Upgrading - My understanding

[Reeve of shinra]

1. Make a backup of your database (be sure its complete too, use ssh for a mysql dump) and back up your hacked vb files just in case something goes completely utterly horribly wrong.

2. Check out which files have changed between the vbulletin version your using now and the latest version available. One way of doing that is to read the announcements forum on vbulletin.com since they will tell you what files and templates have changed.

3. Download the latest vbulletin version if you havent already and unzip it to a new folder on your pc.

4. Use a file comparision tool like beyond compare, araxis merge, or winmerge (winmerge is free from sourceforge.net) to compare the the new files you just downloaded against your hacked files. You should only have to compare the files that changed between versions.

5. Take your time and look through the code. The differences will be highlighted. If you noted where your hacks begin and end, you shouldnt really have a problem seeing how to adapt the hack if in fact vb updated that segment of code.

(if you havent noted where your hacks are in your files, then just compare your hacked vb files to the unhacked files for that same version to note it down)

6. Run the vb upgrade file.

7. Your basically done at that point but you may have to reinstall the templates from some hacks like ushop and cmps again.