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kingtech
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:23pm
Well since you cannot receive PMs and you closed my last thread, how about this:

You say go to Jelsoft to find easy instructions on how to upload just a few files to patch the security holes...

can you give me a URL to instructions on how to patch 3.7.2 PL1 to 3.7.2 PL2?

Would rather not have to upload the whole thing, nor worry about my customized files being overwritten.

the only instructions I found on upgrading are as follows:


vBulletin 3 Installation / Upgrade



vBulletin 3 zip file contents

do_not_upload/ folder (This folder contains administration files. Only use these when you're told to upload it by a support staff, or if you know what you're doing)
`- file: tools.php (a script to help you fix (login) problems and rebuild caches for usergroups, bitfields, etc.)
`- file: searchshell.php (a php shell script to rebuild search index from console)
`- file: vb_backup.sh (a bash shell script to backup the database, especially handy for nightly backups)

license_agreement.html file (All customers must agree to this license agreement prior to downloading and using the vBulletin software)
vb3_readme.html (HTML version of this installation, upgrade, information file)
vb3_readme.txt (TEXT version of this installation, upgrade, information file)

upload/ folder (This folder contains all the files from the vBulletin forum software that you need to upload when installing or upgrading)
`- All the files inside this folder are required to run vBulletin, see the below installation and/or upgrade instructions on which files to modify and/or to delete after an installation or upgrade.



Installing a new vBulletin 3

First, unzip the vBulletin zip file you downloaded from the members' area [http://members.vbulletin.com] (http://members.vbulletin.com%5D) to your hard disk and then open the 'upload/includes/' folder. In this you will find config.php.new. You should rename this to config.php and then open it in a text editor.

The config.php file is commented throughout, so you should be able to work out what values to enter for the variables yourself. When you have finished, save the file and then upload the entire contents of the 'upload/' folder to your web server.

When this is done, point your browser at http://www.example.com/forums/install/install.php (where www.example.com/forums/ (http://www.example.com/forums/) is the URL of your vBulletin) and proceed to click the Next Step buttons until the script asks to fill in some addresses and names for your board.

After you have done this, the installer will ask you for some details to set you up as the administrator of the new vBulletin. A few more clicks and the script will be finished.

Before proceeding to the Admin Control Panel, you must delete the 'install/install.php' and 'install/upgrade1.php' files from your webserver. You may then enter the control panel and start working on your new vBulletin!

The entire installation process should take no more than five minutes.

For a complete description of how to install vBulletin 3, see the installation section [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/install] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/install%5D) of the vBulletin 3 Manual [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html%5D).

The values for the config.php file are described in detail here [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/editconfig] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/editconfig%5D).



Upgrading from a previous version of vBulletin 3

Close your board via the Admin Control Panel.

Upload all files from the 'upload/' folder in the zip, with the exception of 'install/install.php'. Then open the 'upload/includes/' folder. In this you will find config.php.new. You should rename this to config.php and then open it in a text editor.

Open your browser and point the URL to http://www.example.com/forum/install/upgrade.php (where www.example.com/forums/ (http://www.example.com/forums/) is the URL of your vBulletin). You should now be automatically forwarded to the appropriate upgrade script and step.

Follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure you click next step or proceed until you are redirected to your Admin Control Panel. Here, you can reopen your board.

For a complete description of how to upgrade from a previous version of vBulletin 3 to the latest version, see the upgrade section [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade%5D) of the vBulletin 3 Manual [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html%5D).

Please note that the format for config.php in vBulletin 3.5.x is different from previous versions of vBulletin, and you will need to manually update your config file to the new format. Instructions are here [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/editconfig] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/editconfig%5D).



Upgrading from vBulletin 2 to vBulletin 3

The vBulletin 2 to vBulletin 3 upgrade script will upgrade your vBulletin 2 installation to vBulletin 3. You will not lose any data. Your vB2 styles will not be usable in vB3, but they will not be deleted, they will be kept in the database for your reference.

To upgrade, to vBulletin 3 your existing installation must be running at least vBulletin 2.2.9 or higher.

If you want to upgrade your forums to vBulletin 3, you should first close your board via the vBulletin 2 Admin Control Panel, and then make a complete back-up your database using the following command from the system command line:

mysqldump --opt -Q -uusername -p databasename > databasename.sql

(Where username is your MySQL username and databasename is the name of your database)

When your database backup is complete you should back up your existing vBulletin 2 PHP files and images, just in case you want to revert back to vBulletin 2 for whatever reason.

Before you proceed, you should run the Database Conflict Detection Script [http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=73163] (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=73163%5D) to make sure that the upgrade script will not fail due to any differences from the default vBulletin 2 installation in your database. If any conflicts are detected, you should resolve them before proceeding with the upgrade.

