Upgrade to 1.3.9e using Simple Scripts or not?

[Athens Collectibles]

Hi all,

I have my site hosted by BlueHost (recommended by Zen Cart) and I did a one-click installation of version 1.3.9d a few weeks ago with the use of Simple Scripts provided by BlueHost.

As of yesterday, every time I login to cPanel a pop-up message prompts me to upgrade to 1.3.9e. I would do that but wonder if I should use Simple Scripts or do it manually. The reason for my worries is DrByte's comments in another thread
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160232 indicating potential dangers of automatic installations.

What is the recommended method for a safe upgrade on the understanding that I don't want to create a mess. The initial one-click installation was very smooth and everything lasted a couple of minutes with the site running perfectly since then.

Thanks in advance for any assistance or comment.

[frank18]

Do it the manual way - don't use any automatic upgrade.

There are only just over 30 files involved for uploading. Merging should be a breeze.

[Athens Collectibles]

Thanks Frank, I thought so too. I'll probably do it tonight when wife and doggie go to bed and I will not be interrupted.

[Athens Collectibles]

Done manually and everything appears to work OK! Thanks for your assistance Frank.

[ztotheetothen]

Done manually and everything appears to work OK! Thanks for your assistance Frank.

Haha, thats what I am doing.

You mentioned "merging files" , is that by comparing each file side by side? Or is there another easier way to upgrade to 1.3.9e ?

[Athens Collectibles]

Hello ztotheetothen,

I'm not sure if you are asking me about "merging files" or Frank who mentioned it.

My upgrade method was simple as described below:

The 1.3.9e installation pack has the following document in the "docs" folder:

changelog-v1-3-9e.html

You will see in it:

Version 1.3.9e

Changed Files (since release of v1.3.9d)

/admin/includes/extra_configures/enable_error_logging.php
/admin/includes/functions/general.php
/admin/includes/modules/document_general/collect_info.php
/admin/includes/modules/document_product/collect_info.php
/admin/includes/modules/product/collect_info.php
/admin/includes/modules/product_free_shipping/collect_info.php
/admin/includes/modules/product_music/collect_info.php
/admin/whos_online.php
/docs/ <VARIOUS FILES HERE>
/editors/.htaccess
/includes/spiders.txt
/includes/version.php
/includes/classes/order_total.php
/includes/classes/shopping_cart.php
/includes/extra_configures/enable_error_logging.php
/includes/functions/functions_email.php
/includes/functions/sessions.php
/includes/init_includes/init_category_path.php
/includes/init_includes/init_sessions.php
/includes/modules/additional_images.php
/includes/modules/checkout_process.php
/includes/modules/create_account.php
/includes/modules/order_total/ot_coupon.php (* see note below)
/includes/modules/order_total/ot_group_pricing.php
/includes/modules/pages/advanced_search_result/header_php.php
/includes/modules/pages/checkout_process/header_php.php
/includes/modules/pages/checkout_success/header_php.php
/includes/modules/payment/authorizenet.php
/includes/modules/payment/paypal/paypal_curl.php
/includes/modules/payment/paypal/paypal_functions.php
/includes/modules/payment/paypaldp.php
/includes/modules/payment/paypalwpp.php
/ipn_main_handler.php

(* this is wrong, it should read /includes/modules/order_total/ot_tax.php - see this post: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160378)

All I did was to copy these specific files to the corresponding folders on the server, overwriting the previous version.

I'm still very new to Zen Cart but, unless one of the gurus in these forums tells me that this was not the correct procedure, I believe that it was simple enough and according to upgrade instructions in the above post because I was already on 1.3.9d and very few files had changed.

Needless to say that everything (including the database) had been backed up prior to the changes, just in case something went wrong.

Good luck with your own upgrade and wishes for a nice weekend.

[kuroi]

On a fairly new site with few add-on modules, you'll likely get away with this approach.

On a more established site there's a risk that some of these files may also have either custom changes or changes needed for by one of your add-on modules. In which case the new and old changes need to be merged together using a file comparison tool such as WinMerge or Beyond Compare.

[Athens Collectibles]

I see, thank you Kuroi.

I was probably lucky because it's a fairly new installation. I know that I had not made any changes to these files. As for changes needed by
add-on modules, I have installed two modules only: "About Us Page" and "Language-Currency Links in Header". They both function normally after the upgrade and I guess that I have escaped trouble this time.

I will be more careful next time. Thanks again for the warning.

[ztotheetothen]

i have successfully upgraded to 1.3.9e.
since i have a few mods, like newsletter mod and creo URI mapping, i checked every file side by side using a file campare tool.

I highly recommend it, since it highlights all che changes and allows you to save within the program, so no need to open in any html or php editor.

you can download this free software here:

download.cnet.com/Files-Compare-Tool/3000-2248_4-10453345.html

Thank you to everyone for your continuous zen-cart help and support.

[DrByte]

The official Zen Cart upgrade instructions recommend using WinMerge for quick file comparisons and merging/saving your changes.
ref: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=98
ref: http://winmerge.sf.net