[quote:1wqtiwxf]But surely if i overwrite my existing files with the new files it will distroy any programming i have done i.e. created extra tabs etc. Can anyone please give me a step by step, blow by blow of how to upgrade to the latest version. [/quote:1wqtiwxf]
Here is an article from our wiki: http://www.epesi.org/Installation
There are two parts of the upgrade process:
- upgrading php scripts files
- upgrading database schema
To upgrade php script files you need to download the entire epesi package - from sourceforge or from github:
http://www.epesi.org/Installation
https://github.com/Telaxus/epesi
but you've already done that.
Unzip the package and override all files in the directory where your epesi was installed.
If you made any custom changes in the code (php script files) they will be lost of course. If you made any changes you should make a backup of these files and then make again the same modifications in files you changed before upgrading. This is why you should avoid making changes to epesi modules script files - instead you should create your own modules - this way your custom changes will survive the update process. I will not go into details how to do it - see this http://www.epesi.org/HelloWorld for more info about how to create custom modules.
The second part - upgrading the database schema - is an independent process from upgrading script files. Sometimes a module has new features or bug fixes but does not require any database changes. In that case the table (or tables) in the database associated with this module will not be changed at all. Sometimes new features are introduced which require changes to one or more table in the database - in that case a special patch is executed and the upgrade of necessary tables are performed automatically.
You may be confused by the second part. If you make custom fields, new pages (sections of the record which show as new tab) - they WILL NOT be lost.
The only changes that could be lost are custom modifications to PHP script files. Database upgrade will take care of your custom fields.
When you write: [quote:1wqtiwxf]it will distroy any programming i have done[/quote:1wqtiwxf] - what kind of programming did you do and where? If all you did was adding new fields or sections (called pages) using admin GUI then you have nothing to worry about.
Also - upgrades are cumulative - you don't need to upgrade from version 1.6.2 to 1.6.3 to 1.6.4 etc. - you can go straight to the latest version.
It is recommended to make a backup of the database and the entire epesi directory and then run the upgrade - this way you can go back if something goes wrong. Alternatively - setup a cloned epesi instance and run the upgrade there first to see if everything works and then run the upgrade on your live instance. This technique is useful when your production instance is used 24x7 and you can not afford taking it offline for a long time.
See also this post: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1320&p=4512&hilit=hacked#p4499
which explains how to proceed in cases where you lost your script files for some reason. A backup of the database is critical in such situation.
