First off I am not a programmer, but I'm getting the "New Version Available v1.3.9d" when I log onto my admin, so I forwarded it to our programmer to update to the current version for our web store.

Our programmer has informed me he believes we can't upgrade without manually reviewing 2500 files, and that we should leave the site as it is and eventually just rebuild?!!!

He seems knowledgeable, I'm going to repost most of his email here, can someone please tell me if this is the case. If not can you respectfully provide an informed response I might forward to him so we can proceed and upgrade our site. Thanks a ton,
Dan
http://www.couchguitarstraps.com

here's the "version" info from our admin
Zen Cart 1.3.8a
Patch: 1::
Database Patch Level: 1.3.8
v1.3.8 [2009-05-27 08:16:44] (Version Update 1.3.7->1.3.8)
v1.3.7.1 [2007-08-29 10:19:53] (Fresh Installation)

Here's the info from the programmer:

Upgrading report

We have installed a copy of the couchguitarstraps.com http://couchguitarstraps.com http://couchguitarstraps.com/ as the upgrading instructions state, you can visit it at
http://www.couchguitarstraps.com/zentest/ http://www.couchguitarstraps.com/zentest/>

Well as you correctly apoint in your email, in the site you mention: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155307 , it says :
" If you're upgrading from v1.3.8a or older versions, you need to follow the FULL upgrade instructions, also in your /docs/ folder"

So the simple process to just replace some files (which worked in previous times) will not work here, . A full process will be needed, as also confirmed here: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=98 https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=98> :
"If you want to preserve your customizations, use the DETAILED instructions mentioned above". (they mean: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=108 https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=108> )

Well, after following all the instructions in step 1 in https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=108, ( also that is why we made the clone site...) which has taken till now 4 hours, we have reached step 2:

"Using the list of files you made earlier, go through each "changed" file, and make your changes from the old version into the new version.
Simple language edits will be just a matter of copy-and-paste.
Programming changes to core components will be more difficult and require significant testing.
You may find WinMerge handy at this stage to apply edits as well. However, you will see many extra differences that may not be related to your own customizations, or that may conflict. Be careful making changes to program code."

Well, the WinMerge program reports more than 2,500 files that needs to be reviewed one by one, and then manually modified, that means not only lots of hours of work, but may be days.... (you can run WinMerge so you can see it yourselves), and even in the instructions says that problems may arise even if you have followed the instructions methodically.

We have not found alternatives to the upgrading, even with extensive research, we recommend to stay with your current version, as the risks of upgrading are high and it is impossible to us to guarantee that nothing bad will happen.

please let me know what you think- Dan Couch

Hi,

Your current site appears to be broken. Clicking on any of the links that lead to your store generates a file not found error.

The upgrade process from v1.3.8 to v1.3.9 is no different from when you went from v1.3.7.1 to v1.3.8.

The only time that careful file comparison is needed is if you have made changes to core files (i.e. ones that can't use the override system).

Do you know how much customisation has been done to the site? How many add-ons installed etc?

Regards,
Christian.

It's also true that WinMerge is quite likely to give false reports. There's a thread here that mentions this and offers a highly specific grep to fine tune its report, which will cut the files to manually examine down from 2500 to on the order of a few dozen -- depending on how well built your site was in the first place.

Rob

The so-called "false reports" are usually caused by altered line-endings on files, caused by FTP programs. Those can be optionally ignored in the WinMerge settings preferences.

More importantly, your programmer is going about the process wrong. The process is not "compare your 1.3.8 with 1.3.9" - since this will indeed show thousands of changes. The process is "compare your 1.3.8 to a fresh download of 1.3.8. Then make these changes in 1.3.9." This will produce a change list which should be an order of magnitude (or more) smaller.

Start with 1.3.9, then add changes; don't start with what you have.

I'm having this issue too and the sticky thread is based on versions now years old. When I go try and change the filter options I don't see the things described in the linefilter tab at all. Help very much needed.

rstevenson:

It's also true that WinMerge is quite likely to give false reports. There's a thread here that mentions this and offers a highly specific grep to fine tune its report, which will cut the files to manually examine down from 2500 to on the order of a few dozen -- depending on how well built your site was in the first place.

Rob

What thread is this?