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Updating la.plume Micro CMS

Updating versions older than 10.0

See also updating versions since 10.0 »

Versions 10.+ of la.plume Micro CMS have a new folder structure. Updating from previous versions is quite simple but requires the following steps to be taken in sequence. The update does not touch your current version, which you can restore if you want to.

(1) Download the ZIP and unzip Version 10.+ onto your hard drive
(2) Upload folders and files

Upload the /admin/ folder & files to your website installation (root) folder.

Upload the /comments/ empty folder to your website installation (root) folder.

Upload the /inc/ folder & files to your website installation (root) folder.

Upload the /pages/ empty folder to your website installation (root) folder.

Upload the files inside the new /css/ folder and /img/ folder into your current /css/ and /img/ folders (don't upload the folders themselves).

Upload the rest of files located directly in the download folder (the ones marked 'new version' below).

After the steps above are completed and everything is uploaded, your website installation (root) folder should be as follows:

/admin/ (new folder with new files)
/cms/ (existing folder untouched)
/comments/ (new empty folder)
/css/ (existing folder with some updated files)
/img/ (existing folder with some updated files)
/inc/ (new folder with new files)
/pages/ (new empty folder)
/.htaccess (existing file)
/contact.php (new version)
/error404.php (new version)
/extra-default.txt (new version)
/favicon.ico
/index.php (new version)
/preview.php (new version)
/readme.txt (new version)
/search.php (new version)

However, Version 10.+ is not yet installed and your website is still running the previous version. Continue:

(3) Copy the content to its new location*

The new v10.+ /admin/ folder contains a file named copy-files.php. Upload (or move) this file to the /cms/admin/ folder of your previous install—not the new one.

The page should be http://www.yourwebsite.com/cms/admin/copy-files.php. Open the page and click 'Copy the files' to copy your content to the new Version 10.+ folders.

(4) Install and set up Version 10.+

Go to http://www.yourwebsite.com/admin/install.php to install Version 10.+ then http://www.yourwebsite.com/admin/setup.php to complete the setup.

The original /cms/ folder is now redundant and can be deleted at leisure.


*As an alternative to using /cms/admin/copy-files.php your content files can be copied manually. la.plume Micro CMS stores web page content as pairs of files: eg page.php and page.txt. Each page has a .php file and a .txt file of the same name. Prior to Version 10.+ those files are all in the /cms/ folder. In Version 10.+ the .php files are in the main installation (root) folder and the .txt files are in the /pages/ folder. Comment files are in the /comments/ folder in both cases. To copy the files, download them into temporary folders then upload them to the new ones.

Similarly copy (i) extra-content.php from the /cms/ folder to the root folder, (ii) /cms/inc/inmenu.txt to /inc/inmenu.txt, and (iii) /cms/inc/footer-links.php to /inc/footer-links.php.


Backup before updating

Backup existing pages, comments and images before updating. Versions 7.2 and newer include a utility to ZIP the files for download to your hard drive. As always, just in case.


Updating versions since 10.0

Updating from Version 10.0 or later is simpler:

(1) Download the ZIP and unzip Version 10.2 onto your hard drive
(2) Upload

Upload the folders and files inside the /admin/ folder.

Upload the folders and files inside the /inc/ folder.

Upload the files inside the /css/ folder and /img/ folder.

Upload the files located directly in the download (root) folder.

(3) Install and set up

Go to http://www.yourwebsite.com/admin/install.php to install Version 10.+ then http://www.yourwebsite.com/admin/setup.php to complete the setup.

Passwords for Versions 10.3 onwards are salted and hashed with a different hashing method (64 characters long) to earlier versions (32 characters long). Setting up passwords to access site admin and password-protected pages requires them to be processed here. The same passwords as before can be used but they must be set up afresh through the install and setup process (needs doing once only).

Page last modified: January 03, 2015

Comments


Hi Patrick,

This script gets more amazing with each update!
Quick question

Is it possible to run more than one instance of this script, for example in a number of sub-domains?

Regards
J


Hello J, and thanks for the comment.

You can install the script as many times as you like on the same website/server, in sub-domains or wherever, as long (obviously) as each install is self-contained in its particular location. In other words you can't install it twice in the same folder, but I guess that goes without saying.

The only thing that might get in the way would be if there was an .htaccess file lurking somewhere—unrelated to the CMS—that contained rules affected other folders where the CMS is installed... which is probably unlikely but theoretically possible.

Patrick


Thanks for the detailed updating process it worked smoothly without a hitch.

Pete Jones (sotcw webmaster)


With version 10.2 when I enter the backup section in the admin control panel and click on either backup pages (+comments) or backup images it takes me to the backup.php page and only shows the text "Create/download/delete backup.zip of content files" the rest of the page is blank. I've tried it in both Chrome and Firefox with the same results. I've checked the server and no zip file has been created on the server.

Pete Jones


I'll check it again, although it works for me.

A question: did you get this issue with Version 10.0? If the v10.0 backup worked okay I can identify the v10.2 change as a potential issue (though the change was very slight). Even better, if you still have version 10.0 you can maybe upload that backup.php to replace the new one. I'd be especially interested in the result of that.

Patrick


Version 10 backup.php gave the same result.

Pete Jones


Thanks. It's strange though. Someone else who uses the CMS just tested his and the backup works (as mine does). The 'blank page' effect suggests a php error somewhere, but I can't think what. If you are able to, I would appreciate it if you could open /admin/top.php and add two forward slashes at the start of lines 8 and 9 then upload the file. That will 'comment out' error supression and enable any php errors to appear on-screen (then remove the slashes and restore the file). If any errors are revealed I'll then be able to fix it. As I say, I don't see errors myself.

Otherwise if that doesn't throw any light on things I can rewrite the backup file completely. Backup uses php's RecursiveDirectoryIterator class and maybe some servers don't like it.


OK here's the error:

Fatal error: Undefined class constant 'SKIP_DOTS' in /etc/admin/backup.php on line 105

The version my server is using is: 5.2.17


Excellent. Many thanks. I think SKIP_DOTS requires php 5.3. I'll fix that (and post back when done).

Patrick


I can update to 5.3 on webhost that would mean that you can update min requirements to version 5.3 and save yourself some programming!


Thanks for the offer Peter, but it's fixed I think. Hopefully /admin/backup.php in the (just updated) download will work for you. Please let me know if it doesn't. Only that one file is amended.

Patrick


Yes that works fine now.


Good, and many thanks for the feedback.

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