Importing from SMF 2.1

[siep]

Hi,

I have a forum for almost 2 years now. SMF 2.1 looked promesing at the start, so we chose to go for it. It was still a RC version, but stable.
Unfortunately, the process till final release is really slow and we are looking for a more reliable forumsoftware because the community is growing.
We would like to upgrade to XenForo 2.2.
I have seen there is an importer available for SMF. Will this importer also work for SMF 2.1 (RC3)?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[Chris D]

I believe the RC3 release is quite recent but we don't currently have any reason to believe the current SMF importer we have won't work.

Issues are unlikely but I'm sure if any issues arise they won't be insurmountable.

 

[siep]

Thank you for your fast reponse, Chris!

RC3 release is from October. So far I know, the database tables are almost the same as SMF 2.0x.
Good timing to try it out, I guess.

 

[radu81]

If I'm not wrong the importer is made for SMF 2.0, there are some new features introduced with SMF 2.1, the first thing that comes to my mind is the like system which won't be imported.

 

[Chris D]

Yes this is true. The importer was written for SMF 2.0 though the comments still stand about the importer stuff functioning. I'm pretty sure that is still the case. Though you may be right that new features, such as likes, may not be imported.

This may be something we need to add support for if there is enough call for it, although we'd potentially prefer to do that once SMF 2.1 is stable so that we're not chasing our tail when it comes to changes they may make before it is declared stable.

 

[bobbitt]

Sorry to piggyback but I have a somewhat related question. I'm running SMF 2.0 on a large board and am strongly considering a move to XenForo. However before I commit I'm wondering if there's a way to trial the conversion process. That is, could I get a temp license to attempt a migration from SMF 2.0? If all is good, I pay for a full license, if not I scrap and carry on with SMF. Happy to provide the URL of the board to allow verification that I'm not secretly using it.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Paul B]

We only have a single license type - we don't have trial or temp licenses.

 

[siep]

Yes this is true. The importer was written for SMF 2.0 though the comments still stand about the importer stuff functioning. I'm pretty sure that is still the case. Though you may be right that new features, such as likes, may not be imported.

This may be something we need to add support for if there is enough call for it, although we'd potentially prefer to do that once SMF 2.1 is stable so that we're not chasing our tail when it comes to changes they may make before it is declared stable.

Have there been any imports from SMF2.1 before or am I the first one?
The most important for me are the member profiles, threads and comments. The other things, such as Likes or Alerts, are not really a pain if lost.

 

[radu81]

although we'd potentially prefer to do that once SMF 2.1 is stable

Agree, it has sense, the only problem is that SMF development is very slow. SMF 2.1 Alpha was released back in 2012, and 2.1 RC3 last month. It is pretty stable now, but we'll never know when the stable version will be released. Could be tomorrow, could be next year, or maybe other 8 years

@bobbitt the importer from SMF 2.0 works fine, I did a test recently and had no problems. I did not test the importer with smf 2.1. If you plan to move to XF do not upgrade SMF to 2.1

 

[Chris D]

Have there been any imports from SMF2.1 before or am I the first one?
The most important for me are the member profiles, threads and comments. The other things, such as Likes or Alerts, are not really a pain if lost.

Pretty sure you won't be the first as 2.1 has been out for a while in some form. Profiles, threads and comments will definitely come through.

If you face problems though just let us know we'll be able to workaround them fairly quickly, I'm sure. Though I should add it's best to do it in a test environment first to give yourself a bit of breathing space in case you run into anything.

We've not found an importer issue yet that is insurmountable or overly complex!

 

[Overscan]

I was on SMF 2.0 tired of waiting for a stable 2.1 having used SMF since Dec 2005. I found a fair few snags in my SMF 2.0 > Xenforo upgrade and nearly gave up, but honestly, it was the best thing I could have done, and the community and devs were very helpful getting through it. I even made some improvements to the importer code I'm pretty sure basics of posts, attachments and messages won't have changed in the database, so 2.1 should be ok. The sql file from the 2.0 - 2.1 upgrade should show any SQL database alterations made.

Its absolutely essential to start with a test forum migration, you will probably hit snags, and so you need to go though the process and figure out the solutions without your userbase clamouring for their forum back up. Using a VPS provider you can spin up a server to do the tests on.

 

[siep]

I was on SMF 2.0 tired of waiting for a stable 2.1 having used SMF since Dec 2005. I found a fair few snags in my SMF 2.0 > Xenforo upgrade and nearly gave up, but honestly, it was the best thing I could have done, and the community and devs were very helpful getting through it. I even made some improvements to the importer code I'm pretty sure basics of posts, attachments and messages won't have changed in the database, so 2.1 should be ok. The sql file from the 2.0 - 2.1 upgrade should show any SQL database alterations made.

Its absolutely essential to start with a test forum migration, you will probably hit snags, and so you need to go though the process and figure out the solutions without your userbase clamouring for their forum back up. Using a VPS provider you can spin up a server to do the tests on.

Thanks for the reply! We are now preparing, figuring out how the importers work and how to set up a test site. We are also considering switching host, because our current does not have PHP7. A lot to do and to figure out, but we hope to buy a licence January 2021.

 

[dknife]

Thanks for the reply! We are now preparing, figuring out how the importers work and how to set up a test site. We are also considering switching host, because our current does not have PHP7. A lot to do and to figure out, but we hope to buy a licence January 2021.

That's quite scary if your host doesn't have PHP7 at all.