vBulletin Merge Tool for v2.2.x
 

Well, I did this for a friend and I saw some request for this tool before, so here you got.

My code is based on the import scripts that you found on vbulletin.com.

What it does?
- Merge: users, forums, threads, posts, polls, PMs and attachments of two vBulletin databases.
- It allows to associate usernames with current vBulletin users, to prevent duplication

Both databases should be in the same server, and use the same password.

If there's a duplicated name in both databases, the script will postfix the username from the database you're merging with something like: [imported]. So you probably will find users that looks like username[imported] after the merge. To solve this problem of two usernames being one person, there's a tool in the script to merge users individually.

New version
- The database to merge can now have a different host/username/password. *
- Ability to auto merge users with the same username (to avoid 4000 users with the [imported] thing. :p) *
- You can now skip the forum merging, and use the tool only to merge users.
- The poll bug seems to be fixed now. Post your feedback.


Installation:

Simply upload the attached file to /forum/importers/ and go to your Admin CP > BB Import Systems and choose vBulletin Merge Tool for v2.2.x.

Note that this script requires vBulletin 2.2.7 (or newer) to work. I have tested it with 2.2.6 but you need to upgrade the file /forum/admin/bbimport.php to the version you found on vBulletin 2.2.7 or newer.



Important Information:
This merger is beta! You should backup everything before starting. Use it under your own risk!


I decided to reopen this thread with a new version of this merger. I hope it fixes all the problems with previous versions.

REMEMBER:

If you're going to merge two database that are located on the same host, you SHOULD use a different hostname for both database.

For example:

If you have 'localhost' configured as your $servername variable on the admin/config.php file, and you want to merge a database stored on the same server, you should use something like '127.0.0.1'. Another example... If you have $servername configured to 'vbulletin.org', and you want to merge a database located on vbulletin.org, use the IP address for that server instead... In this case '205.214.66.221'. Get it?

Sorry, I'm not very good with english and it's very hard to explain this. I hope you've understood this.

Nice Idea....useful for users that join under multiple names....but i wont be having that problem on my new board

Thanks for your comments, but that's not the main purpose of the merger. You can merge two vBulletin installations into one.

That is awesome! I know many people have been waiting for this. Great job!

Well done! :) A vB to vB importer has been requested for a looooooong time.

w00t, this will be useful! :)

Anyone used this yet? Outcome?

I will test this right now I have two different databases on my HD so I will test quick

Please post your results here :D Any comments/feedback/bug reports is appreciated.

I got it to work w00t! I accually did it. wow this is so kool thanks much for the great hack

Nice to hear that :)

This is superb! I think this will be made into an official import script sometime soon :p

great work... I w8 this hack a long time.... Thanks one more...

OH SWEET MOTHER OF EVERYTHING HOLY!

Exactly what I've been needing for a long time.

Worked like a charm, the whole thing went off without a hitch.

Edit: The poll import is messed up, it doesn't apply to the right thread. Not a horrible thing, but kind of annoying.

I'll take a look :)

Looks awesome..

Excellent idea and its great at last that this has been done

Much credit to you sir

Touché

- miSt

Any luck on the polls front?

I'll work on the polls tonight.... I only have two databases, one of 16MB and another of 60MB..... I'll try to play with both databases and see how the polls are merged.....

I cant believe this was to easy to run. I have been trying to write something like this for almost a year now, only thing I came close to was user to user merge. Great job you have done man,

better late than never.. thanks dude for this script

Fantastic work!!!!

I have run it on my test board and it worked like a dream. Thank you for this.

I would love a script that would allow me to import the posts from one user to another user on the same forum ?

HM

You can do this with my script... Do not start the merge, instead, use the utility you found at the bottom of the start page.

Check the attachment.

Yeah I figured that bit out shortly after posting :) nice work.

Would be nice if you could choose which forums got imported etc.

One thing I did notice was that my post count never increased even though I have more posts now ?

HM

Umh... My post count is increasing normally in some merged forums. If you mean that your post count was not increased after the merge, maybe it's because you didn't run Update Counters.

You should put a big red disclaimer on this hack, someone I know is planning to do this:

He was my co-admin way back, he recently got upset with me and left the forum to start his own, now he's going to merge my old database with his current one...

