[support] Upgrading Drupal

[Victor Kane]

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 4:36 AM, Daniel Carrera <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm going to be upgrading Drupal in the coming weeks. I have a few
> starter questions:
>
> - I have version 4.7. Should I upgrade to Drupal 5 or 6?
>

There is no alternative, you must upgrade to 5.x first (and the latest
version). Not only in Drupal core, but every module must have the
latest version posible also.

See: http://drupal.org/upgrade

> - I have two other minor sites that also use Drupal. They are small and
> have few or zero plugins. Would it be a smart idea to use the multi-site
> feature and put all three sites in one place or should I have them
> separate? In other words, would multi-site make upgrades more
> complicated in the future?

I would say it is six of one and half a dozen of the other.

>
> I'll have to fix many issues with plugins as I upgrade.
>

That's for sure. However, the upgrade path to Drupal 6.x is not as
daunting as it seems. Many modules do upgrade, and this will get
better over time. I have two suggestions:

1. USE A TEST SITE
2. As Greg Knaddisson suggests in his excellent video on upgrading to
Drupal 6.x, the first thing to do is READ A LOT. Here:

Drupal Handbook upgrade pages: http://drupal.org/upgrade

The UPGRADE.txt file found in the document root of the Drupal 6.x file
tree is by all accounts the best (if not only) reference material; as
well as the documentation that comes with each Drupal module.

Greg Knaddison (greggles) has published an excellent video on the
basic process of upgrading from Drupal 5.x to Drupal 6.x, part of the
Mastering Drupal series. The video is available free online at
http://www.masteringdrupal.com/screencast/upgrading-to-drupal-6

Special Forum on drupal.org dedicated to upgrade problems and advice

Converting 5.x themes to 6.x: http://drupal.org/node/132442. A little
technical, but might come in handy.

See http://drupal.org/update, http://drupal.org/update/theme, and
http://drupal.org/update/modules.

> * In the current site I put all the plugins in the global plugins
> directory because I didn't know better. In the new site I'll put them in
> the site-specific directory.
>
> * I have a lot of plugins. Several don't work well and I would like to
> get rid of them if it's at all possible. I wonder if getting rid of
> plugins and their associated data may turn out to be a problem.
> Especially if the plugins in question are not available in future versions.
>
> What is the best course of action regarding plugins that may not be
> available in the recent Drupal versions?
>

When it gets hairy, export the data somehow, reverse engineer, import.

This is a difficult question.

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar

> Thank you for your help.
>
> Daniel.
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