Next, unzip the vBulletin zip file you downloaded from the members' area to your hard disk and then open the 'upload/includes/' folder. In this you will find config.php.new. You should rename this to config.php and then open it in a text editor.

The config.php file is commented throughout, so you should be able to work out what values to enter for the variables yourself. When you have finished, save the file back into the 'upload/includes/' folder as config.php.

Next, you should delete all vBulletin 2 files, including PHP, CSS and style files, along with any images. You should then upload the contents of the 'upload/' folder to your server.

When the upload is complete, point your browser at http://www.example.com/forum/install/upgrade.php where www.example.com/forum/ (http://www.example.com/forum/) is the URL of your vBulletin files.

Please note that we have found that due to the large number of pages that the upgrade script loads, and the speed at which it loads them, certain browser plug-ins can cause the browser to crash out for various reasons. The Google Toolbar is one such plug-in, and we have seen browsers crashing due to the amount of browsing statistics being sent back to Google. If you have plug-ins of this kind installed, turn them off while running the upgrade script.

Running upgrade.php will automatically load the correct upgrade script and present you with a message, which you should read carefully. When you have finished reading, click the Next Step button at the bottom of the page to start the upgrade process. When each page has completed its processing, it will either give you a Next Step button to click, or automatically load the next page, depending on the type of job the page in question is doing.

Some steps will take quite a while to run, especially on large boards with large numbers of posts/threads. Please be patient and allow the script to complete.

If your browser crashes during the upgrade, or if you are on dial-up and your connection is dropped (etc.) then to restart the upgrade script simply point your browser at install/upgrade.php again and it will work out where you got to in the process and restart the process at the appropriate step.

For the most part, you do not need to do anything except click the 'Next Step' buttons to keep the upgrade script running. However, there are a few steps where the script will require your input to continue. One of these is the step where the script asks you to tell it which of your usergroups you use for 'Banned' users. It is important to select these carefully in order to make the enhanced vBulletin 3 banning system work. Additionally, towards the end of the upgrade, as the cookie and user format is converted from vB2 format to vB3 format, you maybe be required to log-in again a few times. This is the expected behavior.

Note: There are several upgrade scripts that need to be run. You do not need to determine which you need to run; they will be determined automatically. Simply click "next step" or "proceed" until you are redirected to your admin control panel.

When the scripts are complete, it will tell you to delete some files, and then redirect you to the Admin Control Panel. You should log in to this and proceed to the Import and Maintenance section of the control panel, where you should run the Rebuild Search Index and Rebuild Statistics controls. Both of these functions will take a quite a long time to run on larger boards.

For a complete description of how to upgrade from a previous version of vBulletin 3 to the latest version, see the upgrade section [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade%5D) and specifically the upgrading from vBulletin 2 section [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade_vb2] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade_vb2%5D) of the vBulletin 3 Manual [http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html] (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html%5D).



Appendix: More information

Here are some important links with more information:

The vBulletin Online Manual (http://www.vBulletin.com/docs/html/) - With installation and upgrade instructions, indepth feature and options information and more technical documents.

The vBulletin Members Area (http://members.vBulletin.com/) - Download area for vBulletin, private customer support tickets area, etc.

The vBulletin Support Forums (http://www.vBulletin.com/forum/) - Free priority support forums, latest announcements with indepth release details, etc.





Copyright ©2000 - 2008 Jelsoft Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

kingtech
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:26pm
and no, I do like having clients. I just feel horrible to have to keep charging them money for things that should be simple no brainers.

The underlying suggestion is that you develop an automated update system that will patch the needed files and ignore files that do not need to be updated.

kingtech
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:28pm
Or even simpler, release patches with each upgrade, that only contain the new files.

KevinL
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:29pm
go to PATCHES (http://members.vbulletin.com/patches.php) download the files and upload...it's pretty easy...

kingtech
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:35pm
Thanks Kevin.

I should feel stupid. But I don't. Clicking the upgrade link in admincp took me to download area for complete package. I work with many other programs, vB is not one I deal with except occasionally.

KevinL
Wed 20th Aug '08, 4:37pm
no worries. glad I could help :)

David Grove
Thu 21st Aug '08, 5:28pm
It would probably be good if members.vbulletin.com/patches.php (http://members.vbulletin.com/patches.php) were linked from somewhere, be it the ACP or the member's download page.

Wayne Luke
Thu 21st Aug '08, 5:37pm
It would probably be good if members.vbulletin.com/patches.php (http://members.vbulletin.com/patches.php) were linked from somewhere, be it the ACP or the member's download page.
It is linked.. Left column of the Member's Area titled "Security Patches" under Support Services.

