drupalib A place for library drupallers to hang out

Believe it or not, I am just now getting around to upgrading to Drupal 5. When Drupal 6 is released, probably in January some time, security patches for 4.x will stop being issued. It's time to move on.

So, after much backing up of my database and drupal files, figuring out which versions of 4.x modules I was using, and debugging SQL errors, I've updated Drupalib to the latest versions of Drupal, CCK, Views, and secondary modules like CAPTCHA and workspace. Everything seems to be intact except my hairline.

Lessons learned from this upgrade and from upgrading the two sites I manage at SFU:

• Upgrade early and upgrade often. It's what smart people do, like starting to save for retirement when they are 20 years old.
• The 5.x install/upgrade system rocks, but in 4.x, even the latest versions, it sucks, plain and simple. I don't know why it took until version 5 to indicate on the modules page what version was installed.
• Back up your database and files frequently but label the milestone clearly (e.g., 'pre5.0'). Duh.
• As a general strategy, upgrade to the latest 4.x versions of Drupal and any modules, test, and then move on to Drupal 5.0. Upgrade from 5.0 directly to 5.5. Then move on to the modules, first installing the earliest stable versions and upgrading directly to the latest versions.
• Upgrading CCK from anything prior to version 4.7.x-1.2 is an experience that most people will want to avoid. My difficulties are my own fault since I was an early adopter of CCK and a lazy upgrader (guess how old I was when I started saving for retirement). The biggest problem was that version cck-4.7.x-1.x-dev renamed the node_type table to node_content_type, but for some reason, on all three sites I've upgraded in the last two weeks (this one plus the two at work), node_content_type already existed. Not sure why or how. All I know is that I'm glad to see the early versions of cck in my rearview mirror.
• Upgrade early and upgrade often. Behold the miracle of compound interest.

I'l be trying some new themes in the next little while, but for now, garland will do fine.