who ripped my tutorial, without placing a link that point here, as discussed:
[high]Tutorial:[/high] Upgrade Your Custom Board In Less Than 30 Min.
[high]Ripper's Comments:[/high] Good Tutorial I Created Off Nakkid's At vB.org.

He actually ripped all without creating nothing.
Please let them know also what you think about it. Thanks.

No, the vbulletin forums are in a server which i can only access via SSH, the mysql database is in ANOTHER server, and i cant make backups because i dont have an admin password nor root in either server, so the database backup just wont work...

i can trasnfer files (phps, html, etc) from the webserver to my local machine via SSH i have a windows and a debian box.. but i cant really see the difference in using Araxi's software.. which is nicely graphical.. but i cant connect to that server via other thing than ssh...

so what do you guys suggest...?
i can backup files in the same server, upgrade vbulletin and reinstall hacks...? is that the way to go?

duh! im really lazy...
cheers! :banana:

Here is a french translation of your tutorial nakkid/TECK :).
i'm sorry but the forum is register only :(... not my choice.

http://www.jexweb.net/forums/showthr...p?postid=16577

Anyway thanks for this tut, and for allowing me to translate it :)

[en fran?ais]
Voici la traduction fran?aise de ce tutoriel :
http://www.jexweb.net/forums/showthr...p?postid=16577
Merci a Nakkid/TECK pour ce tut et pour m'avoir permis de le
traduire.
[/en fran?ais]

i cant signup to your board. you password hack is installed wrong. any password i type to create is not accepted. also you should specify how many characters are allowed in the passowrd. i know that if i'm a regular person i would never return to a board that it's posing problems to signup.
it's extremly complicated your signup system. please revise it and let me know when i can signup properly.

Awesome, and I just so happen to be upgrading tonight and I have 43 hacks installed LOL!

It shows in your profile you only installed 3 hacks; you must've not given credit to some hackers here, I assume :rolleyes:

I know :disappointed: I am sorry I promise I will credit them tonight when I go through all of them to reinstall them. Honestly, I was having a major blonde moment and never really knew what clicking that credit link was? Those 3 I have were just me clicking it "wondering" what it did and what it was for lol

If I can make it up to anyone, let me know https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/

Err, as i said, the administration choices are not mine :(:(...
but i will transmit this information to the one in charge ;)...
As i registered long ago (err.. 6 months :p) this signup system
was not in place.

just want to add my "me too" here...I wasn't going to upgrade to 2.2.7 but this information made it possible for me...

Thanks!

awesome tutorial nakkid...

but what if it goes wrong.. i have numerous hacks installed and all those long lines of $DB QUERY(..... 's could go wrong?

- miSt

The worst that can happen is that you have some parse errors and maybe a few DB errors. I upgraded a 2.2.6 board to 2.2.8 with a fair amount of hacks installed and there was one error, which I knew there would be.

With the $DB_site->query's just check whats being added, if its not in the origional one then add it to it, just make sure you don't overwrite the ones with initval in the new 2.2.8 files with the varibles without it in the old files as this is a security risk :D

i successfully upgraded..

took me 4 hours though lol!

Thanks for this useful tutorial Nakkid :D

Regards

- miSt

How are you supposed to know what you changed versus what was changed for the upgrade?

read again the first post. i made it more clear. :)
cheers.

What of in the case where you have not the resources for a test board? How do you go about upgrading a heavily-hacked forum without causing errors that can result in downtime of your site?

I've tried both Araxis Merge and Beyond Compare, and have had nothing but trouble with both resulting in numerous errors. And no, I'm not computer illiterate.

Besides, both AM and BC are evaluation only, which means a purchase is required to continue using them. I certainly don't have the money available to pay for extra purchases such as these, and there was never anything mentioned when I signed up for vBulletin about requiring to purchase extra software in order to upgrade my forums.

I still say the easiest thing for all involved would be for the makers of vBulletin to release to registered members a manual list of changes from one version to the next. That way, people could upgrade their forums without fear of them screwing up.

You should properly comment the changes you make in all files, that when you will find upgrading alot easier. vB do say on there site that they do not support hacked boards so I expect its unlikly they will do anything to make it "easier".

NTLDR is right. Plus they don't want to make it easy for pirated boards to upgrade as well without needing to download the files.

Yes I realize vBulletin don't support hacked boards (which honestly makes me wonder the point of making hacks at all if the makers of the software won't support it), but they can still make something like what I'm suggesting available only to members, just like they make the files available only to members.

And I do properly comment all the files, but it doesn't help when entire sections of code are changed making a hack completely inoperable until an upgraded version of the hack is issued (if at all).

Ok, wait, so I put the vbNEW on the left, and the vbOLD on the right side and I just click that little arrow to move the code from the NEW on the left to the OLD on the right? So I'm adding in the new code to my old version instead of adding in the old code to the new version right?

Sorry I am so lost. Is this a wise move to do from 2.2.4 to 2.2.8?

What about templates? Will I need to change all those too?

Thanks

Wait, nevermind my last question...I have a new question.

Can I just modify all my old files by using Araxis Merge, and then just upload everything to my server, replacing all my old files, and its done?

