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Drupal 5.3 has been released by the good people at drupal.org and can be downloaded from the Drupal project download section. This is a maintenance release that fixes several bugs, as well as some security vulnerabilities. It is strongly recommended that you upgrade to Drupal 5.3, to avoid leaving your site open to exploits through the security vulnerabilities of earlier versions.
Upgrading your Drupal site involves three basic steps: - Back up your existing site and database.
- Download and unzip the new Drupal files to your server.
- Run the update.php script, which will update your database.
You can can view our demo Drupal site which has been upgraded to Drupal 5.3 using this method, by clicking on the thumbnail image to the right. However, to make your update run as smoothly as possible, there are various preparations that experienced Drupal users do to guarantee the least frustrating upgrade and minimal interruption to their users. NOTE: You should check to see if the contributed modules you rely on have been upgraded as well. Old versions of modules will not run on an upgraded version of Drupal (e.g 4.7 modules do not work on a Drupal 5.x site). Preparing the site for upgrade. Complete the following steps to prepare your site for upgrading: - Login as USER 1, the root user, the very first account created when Drupal was installed. If you cannot login as the root user, you will need to modify the update.php script once you load the new files for your site.
- Turn off all modules that are not core modules:
Administer >> Modules - Also, switch your theme back to the default theme ('BlueMarine' in 4.7 and lower, 'Garland' in 5.x):
Administer >> Themes - As an extra precaution, it is a good idea to put the site offline while you perform the upgrade
Administer > Site Configuration > Site Maintenance
Downloading Drupal and installing the files I. Download and unzip the latest Drupal release to your desktop. You can download drupal at the Downloads page. You can use unzipping software such as WinZip or Stuffit. II. Move your old Drupal files You made a backup, right? Using your FTP client, move all your old Drupal files on your server to backup directory. If you are upgrading a test site, move your test site files. It is considered best practice to remove the old files completely rather than overwriting to ensure you have a clean installation of the new files. III. Upload the new version of Drupal Using your FTP client, upload the new version of Drupal to the same place where your old files were located. If you are upgrading a test site, upload the files to your test site directory. Make sure your files directory is writable. IV. Upload contributed modules Again with your FTP client, upload the new version of all your contributed modules. Make sure you have the version of the module which matches your new Drupal version. V. Copy over necessary files from the 'backup' copy directory Using your FTP client, copy the following files from your 'backup' directory to the Drupal directory on your server: - .htaccess
- sites/default/settings.php
- the 'files' directory
- any other files you need from the 'backup' directory
Running update.php If you have previously determined that you do not need to update your database, you may skip the following step. However, it does not hurt to run the update.php script just to verify whether or not a database update is necessary. Just make sure that you have made a backup of your database first. I. Did you login as USER 1? Previously, you were asked to login as USER 1, the root user, the first user created on your Drupal site. If you were not able to do so, you will need to edit the update.php script in a text editor. Otherwise, you will not be permitted to update the database. Change TRUE to FALSE for the $access_check statement like so: $access_check = FALSE; After you complete the upgrade, be sure to CHANGE the update.php file BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL STATE if you have made this change. Otherwise, anyone would be able to run the update.php file on your site. II. Run update.php In your web browser navigate to the directory where Drupal is installed: http://www.example.com/update.php
or
http://www.example.com/test_site/update.php (if you are upgrading a test site) The update script should only be run once. It will complete all the updates at once. If prompted for which version, choose the closest starting version that makes sense for you. This will update the default Drupal and contributed module database tables automatically (versions prior to 4.7 will require manual upgrade of the contributed modules). Once the script has stopped loading, be sure to scroll to the bottom to look for errors. Post-upgrade steps Congratulations! You have completely upgraded your Drupal installation. You should now go to your Administer > Site building > Modules page and enable new modules from your upgrade. Be sure to then go to Administer > Users > Access control to get enable permissions to use that module for different roles. The last step in an upgrade is to delete or move the following files from your site: - install.php
- CHANGELOG.txt
- INSTALL.txt
- LICENSE.txt
- MAINTAINERS.txt
- UPGRADE.txt
Your Drupal site is now running on 5.3, it is always a good idea to check through you site for any errors. This is especially important if you have made a lot of customizations to Drupal. |