I'm not 100% sure how this hack works, but if it can do this, you can count on trouble...

Hey I created a new poll, then when I voted on the new poll, the new poll results showed up in an old poll.

Yes. This problem has been reported, and I'm working on it... I've been really busy lately with almost no-time for this script.

I'll try to fix the problem as soon as possible!

oh ok, thanks I just wanted to make sure I wasnt going crazy or anything, could it be the way polls are being imported post id's are being associated with the current post id's

I have just used this in a live setup. Merging a sister forum to the one that I currently have. The seconary forum only had about 600 users and 8000 posts compared to the current one that had 80000 odd posts.

The results, 100% perfect.

The user merger is a God send with multiple ID's.

I cannot rate this hack high enough 10/10.

I'm glad to hear that.

Right now, the script is in beta, so please, check your forums... Currently, there seems to be a bug with the poll merger.

I have reproduced the problem in my localhost forums, and I'm hunting for the bug right now!

Actually, you unfairly De-Admined me, and that's when all of the users saw that and crossed over...Now they can get back all that they worked for...But let's not get into that here, I just wanted to clear the air, since you love to lie...

Hopefully it DOES work...It's our intellectual Property, WE wrote it, your stuff's gonna just get deleted...

Anyway...

I applaud you for this hack...You've done us a great service in gaining back our lost history...I thank you, and my community thanks you...We worked hard for those posts, only to have that guy take it all away from us in the end...He's upset because we started a new site, and abandoned his...I will be implimenting this hack soon, and I'll let you know how it goes...Considering I paid for part of the old license, and none of his intellectual property will be carried over, I think whatever transpires will be nothing illegal...

He didn't post that stuff, WE did...Nothing in the License agreement states anything against any of this, and most of the old stuff is just going into archives anyway...

Ahhh, to relive the good ol' days once again ;)

Actualy the posts remain the property of the site and its owner so if you do decide to merge his database into yours then you are breaking the copyright laws, and I would recomend he takes it to a court to sort out.

I had this a while back and was advised I had grounds to take legal action against the person(s) who did it. the site in question was imediately removed from the server it was hosted on.

The domain name owner provides the site on the understanding that all the content of the site is the property of him regardless of who posted it.

You were just an admin and not holding the position of owning the domain and so if you do this then he can simply contact your domain host and have your site removed for theft of content.

Its the same as me importing my posts from here into my own bulletin board, it just aint going to happen.

BTW you also import his members who may not want to go to your site, this also includes all thier PRIVATE MESSAGES as well as other personal info that they may not wish YOU to have access to. Each of them can activly prosecute you for theft of their intelectual property as the importer imports all the threads and members and does not distinguish them, this means that you have already done the dead before you delete them so the crime has already been commited.

By holding a copy of his database he has grounds enough there to prosecute you for unlawfull theft of his property.

So dont break out the champagne out yet m8

HM

I had this situation about a year ago. About 1000 members on my site were from a UBB, before I converted to vBulletin. An admin of my site [who paid for neither the UBB, vB, hosting or domains] left the site in protest over banner ads, and when he later decided to return found he wasn't an admin, started threatening to start his own site with the UBB backup. He had no legal basis to stand on, not that I'm saying law and morality are always the same thing.

Whoa installed this just now, excellent for merging users accounts. :D Thanks!

Do the two database schemas have to be identical?

For instance, a highly hacked production forum with extra fields in tables and a plain, unhacked out-of-the-box test forum. How does this util handle that situation, if it does at all?

I haven't tested it with hacked databases, but it should work fine.

Let me know if you have any problem running the script with hacked databases.

I can answer this one... :)

The database I merged with a hacked one, but with different hacks then the destinaton database. It was also a couple of revisions of vBulletin earlier.

I merged it into a hacked database as well. As an example, not active as I have removed the PHP, the database they were merged into had stuff like the Quiz and the Store installed. They also have the Awards installed and the user accounts that were merged worked fine with the active destination accounts that were award enabled.

Harvey.

Your answer would seem to indicate it works, but how? Does it drop the extra fields when populating the target database? And if the target has extra fields itself, does it populate them based on the field default values?