Practical guide to automated upgrade J 1.7 to Joomla 2.5

[ozneilau]

I am ready to sign up for web hosting and get Joomla 2.5.
I want to go with hostgator but on the shared plan PHP 5.2 is the default and they offer PHP 5.3 if you enable it, the instructions are on this link:
http://support.hostgator.com/articles/h ... re/php-5-3

If I enable PHP 5.3 on hostgator will Joomla 2.5 run or should I be looking for a different host?

I'm not a Hostgator client but from a quick search on the web, it seems that they support Joomla 2.5 and are Joomla friendly:

http://www.joomlahostingreviews.com/gui ... anies.html
http://www.hostgator.com/apps/joomla-hosting.shtml

I doubt that control panels would be updated yet with Joomla 2.5 so you might need to do a manual install to start with but this is true of all hosting companies.

Neil.

[jmuehleisen]

I doubt that control panels would be updated yet with Joomla 2.5

I just checked on my HostGator control panel, and Joomla 2.5 (with or without sample data) is now on their "quick install" menu.

I did one installation of each and both went very smoothly.

They did install 2.5.0, though.

[jmuehleisen]

@Falcon22

If I enable PHP 5.3 on hostgator will Joomla 2.5 run or should I be looking for a different host?

2.5 is running great on Hostgator on their standard shared servers.

[Falcon22]

I want to install a yootheme with all the sample data so I guess I must change from PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.3 before I do the install? Joomla 2.5 requires PHP 5.3 which is not the default for the hostgator shared plan.

I guess I will have to install the yootheme package with Joomla 1.7 then do the upgrade as explained here.

As long as I know that people are using hostgator with joomla 2.5 I will figure it out.

[ozneilau]

...Joomla 2.5 (with or without sample data) is now on their "quick install" menu.

Excellent!

*Makes mental note*

[Boba Fett]

Ok my update is almost complete, but I just need to finish one last step.

So I updated 1.7.3 to 2.5.1 manually uploading and overwriting files as explained on install page

But now I need to change settings in #_extensions table in the manifest_cache column.

I am using myphpadmin to look at the table. There is like 5 pages of cells in manifest_cache, some have version 1.7.0, some have 1.7.1, some have 1.7.3, and 2.5.0.

My question is do I need to change every cell that has a "version 1.7.X" to 2.5.0? How come even though I am using 2.5.1 the cells that joomla did update show 2.5.0 instead of 2.5.1?

thanks for any help.

[poster_boy]

I have a similar problems as annagoebel on the first page of this thread.

I have a number of sites on the same host. Upgrading any of them has led to a 'white screen of death' ie the upgrade goes to a blank screen, going to the front page of the website goes to a blank screen, going to the administrator page login goes to a blank screen.

The discussion after Anna's posting has concentrated on fixing other errors.

I can't click on any tabs when the whole site disappears into blankness!

What's to do?

Thanks

[WorldWideWill]

Firstly, thank you Leo, Nik, and everyone else who's provided such useful and comprehensive posts in this thread.

I've spent several days now trying to upgrade my 1.7.2 site to 2.5.1 but with no luck. I've read through countless posts but I haven't seen anyone else who's having this problem and it happens both with the Joomla automated update procedure and Akeeba Admin Tools (latest version (free)). Basically I'm getting a blank white screen right at the START of the update process in both Joomla & Akeeba's functions. As soon as either product goes to get the latest joomla release archive, I am presented with the white screen in the back-end ONLY (front-end is unaffected), and clicking my browser's URL bar and pressing Enter reloads the page and brings the back-end immediately back as if nothing had happened (and the site remains at v1.7.2).

I'm using...
Joomla v1.7.2 (original fresh stable release - not upgraded from a previous version)
Akeeba Admin Tools v2.2.a3
Linux server with PHP v5.3.10, Apache v2.2.21, MySQL v5.5.20 and no bandwidth or storage limitations
Mozilla Firefox v10.0 (latest version)

Chances are I'm overlooking something simple but I'm tearing my hair out with frustration, especially as Akeeba Admin Tools seems to be suffering the same problem as Joomla, despite the numerous accounts from people who's problems it has solved. Any ideas? Please...

[nikosdion]

I can't speak for the core updater, but I can give you a viable workaround with Admin Tools. Most likely you get a timeout when Admin Tools tries to download the update package. Fear not! Here's the semi-auto alternative:
- Go to Admin Tools
- Click on the Joomla! Update Found button
- Click on the URL to the update package and download it to your PC
- Upload it to your site's tmp directory
- Go back to Admin Tools and click on the "Reinstall 2.5.1" button
- Click on Upgrade Joomla!
The update should now work. Why? Admin Tools checks to see if the update package is already downloaded in your site's tmp directory. If it is, it won't try to re-download it. It will simply use the one that's there. By downloading and uploading the update package manually you save Admin Tools the trouble of performing a lengthy download which causes a timeout error. The extraction is performed in multiple steps, so that doesn't time out either.

[WorldWideWill]

Thank you for your help Nicholas. It worked and got me to the next page. However, this revealed two further issues...

1. If I choose the "backup and then update" option, it jumps to Akeeba Backuo (latest version) where I get a big yellow error that says the destination directory is not writable. I don't need help with this as going to the Akeeba backup screen manually and doing a backup in the usual way still works fine, I just thought I'd let you know in case it's a bug.

2. If I just choose the "Update Joomla" button, I just get this...

joom-aat-err.jpg

The FTP login details are correct and I've tried various variations of the 'FTP path' (including the one suggested in the Akeeba Admin Tools manual, which is the path copied from my FTP-client's 'URL' bar, both with and without the trailing slash). Still the same result.

[nikosdion]

Did you set the file writing method to FTP? If you don't, Admin Tools ignores the FTP connection information. If you did, try the direct file writing mode.

