paFileDB 3.6 Upgrade Guide

This guide will help walk you through the upgrade of paFileDB.

If you are upgrading from paFileDB 3.5.x to paFileDB 3.6, please see this file for instructions.

Before you begin
In order to upgrade paFileDB, make sure you have the following:
-A server with PHP and MySQL support
-MySQL connection info (obtain this from your host)
-An FTP program to upload files to your server
-A standard installation of paFileDB 3.1. Modified versions of paFileDB 3.1 are not supported and it may not be possible to upgrade them to paFileDB 3.6. As always, use modifications at your own risk!

Upgrading paFileDB is very simple. Under normal circumstances and with a broadband connection, upgrading shouldn't take longer than about 10 minutes.

FAQs
Please read the following FAQs before upgrading, as they contain important information about the new version of paFileDB.

Q: Will my existing skins and language files work?
A:
Unfortunatley, no they won't. Due to an entire rewrite of the script, old language files, skins, and modifications are incompatible.

Q: Why were all of my file's ratings reset to zero?
A: This is due to differences in the rating system between the two versions. paFileDB 3.1 was also buggy when it came to ratings, and paFileDB 3.5 fixes those bugs, but ratings had to be reset to fix them. Also, paFileDB 3.1 uses X out of 10 for the rating system, and paFileDB 3.6 uses X out of 5 for the rating system, and if the old ratings were kept, a rating of 8.7 out of 5 would just look silly.

Q: Where's the Team Control Panel? How do I add team members?
A:
Don't worry. The Team CP has been integrated with the Admin CP. When you add an administrator, you can select what permissions they have, and the "Moderator" option is the same thing as a team member. Team members will login at admin.php, just like admins. Upon logging into the Admin CP, team members will see only a limited number of options. Please note, that due to the differences, all team members will be deleted during the upgrade process. You will have to add them again in the admin center.

Q: All of the file counts for my categories are wrong!
A:
This is another side effect of the upgrade process and due to differences in the way file counts are stored. You will need to go to "Manage Categories" in the admin center, and choose the Recount Categories option. This may seem like a pain, but your host will thank you, because in the end, this makes the script a lot more efficient.

Q: paFileDB 3.1 had a fair share of bugs. Are these fixed?
A:
Yes! Not a single line of paFileDB 3.1 code is still being used, so any paFileDB 3.1 bugs are a thing of the past. paFileDB 3.6 has been thoroughly tested and any bugs found during the testing process have been fixed for the public release. Of course, despite this being a public, final release, that doesn't mean it's 100% bug free. Look at Windows XP for example ;) If you do happen to find a bug, please report it to us, and if it's a security related problem, please, for the love of all things holy, do not give details on exploiting the hole to anyone besides us to protect everyone's database until a patch is released.

Upgrading paFileDB
1. IMPORTANT: Backup your paFileDB 3.1 database using a tool such as phpMyAdmin. In the unlikely event that there is a problem upgrading, you will need a backup to restore your database to its previous state to either use paFileDB 3.1 or attempt the upgrade again.

2. Unzip the file you downloaded from the paFileDB homepage. Chances are that if you're reading this, you've already done that.

3. Open the "upload" folder, then open "includes" and then open the file "config.php". You will need to edit that file to reflect your MySQL server information. You will need to edit the server, username, password and the database name. Editing the prefix is optional, and only necessary if installing more than one copy of paFileDB in the same database. IMPORTANT NOTES: The information must be the same as paFileDB 3.1 in order to upgrade. The only exception, is for the prefix, you must add an underscore (_)to the end of it. For example, if your paFileDB 3.1 prefix is files, your prefix for paFileDB 3.6 must be files_

3. Connect to your server via FTP. Then, make a folder on your server where you would like paFileDB installed at. For example, if you create a folder called "pafiledb", you will probably be accessing your file database by visiting http://www.yourdomain.com/pafiledb . It is recommended that you make a new directory to install paFileDB 3.6 in instead of using your existing paFileDB 3.1 folder. However, if you would like to use the same folder, delete everything in your paFileDB 3.1 folder (after backing up the files) to prevent any conflicts between the two versions. Make sure you don't delete your existing "uploads" folder if you have uploaded files through the paFileDB admin center.

4. Open up the "upload" folder from the file you just unzipped. You will need to upload everything in that folder, except for the "install" folder . Uploading is a bit different for each FTP program, check it's manual for more details.

5. If you use a *NIX (Linux, Unix, OSX and a couple others) server, you will need to CHMOD a couple directories. CHMODing is done via your FTP program, you will need to check it's manual for more details on doing this. The following files and folders need to be CHMODded to the values given:

6. Now that everything is uploaded, you will need to run the upgrader in your browser. This can be done by visiting http://www.yourdomain.com/pafiledb/upgrade, where yourdomain.com is your domain name, and pafiledb is the path to paFileDB. Once you've got the upgrader up, it will take you through everything.

7. Congratulations! You're almost done. Just delete the "upgrade" directory from your server immediatley because it can be a security risk by leaving it there.

8. Once you have deleted the "upgrade" directory, login to your admin center and modify paFileDB's settings to suit your needs. You will also need to recount your categories and add your team members (as mentioned in the FAQ section, which you should have read before upgrading as it contains important info).

If you have any problems with the upgrading of paFileDB, please visit our Support Page.