This article will help you to upgrade your SocialEngine installation and troubleshoot some common problems associated with upgrades.
Before performing an upgrade, make a backup of your SocialEngine files and database. Most hosting providers include a backup utility with their control panel software. If you are not sure how to make a backup of your SocialEngine database and files, please contact your hosting provider and have them assist you with this. Alternately, refer to our Making and Restoring Backups article for assistance.
If upgrading from versions 4.0 up to 4.9.4p1, you will need to download this patch, unzip it and upload the file to your server, overwriting the folder on the server. This should be uploaded to the location on your server where SocialEngine is installed (in most cases, this is the public_html, httpdocs or other main folder). Be sure to do this step before following the next steps and after you have backed up your site files and database. This step will not be necessary when upgrading from 4.9.4p1 and up.
If you find that you can’t get the file to upload, it either keeps spinning or keeps saying you’ve not selected a file, you’ll want to have your host raise the PHP settings for upload_max_filesize and post_max_size as the upgrade file is large. Alternately, see the next step for where to FTP the upgrade .tar file in order to proceed with the upgrade.
Mainly in Ubuntu servers, you may see a white screen or an error message about "cache_dir is not writable", set full permissions on temporary/cache.” This is resolved in the patch mentioned above. Please get the patch and upload it before trying to upgrade.
One way around this problem is to upload the file directly to SocialEngine using an FTP client. Log into your website over FTP and locate the "/temporary/package/archives/" directory in your SocialEngine path. Upload the tar file to this directory, and set the permissions of the file to 777. Then, proceed to the Manage > Packages & Plugins page. SocialEngine should be able to detect the file and extract its contents, allowing you to proceed with the rest of the installation.
Your server may not have sufficient memory allocated to PHP to upgrade all the packages selected. Try only checking 4 or 5 packages at a time until all packages have been upgraded.
**Proceed with caution. You assume any and all risks and liability in customizing your SocialEngine files and in re-applying customizations. SocialEngine does not recommend altering the SocialEngine files. The following basic guide is provided as a general learning tool. SocialEngine assumes no liability for damages to your website as a result of following this guide.
This is a basic guide. It is recommended that those with advanced experience with the SocialEngine script continue with these steps. If you are a novice, or don’t know how to edit and/or compare files, you should seek Expert help for your upgrade.
In addition to a copy of the SocialEngine files, we recommend that you have the following:
Once you know which files need to be edited, follow the next steps.
Note that your modifications may need to be updated. Be prepared to have to update your own code. Also note that deprecated functions, hooks, features may have been removed and your code might not work if it relies on those. You would need to either make new code or seek Expert help in cases like this.
Great work! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need further tutorials. Visit our community to have more interactions with us and other clients or third party developers. We’d love to see you there!