And if somehow there is a problem, can I just reupload my older 2.2.4 php files and everything will be back to normal?

Basically Im asking, if this doesn't work, do I risk losing everything? Or can I just revert back to 2.2.4 by reuploading my old stuff.

Thanks guys.

If something messes up, you can simply upload your old files.

you will need to run also the upgradexx.php file to update the database. so things will change.

Ok thanks guys, Actually I decided I didn't know what I was doing, so I just did the regular update process and for the most part my hacks remained intact! :) I only had to change a few php files and Im back in business!

Next time for sure I'll use this tutorial. Thanks guys.

No problem visionray :)

Very nice! THX :)

Does anyone know af any comparison software like this for Mac users?

Hey...need some help please!

I loaded vBnew on the left, and vBold on the right, now, do I click the arrows pointing to the left or the arrows pointing to the right? In the tut, he circiled arrows, are those the ones I click?

Great Tutorial, I am gonna use this to upgrade from now on...

You can either copy the code to the left or the right, its personal perference which set of files you change, just make sure you click the same ones throughout :)

What about the files outside of admin and mod. Do we upload them as well after comparing and copying the hacks into the new admin and mod files? What I am taking about are the files in the upload folder one level up from admin and mod (i.e. calendar.php, edit post.php ect..).

Thanks.

JakeC

This is the best way to upgrade my vb.
Thanks so much teck!!! :)

Has anyone tried this with 3.0 yet? What are the foreseeable problems with using this method to go from 2x to 3x? Thanks

JakeC

There is no chance. Your simply going to have to replace all the files and wait for the original hackers to upgrade their hacks to vb3 - should take a year for them all to be converted (well most)

- miSt

I'm not sure anyone suggested this, but you only need to compare the files that the vb team modified from the last release. They usually post a list of what files/templates were changed from the last version, so, you only need to compare those files and update them. I'm about to try going from 2.2.9 to 2.3.0 like this and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I'm pretty sure I'll screw something up. :p

Ok...its time for me to upgrade from 2.2.8 ---> 2.3.0

I downloaded and merge program....

looking at the differences there is a lot but im not sure what i have added and what i havnt, im also worried that im replacing the new coding in 2.3 with old code from 2.2.8

is it better to transfer the data chacges from the new to the old as there dosnt seem as many changes as the other way around...

if some hacks dont work, it would be easier to fix as well???????

Thanks in advance before i start..

Well that wasnt so bad!

I have an extra tip for those who are about to upgrade:

1) Download the merge software if you havent already done so.

2) Use the program to compare the 2 ORIGINAL (unhacked versions) eg. 2.2.8 -----> 2.3.0

3) On a note pad jot down the list of files that have changed and the quantity of changes in each.
using my site as an example....
admin/email has 5 changes
admin/index has 11 changes

4) then continue to follow the tut in the first post of the thread and compare the new files with the files from your server.
in my case
admin/email has 5 changes - i have not added any hack to this file
admin/index has 19 changes - i know that i am looking for 7 sections of coding that is used for added hacks.

5) If you cant identify particular coding between the new file and the one from your server then open your editor and load the original file, eg. if i could not figure out code in admin/index I would load that file to my editor ad then again compare the changed lines from the merge program to the original file in your editor.....

I did it this way and so far I have only had I bug found

Hope this helps!

This is a little bit going back of time, since menetas ask ... too long ago, but I dont see any reply to his questions, so it may useful, for those who want (or only have) ssh access, to the server. (I myself turn off FTP, telnet, and all other options, except SSH :p

SSH SercureShell program goes with another one called "SSH Sercure File Transfer. You can use this tool, just like using FTP.
It's FREE for non-commercial and university use.
Download at:
http://www.ssh.com/support/downloads...ommercial.html

With this program, you have both SSH, and SFTP :D

You can also use some FTP programs that support sercure file transfer option, to connect to secure server via port 22.

-------------
If you want to work REMOTELY on the server, you can use some Linux/Unix file compare programs, that I think should be some. However, it's NOT recommended.

From one version to another, there're a lot of changes in files' code, it's still, and always easier to work on local machine. You can easily compare files, edit files (many files) much quicker than ssh to the server, and working remotely.

Another option, if you still wanna work remotely.
- Have a copy of your forum and the new version, in your computer.
- Using Beyond Compare or Araxis Merge, to find out where you need to make changes, in files.
- Using SSH, edit the files, make the changes that was mentioned in the comparing program, reasonably.


Araxis Merge and Beyond Compare are the tools, to help you compare files.
SSH is the interface, for you to work on the server. They are totally different.


--------------------
btw, did anyone compare the differences between Beyond Compare and Araxis Merge?

I think that Beyond Compare can do exactly the same things, as TECK mentioned above.


Happy hacking

Im looking at going from 2.2.6 to 2.3.0, I run a modified VBportal site, what should I do about the style file?

not much, just upgrade the files (follow the instructions), run the upgrade script (which will replace the templatesetid -1)

Then, check the templates which were modified in those ungrading version, compare with your current templates, and add the parts that you think would be important.

take a look at what has changed in templates, there's usually only a few small changes.

hint. compare current templates with "original" ones which was included in Admin CP.

I have vB 2.3.0 working fine with vBP