Once on one server it was necessary to update the phpBB 3.2.7 forum to phpBB 3.3.3, so I will describe the process as I did it.
Be sure to make a backup copy of the database and forum files, for example:
sudo tar -cvjf backup_forum_files.tar.bz2 /var/www/forum/
mysqldump -u root -p -h localhost DATABASE | gzip -c > backup_forum_db.sql.gz
I downloaded the archive with the new version of phpbb3 for automatic updates:
mkdir phpbb3.2.7_to3.3.3
cd phpbb3.2.7_to3.3.3
wget https://download.phpbb.com/pub/release/3.3/3.3.3/phpBB-3.2.7_to_3.3.3.zip
unzip phpBB-3.2.7_to_3.3.3.zip
ls
In my case, the following directories were unpacked from the archive: docs, install, vendor. Let’s move them to the directory with the forum data (as soon as you move the install directory, the forum will be shut down for maintenance).
We indicate the rights to the files, namely the user and the group from which the web server is running (in Ubuntu this is usually www-data, if files were transferred via cPanel, then you do not need to specify the file rights):
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/forum/
Let’s open the update script in the browser, for example:
https://forum.ixnfo.com/install/app.php
In my case, the script showed which files are no longer needed (I deleted them manually), and which ones were changed (I once changed the design in the standard prosilver theme and documented all the changes in a text file, so I replaced these files with the original ones, and after updating made my changes again).
The following files are modified and do not represent the original files from the old version. The updated file will be a merge between your modifications and the new file.
.htaccess
styles/prosilver/template/overall_header.html
styles/prosilver/theme/colours.css
styles/prosilver/theme/common.css
The second step was the automatic database update, which was successful. After the upgrade, I removed the install directory. This completes the update process.
See also my articles:
- Import and export MySQL databases
- Updating phpBB 3.0.x to phpBB 3.1.x
- Updating phpBB 3.1.x to phpBB 3.2.x
- Solution of error “A module already exists” and “The installer detected a timeout” when updating phpBB