Issues upgrading

[crishog]

OK, it's a very old Joomla site 1.5.22, but the client didn't want to "disturb" the system. Now they have to move hosts, with a very short timeframe.

I upgraded a test version to 2.5 & installed & upgraded to Fabrik 3, but...

None of the plugins for lists or forms have moved: can I recover these or am I going to have to copy & paste the dozens upon dozens I have in the system?

Secondly, with one table I get

• alter table: Can't DROP 'PRIMARY'; check that column/key exists SQL=ALTER TABLE `dtd_enquiries` DROP PRIMARY KEY
• Duplicate entry '0' for key 1 SQL=ALTER TABLE `dtd_enquiries` ADD PRIMARY KEY (`allocated_to`)

when I edit it: any clues as to what it is complaining about?

/Chris

 

[JayGreco]

1.5.22 to 3.1 is more of a migration than an update. Really, two migrations - first to 1.7/2.5 then to 3.1. It will take time and a variety of breaking changes can be expected.

1. You probably already have akeeba backup. There are backup / restore features that work on individual tables which may be helpful. Perhaps you could use this feature to move the relevant elements from 1.5.22 to a fresh 3.1 site?

Another, possible, quick and dirty method of moving the fabrik plugins would be to zip up any directories with custom php code and related assets. Move these manually to the fresh site. Then update with the latest fabrik -- but when you unzip the new files be sure to have it ask you before overwriting.

2. For the SQL problems...a quick and dirty way to fix the problem might be to just delete the problematic table and recreate it. Or, find the column with the duplicate key and change that entry by hand using mysqladmin - assuming that one change can fix the problem. Of course, spot checking all other tables would be a good idea.

There is, of course, lots of details to SQL and the like -- but, fortunately many great info sources like ostraining.com (which even has a fabrik tutorial). And, I love the oreilly.com technical book subscription.

My guess is that a full migration from 1.5.22 to 3.1 for a complex system is some real work and detailed knowledge of SQL / joomla (or an experienced consultant) is required. I am doing a simple HR system and budgeted a month for a full working prototype then another month for testing with real data. I would have budgeted an *extra* week if the same system were a migration of a existing site with lots of 'history' rather than a new site with no baggage.

 

[JayGreco]

You have probably already seen the Joomla documentation for updating sites, and you can see more on forums discussing JUpdate and the like...

http://docs.joomla.org/How_do_I_upgrade_from_Joomla!_1.5_to_3.x?