David Grove
Thu 21st Aug '08, 6:21pm
Ok, my bad. Maybe it should be linked in the ACP news when it's a PL release?

bezking
Thu 21st Aug '08, 9:47pm
PL = Patch Level

Floris
Sat 30th Aug '08, 8:39am
Ok, my bad. Maybe it should be linked in the ACP news when it's a PL release?
the admin should go to the announcement, so they can compare what they have, and what applies to him/her. If we link customers to just the patch files they will not do a full upgrade if the news doesn't apply to them, causing more work for us.

Floris
Sat 30th Aug '08, 8:40am
You say go to Jelsoft to find easy instructions on how to upload just a few files to patch the security holes...

can you give me a URL to instructions on how to patch 3.7.2 PL1 to 3.7.2 PL2?

Would rather not have to upload the whole thing, nor worry about my customized files being overwritten.

Like I said .. I gave instructions on how to PATCH your pl1 to pl2. Which is a few file changes, not having to re-upload the whole .zip.

David Grove
Sat 30th Aug '08, 1:52pm
the admin should go to the announcement, so they can compare what they have, and what applies to him/her. If we link customers to just the patch files they will not do a full upgrade if the news doesn't apply to them, causing more work for us.
The ACP announcement that goes out could be customized to the user's version of vBulletin. If for example they are using 3.7.3 PL1 and then 3.7.3 PL2 comes out it would be appropriate to link directly to the page to download the patch.

Floris
Sat 30th Aug '08, 1:58pm
The news is remotely managed, considering every possible version, all the way back to 2.2.x and all exceptions .. is too much.

David Grove
Sat 30th Aug '08, 2:15pm
The news is remotely managed, considering every possible version, all the way back to 2.2.x and all exceptions .. is too much.
Why is it too much? It would actually be dead simple. In your ACP news manager, have a way to input the generic message that would go to everyone (much like I image it currently is), then have a way to add a specific message that would only get sent to installations that are a certain version.

So for example, say in a week you release 3.7.3 PL1, you would first write the generic bulletin that gets sent to everyone, then write a specific one that would be tagged to be sent only to 3.7.3 installations. In that specific message you would link to the patches.php page, since that would be the appropriate upgrade for those people.


So...

1. Create a message to be sent
2. Add any number of version specific notes to add to that message
3. Send it.

:)

I'm not saying you have to do it, It's just an idea, and not a very complicated one at that. When the installation pings version.vbulletin.com, it would retrieve the generic message and any version-specific messages.

Floris
Sat 30th Aug '08, 2:19pm
Thank you for your feedback, the devs will review it surely. I disagree with you - but it's not up to me to decide on this. I am just giving the argument why it is more complicated that you might think ..

that said, the current situation is: If you wish to know what is up with a new version, check the announcement and act accordingly.

It is common knowledge that if you run same version with and it is a patch level, that you only have to patch, and mismatch is always upgrade.

David Grove
Sat 30th Aug '08, 2:30pm
Thank you for your feedback, the devs will review it surely. I disagree with you - but it's not up to me to decide on this. I am just giving the argument why it is more complicated that you might think ..

that said, the current situation is: If you wish to know what is up with a new version, check the announcement and act accordingly.

It is common knowledge that if you run same version with and it is a patch level, that you only have to patch, and mismatch is always upgrade.
Disagreement is fine with me :), and I disagree with you in that it would be complicated to implement and use :) In fact it could be much simpler than what I outlined above. You write the message that goes out to everyone, then have a generic message that gets automatically tagged onto the end of it. That extra message only goes out to the people who are currently at the version number that is now getting replaced, and that message simply notes that since they are using what was previously the most current version, they can patch their installation instead of doing a full upgrade.

Anyway, my point of view would be to cater to the customer and be as specific as possible instead of thinking that everyone will read the announcement or that everyone has the common knowledge about when they need to do a full upgrade and when they can just do a PL upgrade (which I assure you not very many people will have that common knowledge).

You and I understand this, but I'm fully confident that if you took 100 random vBulletin license-holders and asked them "What is a patch level release", at least 80 of them would have no idea how to respond. :)

Floris
Sat 30th Aug '08, 2:39pm
Time and resources come into play.
Translations from sister sites who might not have the same release cycle.
The way the current system work might not allow such customization.
Fresh installs and restores, etc might be affected.
There are situations where you don't wish old news to confuse the user.
There's more to it than just meets the eye.
It's not just something you quickly code together in a single .php file and hope to run flawless and perfect for thousands^x of customers.
It can and might be refined in the future, but not in the near one.

David Grove
Sat 30th Aug '08, 3:08pm
Naturally, that's why I said it's just an idea. :) I know I'm not privy to all the internal workings of Jelsoft.