Is it easy to upgrade Vbulletin?

[blubster]

I know in the past I've installed Vbulletin successfully, but I've never tried to upgrade it to a newer version, is this something that's easy to do, or is it a pain in the arse to do?

thanks
blubster

[1996 328ti]

Very easy.
I have dozens of mods and hacks and the only thing I need to do is edit some templates.

[jason|xoxide]

You will tend to run into problems moving more than point releases if your site uses many plugins (because these large version bumps tend to break 3rd party code, always check with the developer for an updated plugin before upgrading).

Minor updates, such as 3.6.7 to 3.6.8, don't take long and shouldn't cause any headaches (unless you've actually been modifying the php files for vBulletin).

[Reeve of Shinra]

Most mods do not require file edits so upgrading has been relatively easy. Just upload the files, run the upgrade, maybe a couple of template edits and bingo your done.

[RichM]

Like others have said, it's usually a simple process and it's uncommon for problems to arise.

I run a few hacks on my forum and have upgraded several times since they were implemented. So far, there hasn't been any conflicts or problems.

[dweiss]

I know in the past I've installed Vbulletin successfully, but I've never tried to upgrade it to a newer version, is this something that's easy to do, or is it a pain in the arse to do?

Personally, I find the upgrade process to be one of vBulletin's weaker features. It isn't terribly difficult, but I would like to see it as a more automated process that can take account of minor modifications a user may have made on a more automated basis. As it is, an upgrade requires almost as much work as a full installation plus the reconstruction of any special template modifications the user has made.

To be fair, anyone that can install vBulletin can perform the upgrade in a fairly straight forward manner, but it would be nice to see vBulletin move towards a more automated "one-button" upgrade system.

[StrongMotive]

I do find upgrading vbulletin easy :)

[GHOwner]

You will tend to run into problems moving more than point releases if your site uses many plugins (because these large version bumps tend to break 3rd party code, always check with the developer for an updated plugin before upgrading).

I'd say you should upgrade regardless. Upgrades don't only give features, some of them I mean, but majority (if not all) fix the software itself. It would be best that vBulletin installations are updated asap to prevent security invulnerabilities. Plugins can be disabled until functional versions are available, since board data is worth more.

Updating vBulletin itself is very easy. If you manually edit the PHP fiels, however, you'll need to reedit them after the upgrade process. Just use the Plugin system for the code editing needs. It'll be less of a struggle.

Updating only updates the software. You'll need to manually update any out-of-date templates after upgrading, if you desire to.