[WorldWideWill]

It actually defaulted to the FTP method, so I left it be (your manual suggested it would default to the direct file writing method and as it didn't in my case (and as I've had so many errors already), I figured It would be best to go the FTP route).

Luckily however, the owner of the server I'm using has just got in touch with me and has sorted the problem out. Apparently, there is a bug in Joomla v1.7 where the system information page tells you FTP is enabled on the server even when it isn't (and apparently it wasn't). Also, there was a file-permission problem on the server which has been contributing to my difficulties. The end result is that after finding the faults, fixing them and applying the update successfully via the back-end's 'install an extension' feature, my site is now at v2.5.1.

Thank you so much for your help Nicholas. You've been a star! Akeeba Rules!! (and Joomla too of course)

[nikosdion]

Admin Tools asks Joomla! if the FTP feature is enabled. I guess if the Joomla! 1.7 installation defaulted to having it enabled, Admin Tools was fooled by Joomla! and havoc ensued. Oh, don't you love computers! I'm glad it's all sorted out now

[WorldWideWill]

...Oh, don't you love computers! I'm glad it's all sorted out now

I love them a lot less now than I did a week ago! lol

Thanks again!

Will.
willsmithphoto.co.uk

[Fr3akkk]

when i try to update my joomla 1.7.3 to 2.5 i get this error "The PHP allow_url_fopen setting is disabled. This setting must be enabled for the updater to work."

I go to Extension Manager >> Update then first i click purge cache and after that i click find updates and i get this error.
Can any one help me whit this pleas.

[nikosdion]

As others have mentioned in this thread, you can use Admin Tools Core to upgrade Joomla!. Admin Tools can automatically detect if your server supports cURL or URL fopen() wrappers and select the best method. If it fails too, you have to follow a manual upgrade.

[phobia1]

What I did was first to take a backup oy my site and download/install on local. Then tried the auto update. On the main site no go, I tried alsorts. The local however auto installed, so I took a backup and loaded it on the server without a hitch.

[phobia1]

Has anyone tried to download the 1.7 to 2.5 upgrade and put via ftp into the tmp folder.
If you have local setup, er as you should, try it there too. They use the middle INSTALL FROM DIRECTORY option. This removes any network errors that would affect the install. Once you get the main site or the local working you are home and dry.
F

[nikosdion]

This also works, but not if you are using Joomla!'s FTP integration on a slow shared host. In that case, there is an increased chance of Joomla! timing out while it's copying files. However this method does work very reliably on local sites as you said. Which means that you can always take a backup of your site, restore it locally, upgrade it, test it, back it up, remove the files from the live site, restore the backup to the live site. This method also works and is generally hassle-free, but much slower (backups of a relatively large site can get very big and take forever to upload).

[phobia1]

I agree, in fact this method worked for me on a site that had a full backup of 1GB.
Using filezilla to carry out the ftp work. Akeeba then saved the day as my local installation upgraded to 2.5. Its also possible with Akeeba, to transfer a large backup in sections. A great tool Nicholas has made and every web developer should have it as makes 'hairy' transfers a snip.
F

[Fintan]

When trying this I get:

The PHP allow_url_fopen setting is disabled. This setting must be enabled for the updater to work.

My hosting is saying that enabling url_fopen is a security risk.

Any ideas?

[Fintan]

Its a right thing that College Automation System now so demand . most are prefer like this software now a days only because of easy and best quality management everything related to college.

What does that mean?

[Webdongle]

...
My hosting is saying that enabling url_fopen is a security risk.

Any ideas?

From what I read in the threads about url_fopen it appears there are two view points. One opinion is that it is only a security risk when it is used incorrectly, the other opinion is that url_fopen is a security risk because it can be misused.

If your Host does not allow url_fopen then use Admin Tools http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions ... tion/14087

There is a new auto update being tested for Joomla
http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla ... m_id=27984

[Fintan]

Thank you for the admin tools. I had forgot about that one since the previous version didn't have the upgrade feature anymore. Glad to see it back.

Here are my results:
On one 1.7.3 site it showed two options:
upgrade to 1.7.5 and upgrade to 2.5.1-

I had read somewhere that one should upgrade to the latest 17.x version first, this is what I did. It went without a hitch. But Any option to upgrade to 2.5.x was gone.

On another site it again showed both options. This time I chose 2.5.1. After upgrade was finished the screen still showed the two choices. Purging cache did nothing.

System info shows 2.5.1. when I log out I get the normal GUI login screen. and the admin panel shows the icons in a list instead of rows.

In extesion manager instaed of database I get: COM_INSTALLER_SUBMENU_DATABASE

There are a few other quirks like mod_menu_com_usernotes and mod_menu_com_unsers_note_categories under the user admin menu.

I'll try this a few more testsites.

[TNTSecurity]

For all with com_installer_submenu_database error ...I had the same issue, You are probably using custom language files, I used english AU (en-au). Update/reinstall language file/settings and it'll fix it.

Cheers

[srdjan92]

Thanks a lot, I really need this

[Kathe]

My upgrade went great with no errors. Thanks for this guide.

I do have one question. I have two other items in the upgrade list. I did the Joomla 2.5 upgrade first, which went fine, as I mentioned. So now, I place a checkmark in the box for the next item that needs to be upgraded, and click the Upgrade button. Then I receive a message that says "Please first make a selection from the list".

But I did!

[Gistapulous]

Log out, clear all your cookies/cache/temp files, log back in - that should fix it.

[Kathe]

Awesome! Thank you for the reply! I will give that a whirl.

[nokorthom]

I am trying to use the extension installer and got this error message

-1 - An error has occurred.
Copy failed

Return to Control Panel

Does anyone know what caused this and how to resolve it? Thanks all!