Problems upgrading from 3.0.98 to latest (Stable)

[louisstephens]

We have a Processwire (3.0.98) project that has been happily trundling along for around 4 years (give or take) without fail. I have tried to stay on top of maintenance and upgrades over the years, but some other projects got in the way and it got a bit neglected. I got the itch to upgrade the textarea yesterday (for a new template), so I went down the path of updating processwire.

• I downloaded the latest stable version 3.0.229
• Renamed the index, htaccess.txt, and wire folder to new_*
• Uploaded the new files via ftp
• Renamed the old index, htaccess, and folder to start with .HOLD. (just in case)
• Renamed the new files to take their place

When I went to refresh the site, I just got a 500 server error, and unfortunately setting config->debug to true didnt show any helpful information. I am sure I am making quite a large jump in versions, but have I happened to miss something in the update process? I thought I would be fine since I was still in version 3.x.x territory. 

[AndZyk]

Hello @louisstephens,

a 500 server error could be caused by wrong .htaccess rules: https://processwire.com/docs/start/install/troubleshooting/#resolving-an-apache-500-error

Did you check that you have the same rules in the new .htaccess like in the old one?

Regards, Andreas

[da²]

@louisstephensYou didn't upgrade the database? If no, it's expected to have issues.

Usually upgrades are done by installing module "Upgrades", then going to Configure > Upgrades.

So I would suggest reverting your changes and follow this procedure. You don't have to manually backup files and database (of course you can as a double security), as it will be suggested by the Upgrades modules.

Note that in case of errors you can check web server and PHP logs on your server.

[louisstephens]

Thanks everyone! I think I missed a few tweaks I had done in my previous .htaccess file when I replaced it. If my memory serves me correct, I never really had an issue upgrading in the past.
 

As far as the "Upgrades" module, I do have it installed, but when I tried to go down this route I kept running into errors. It would download the necessary files (htaccess, config, and wire) but then error out on my me regarding the admin "theme". I just checked my logs and cant find the specific error that I got, but it had something to do with the "admin theme" and FieldTypeTextAreas. I know it isnt a lot to go on, but I will keep digging through my logs.

The one that does keep popping up in the logs is:

2023-10-11 16:35:41 guest https://demo.com/processwire/login/ Fatal Error: Uncaught Error: Class 'FieldtypeTextarea' not found in /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/site/modules/FieldtypeTextareas/FieldtypeTextareas.module:20 Stack trace: #0 /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/wire/core/ModulesFiles.php(324): include_once() #1 /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/wire/core/ModulesLoader.php(723): ProcessWire\ModulesFiles->includeModuleFile('/mnt/stor17-wc1...', 'FieldtypeTextar...') #2 /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/wire/core/Modules.php(667): ProcessWire\ModulesLoader->includeModule(Object(ProcessWire\ModulePlaceholder), '') #3 /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/wire/core/WireClassLoader.php(283): ProcessWire\Modules->includeModule('FieldtypeTextar...') #4 [internal function]: ProcessWire\WireClassLoader->loadClass('ProcessWire\\Fie...') #5 [internal function]: spl_autoload_call('ProcessWire\\Fie...') #6 /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/ (line 20 of /mnt/stor17-wc1-ord1/949814/demo.com/web/content/site/modules/FieldtypeTextareas/FieldtypeTextareas.module)

[da²]

So, how are you upgrading the database?

[louisstephens]

That is a good question! I have the ProcessWireUpgrade module installed as mentioned before, but I dont think I have ever upgraded the database when upgrading to different versions. Is there a module for this, or did you mean just backing up the databse/files with a module like Duplicator?

[da²]

The Upgrades module backup and upgrades the database, so I don't think you can achieve an update without using it, or at least it looks dangerous as you don't really know if something is missing in DB.

[adrian]

@da² - unless I am misunderstanding you, the PW Upgrades module doesn't do anything to upgrade the DB. There are almost never changes to the PW DB schema, but if they are required, then it is handled automatically the first time PW loads after the contents of the wire folder are updated with the new version.

[da²]

@adrianOK I didn't know. Since the Upgrades module is backing up DB I thought it was updating itself.

[Inxentas]

I had a very similar issue not too long ago, which pointed to some issue with the AdminUIKit module while upgrading an old site. You can find the topic here. Perhaps going through these steps will help figuring out what tweaks you might have forgotten. This assumes you've got the ProcessWireUpgrade module installed.