Upgrade from 3.8.4 to v5
 

Can anyone tell me what this is going to involve?

It would be best to go to vb4

I recommend staying with version 3. Go to 3.8.7 first.

Read up: http://ozzmodz.com/showthread.php/13...ot-myth-busted

Headaches, pain, tears.

In earnest: I'm running 3.8.7 myself, and would not touch vB5 with a stick. If anything, update to vB4.

Agreed, I would not go to vB5 just yet, if you really want to upgrade, go with 4.2.1 or 4.2.2

There is no way I would EVER suggest VB5 for ANYONE! I have run forums forever, and have never run into so may quirks and problems. NOTICE: This forum has not upgraded yet, and I am sure there is a reason for that!

I would suggest you upgrade to vb 3.8.7 first too,

Then copy the whole website to a private setup including a copy of the database.
Upgrade the private copy to vb4.2.2.
Then upgrade that 4.2.2 to the latest vb5.

Have a play around with it see if it works ok..

Don't forget to backup everything BEFORE you do anything.

Thanks for your advice WEBDosser

But if I follow your steps i have a complete uncustomized live running board.
And customizing a complete VB5 with subpages, new design, add-ons, etc. takes a lot of time!
And I can't close the board for days nor the users want to live for days in a building site.
And I don't want to think about the worst case during customizing, a database crash or similar.
So I have to setup a new instance of VB5, customize it and get the users wit their posts into the VB5. That's my goal.

Is there a way to prepare VB5 like I described and then import the database from a VB 3.8.5 installation? Or after following your steps, from the 4.2.2 Version.

I'm really clueless

If you insist on "upgrading" to version 5, this statement winds up being true.

What's the compelling reason for this?

Dont upgrade to vb5 to many bugs with it many in here have told you not to and if you do dont come saying this does not work that does not work "I hate vb5 why did I not listen"

I would not do it, if you feel the need to upgrade I would suggest 4.2.1 or 4.2.2

^ Ditto

If you believe you're clueless now it will only become worse with the current version of 5. Consider this... if you have an issue with 4.2.1 you could post for assistance OR more than likely search for an answer and find it pretty quick but doing the same for vB5 issues might make you spin wheels. The reason being many are still having issues with vBulletin 5, heck I work for a major host and can tell you their clients have issues with vB5 so I dare say I know from experience the headaches many of these owners share.

Will it improve over time? Sure :D but until it does and I see less people having headaches dealing with it I'm not going to come in here and lie to you, instead I'll do as I just did and try to sincerely warn you ahead of time that you will have less stress and headaches running 4.2.1/4.2.2 as opposed to 5.x ;).

I recently started a board running 4.2.2. Of course, we purchased vb5 to be able to get it. I never gave installing vb5 even the slightest thought after reading all the problems people were having with it. Before we made our decision I did everything possible to test out vb5 for myself via the demo on their site. Unfortunately I never was able to do that as they never sent either myself or my partner a link or the log in credentials to do so while we had no trouble testing out the demo of 4.2.2. Being unable to test it basically sealed the decision to go with 4.2.2 which I was already familiar with as a moderator.

I am so glad I made that decision instead of going with vb5.

Thanks for all your replies.
I thought it couldn't be that worse and with every new day there surely will be less bugs left.
But if the actual status is still a mess... you convinced me. ;)
I'll try the 4.2.2 version.


And regarding to my question, I can prepare the 4.2.2 with all the subpages, add-ons, etc. on my webserver
and then import the user, posts, etc. data from my 3.8.5 Version with ImpEx.
Is that correct?

Why upgrade to vb4? At least vb3.8.8 is compatible with php5.4 vb4.2.2 has issues with php5.4
vb4 is alright, but if its a lot of work to upgrade your customized website then I see little reason to go for vb4. vb4 does not have very compelling functions that vb3 does not. And there does not seem to be any major released planned for vb4.

There is no issues with 4.2.2 and PHP 5.4

That's the whole problem. It's not about "bugs" anywhere near as much as it is about its design. Nothing resembling vBulletin at all.

Then don't upgrade. Simple as that.
Why do you want to upgrade to vB5? Hopefully not just because it's the most recent? With IB it also means it's the most buggy, most unusable version.

Then a good start would be to really give yourself time to figure out what exactly it is you hope for in vB5. If you still feel you need to go that route - you have been warned plenty in this thread, by people who do have a clue.