Need help with upgrade to 2.3.3 (posts not displaying)

  • I’ve just attempted to do an upgrade to WordPress version 2.3.3., and am somewhat disgusted by how complicated it’s turned out to be.

    I created a new “blog2” subdirectory within the site’s root directory, and uploaded all of the source files there. I also made a point to migrate over the wp-config.php file as well as the “wp-content” folder and it’s contents (as well as a few other needed source files) .. and got it so that the blog site displays correctly (with regards to the blog’s theme and CSS). However, … none of the blog posts are showing up on the homepage:

    https://www.skintypesolutions.com/blog2/

    Note that I haven’t yet run the upgrade script, since I’m terrified that I might mess up the data on the current blog site (ie: https://www.skintypesolutions.com/blog/).

    I thought that perhaps my simply renaming the blog folders on the server (ie: rename the old blog directory to “blogOLD”, and rename the new blog directory to “blog”) would make the blog posts magically appear, but it didn’t work. So I’m kind of stumped as to what’s going on.

    Is is absolutely necessary that I run the upgrade script in order for the blog posts to show up on the homepage of the new blog? Is that known to remedy this problem?

    What I really want to do is create a copy of the current blog’s mysql database and set up the new blog so that it interfaces with it (I want to leave the current blog site and database fully in tact) .. but right now I’m dealing with some annoying filesize limitations with mysql dump files on godaddy’s shared hosting environment (which are preventing me from being able to import that data into the new database), and wanted to first consult with the WordPress community regarding the problems I’m having before needlessly going down the wrong path.

    I’ve reviewed many threads in the forum already, and read many that mention …

    1) certain plugins are incompatible with the latest version
    2) certain themes are incompatible with the latest version
    3) permalinks have to be configured correctly
    4) the .htaccess file sometimes needs to be modified

    So where should I begin, and how? I had already disabled the 1 plugin that we had installed (google analytics). And I can still log in to the admin site for the old blog, and can see that permalinks are still set to the default. So what is it that I’m missing? Why is this happening, and would running the upgrade script fix it? More importantly — would running the upgrade script BREAK the currently functioning blog? Please advise. I’ve been messing with this for almost 3 hrs now, and am getting frustrated.

    Thanks in advance,
    – Yvan

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • It is not that complicated – unless you make it like that. And you just succeeded to mess it up.
    What you did has nothing to do with the proper upgrade procedure… Read: Upgrading_WordPress.

    Just for the record: you can NOT have two [2] WP installs pointing to the same database! And no, you can NOT arbitrarily rename the folders where WP is installed.

    Thread Starter ygagnon

    (@ygagnon)

    The instructions you provided are the same instructions that I used as a reference. I just didn’t feel comfortable hastily upgrading the live database, so I took a slightly different approach.

    Perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see mention anywhere in that article that you can’t have 2 wordpress installs pointing to the same database. Is THAT why I’m not able to view forum posts on the 2nd blog? Is there a technical explanation behind that, perhaps?

    Also — why can’t I upload the upgraded source files to a new folder and then later rename it (so that the site url matches what’s stored in the database)? That seemed like a logical and careful way to perform the upgrade, in my opinion. Please enlighten me as to why this is not a recommended approach. Again, a technical explanation is welcome.

    Again, my concern is that running the upgrade script on the live database will BREAK the currently functioning blog sitem making it impossible (or very difficult) to go back to square one if needed. I don’t know what kinds of changes teh upgrade applies to the database structure, so I’d prefer to just set up a copy of the database and run the upgrade script on that instead.

    Any other tips / pointers / suggestions? Anyone?

    Thanks in advance.
    – Yvan

    Every tutorial warns you: BACK UP your database!
    That’s how you go back to the previous stage if something goes wrong.

    The blog’s URL and the WP install’s URL are stored in the database – that’s why you can NOT access it from two different locations.

    Your approach = upload new files in a separate directory and perform the upgrade there… will work ONLY if you make a copy of the original database tables (in a separate DB or with different prefix, if in the same DB), upgrade that one and then do the rename action. But do it properly:
    – admin > Options: change URLs (will get error)
    – ftp: rename the folder

    You don’t really have to know what kind of changes are applied to the database; and it will depend on what version are you upgrading from.

    And as a last note: if you want to take a “different approach” – you should understand how WP works. Otherwise stick to the instructions by the letter. Start with a backup…

    Thread Starter ygagnon

    (@ygagnon)

    >> Every tutorial warns you: BACK UP your database! That’s how you go back to the previous stage if something goes wrong.

    I did backup my database. I’m just having a very difficult time importing the data into the new mysql database that I set up. If you’ve ever tried to do this on GoDaddy’s shared hosting environment (using a dump file that exceeds 2mb in size), you’ll know exactly what I mean.

    I realize that the blog url is stored in the database. That’s why I thought it’d be logical for me to just rename the new blog folder to match what’s stored in the database.

    Anyways .. I’m going to continue trying to create a copy of the database and then apply to upgrade to that one. Hopefully I won’t have to revisit this thread after that.

    Wish me luck!
    – Yvan

    https://www.ozerov.de/bigdump.php

    Thread Starter ygagnon

    (@ygagnon)

    Thanks for that link. I called up GoDaddy and had them show me an easier way to do the restore. Thanks anyways, though.

    I managed to get the blog upgraded (thanks for the pointers). It’s amazing how you can go through all that trouble, and in the end, everything looks and functions exactly the same. What a colossal waste of time that was. Oh well!

    Thanks again!
    – Yvan

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.remarpro.com Admin

    all that trouble

    Okay…

    An upgrade to WordPress has never taken me longer than half an hour, and most of that was just waiting for the files to finish uploading. Basically, you made it “all that trouble” by doing it wrong.

    Next time, follow the instructions more precisely. Screwing around with a separate install and making directory name changes and all that jazz, well, no wonder it was so difficult for you.

    upgrading wp process is really disgusting. As wordpress, the upgrade process is designed to small databases, sites with no more than 20,000 posts. Have you ever tried to upgrade from the browser a site with 120,000 posts and 6,000 categories? hahaha… upgrading from a browser sucks to infinity +1, it will never go thru and you will end jumping from a bridge.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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