Should I Risk Upgrading a Heavily Code Modified Aardvark Install?

[freecashpro]

Hello,

I've been running a heavily modified (code) though latest available version (5.2.1) of Aardvark top site since 2013 at www.FreeCashOnlineTopSiteList.com I'm not so worried about my theme as I can easily start over there. About the only thing I'm worried about is ending up with a scrambled unusable live install.

Yes, I guess I can take a full backup of it all and then restore it if I end up with a spaghetti install (lol) but I'm wondering if there is any advice one might give me to give me the best chance of it turning out awesome (lol)

I guess I also probably have another option. Basically I don't want to lose the sites and number of votes (otherwise I might end up with a whole lot of pissed off list members) - some of these people have actually paid their site members via paid-to-click offers and other methods to achieve the rank they have. And then I'd be concerned that they all are able to log in using their present login info. Maybe might this upgrade work better if I just point my domain to a brand new fresh directory in my hosting and then just point the new install to the old database (or a copy of the old database?)

Then if I chose this brand new blank directory option then how would I do that if I want it to be using the old database. Just do a fresh VisioList install and then just go back in and suddenly change it from referencing the new database to the old? ...or does it need to upgrade the database structure also somehow? (and can I run that database upgrade routine separately somehow?)

Yes, I know I'd be probably losing most or all of my code modifications but as long as I end up with a working fresh install then I'm ok with that

Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks.

 

[soccerki]

I never managed to read your full long message, skimmed through it, but I would suggest updating. Newer versions are more secure than old aardvark system. They also include automatic updating that mark & Sebastian released in 1.3 I believe.

People want their content & password more secure on websites. That way, they may use the same passwords on other websites, take Facebook or Twitter, or another Social Media system. It all varies.

Update the themes I would also suggest. People tend to visit and revisit based on how unique your website is. That's main key, visitors coming from Google, also show up in website rankings of what countries your visitors are arriving from. Also based on keywords.

Hope you can take this helpful advice!

 

[Mark]

This is a tricky one, but your on the right track. Normally the way I would like to handle a complicated upgrade would be:

duplicate the old list on a subdomain like dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com
duplicate the database
update the settings_sql.php file on dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com to point to the new duplicated database
verify that dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com is totally independant from www.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com
then run the upgrade on dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com and see how it goes.

 

[freecashpro]

This is a tricky one, but your on the right track. Normally the way I would like to handle a complicated upgrade would be:

duplicate the old list on a subdomain like dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com
duplicate the database
update the settings_sql.php file on dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com to point to the new duplicated database
verify that dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com is totally independant from www.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com
then run the upgrade on dev.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com and see how it goes.

Ok, great - I'll try that... Thanks!

 

[freecashpro]

Yup, and that's a good way to make sure I don't end up with a spaghettified main install... I didn't exactly adhere to good code format when modifying that original install - in fact it's basically a band-aid and rubber band conglomeration of 'whatever works' at the time (lol)

 

[freecashpro]

Hello,

I've been running a heavily modified (code) though latest available version (5.2.1) of Aardvark top site since 2013 at www.FreeCashOnlineTopSiteList.com I'm not so worried about my theme as I can easily start over there. About the only thing I'm worried about is ending up with a scrambled unusable live install.

Yes, I guess I can take a full backup of it all and then restore it if I end up with a spaghetti install (lol) but I'm wondering if there is any advice one might give me to give me the best chance of it turning out awesome (lol)

I guess I also probably have another option. Basically I don't want to lose the sites and number of votes (otherwise I might end up with a whole lot of pissed off list members) - some of these people have actually paid their site members via paid-to-click offers and other methods to achieve the rank they have. And then I'd be concerned that they all are able to log in using their present login info. Maybe might this upgrade work better if I just point my domain to a brand new fresh directory in my hosting and then just point the new install to the old database (or a copy of the old database?)

Then if I chose this brand new blank directory option then how would I do that if I want it to be using the old database. Just do a fresh VisioList install and then just go back in and suddenly change it from referencing the new database to the old? ...or does it need to upgrade the database structure also somehow? (and can I run that database upgrade routine separately somehow?)

Yes, I know I'd be probably losing most or all of my code modifications but as long as I end up with a working fresh install then I'm ok with that

Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks.

Yup, sorry, I tend to try and be detailed and thorough though sometimes it make it just unbearable to read (I'll try to keep that in mind when posting to the forum in the future)

 

[freecashpro]

Ok, good news, I was able to duplicate the database (as we discussed), place my original aardvark code in a temp 'new' subdomain, and then upgrade it all at http://www.new.freecashonlinetopsitelist.com/ (yay)
So basically I have VisioList running there using a copy of my original database intact with everyone's login, etc. intact. I definitely need to work on the template to make it more exciting again but yes, I'm happy that the big part has been accomplished.

Now I have the decision 1) of trying to build it all how I like it in the temporary 'new' spot and then have to go through the headache of migrating everything back to the main domain....
...or 2) just trust (from a position of knowledge now that it will most likely work now) in upgrading my original install at the main domain - and building up from there (I think I might go for this (2) option)

 

[Basti]

If the upgrade part worked on the duplicated database, which is 100% same as live database there is no reason it wont work on the live site.
I personally would upgrade your skin in the tmp directory to not annoy your users of possible broken html. And then later upgrade your live site and simply place your new skin into there. Then you have a "imcomplete" site for maybe 5 min instead of few hours if you would need to adjust your skin or so