Upgrade in "3 easy steps"? Am I missing something?

I have been reading and trying to understand the upgrading tutorials for days now. I have come to the conclusion that I must be one of the dumbest people on the face of the planet. My coronary system is going to need an upgrade soon too. Perhaps I can find a "3-easy-steps" tutorial for that too.

Here is what I don´t understand:

1. I have compared the original 1.3.8a files with my working files and made a list of files that contain differences. I don´t understand how this list is going to help me because I don´t have the ability to determine what changes I should carry over to 1.5 and what changes I should not.

... So, assuming that I just ignore all those changes and use the unchanged files from 1.5, I am still stuck with the next problem...

2. It will take me hundreds of hours to go through my override system and search out all the language files and template files and what not, that I have changed over the years, and incorporate those changes into my new 1.5 file system. I don´t even know where to start. The whole system is totally overwhelming.

For years I have been reading that the override system will make upgrading easier. I must be totally missing something because the way I see it, the override system makes things more time consuming. Since all of the language files that I have changed are now in the override system, it is more difficult to compare them to the fresh language files in 1.5.

I guess this is something that I can accomplish in about 300 to 500 hours. Is that the normal expected upgrade manpower requirement?

... Then what about the files that are modified through the define pages editor, and what about the extra define pages that I have added?

As you can probably tell, I am totally dumbfounded and overwhelmed by the quantity of work. If I am really not getting something, I would really appreciate some helpful tips. Thanks.

Since all of the language files that I have changed are now in the override system

It will take me hundreds of hours to go through my override system and search out
If they are truly in the override system and only one that have been changed using a tool like winmerge should make quick work of it

Yes, as Kobra says, you need to use the right tool. For example...

I just used BBEdit's Find Differences command (in my iMac) on the 1.3.8a English folder comparing it to the 1.5.1 English folder (including any nested folders they contained). I set that up by simply dragging the folders into the dialog box, then I clicked the Compare button and it found all the files with changes in less than a second, and gave me an interface in which I could select one file at a time, then select each difference in that file to look at both files and decide to make the change or not. And if I decided to make the change, it was just a button click since the editor was going to do the work for me. (It took me longer to type that than to do it.) I could easily have upgraded all the files in the 1.3.8a English folder to the 1.5.1 versions in just a few minutes. I assume winmerge or a similar tool will do something very similar in Windows.

Rob

If they are truly in the override system and only one that have been changed using a tool like winmerge should make quick work of it

...well I guess that is fundamentally my question. What does "quick work" mean? It seems to me like a huge amount of work to compare the files and modify them and load them back up.

I find the override system totally confusing. Especially the template system. I have WinMerge, and Filezilla, and Notepad++ open and I am trying to figure out which files I am modifiying and which ones I am just comparing and which ones are overrides and which ones not and ... my brain just exploded.

I am having trouble sitting in front of this computer and keeping an overview of the situation. Is there any organizational information available for someone who wants to do an upgrade? Or do people just sit down and start modifying files -- one here, one there until everything looks just fine and happy?

rstevenson:

I could easily have upgraded all the files in the 1.3.8a English folder to the 1.5.1 versions in just a few minutes.
Rob
Well then, I would be happy to pay you $200/hour to upgrade my files. Let´s see, if it won´t take more than 15min., that would be about 50 bucks. Sound good?

I said what I said so you could see how an experienced person does it, not so you could come back with a smart a** response. If you don't wish to learn, don't ask questions.

Rob

It has belatedly occurred to me that you may have been joking, in which case a smiley would have been in order. If so, I apologize for my response to what seemed to me to be sarcasm. But if you weren't joking, my response stands. :lookaroun

Rob

Hi Rob, I don´t want to be a jerk. Sorry about that. I guess I was trying to get a few hundred hours of work done for 50 bucks. Probably not realistic.

Anyway, let´s get back on track. I do want to learn and I sincerely appreciate that you respond. I have had a good night´s sleep and I am ready to try this again.

O.k. so, I have started with includes/languages/MYTEMPLATE/english.php. I have made the necessary changes.

Since I have my site in German, I have done the same for includes/languages/MYTEMPLATE/german.php.

Now I will be moving on to all of the other folders in includes/languages in my old version 1.3.8a. I will be looking for MYTEMPLATE. When I find MYTEMPLATE, I will make a MYTEMPLATE folder in my new version 1.5 and copy all the matching clean files up into that folder so that they can then be compared, using Winmerge, to my modified files in 1.3.8a.

Sounds like you're on track. One thing to be wary of... mods that you used in 1.3.8 may not be suitable for 1.5.1, especially any mods that had an admin interface like a new menuitem under Configuration in admin, for example. That's because there's a new way of registering such mods in admin.

Generally, I take advantage of the upgrade time to make essentially a new site, reinstalling any mods I still want, leaving out any I don't, adding new ones to try. That way, the only real upgrade part of the process occurs in my template files, and I may even do a whole new template. Of course, if you like everything about your old site, then the file-compare upgrade process is the way to go.

Ask here in the forum if you get stuck on any particular part of the upgrade. We'll help.

Rob