XF 1.5 Upgrading XF1.5.x to XF2.0.x - What happens to template modifications?

Bimble

Active member
If we upgrade an XF1.5.x site to XF2.0.x what happens to the modifications we've made to templates (since a lot of XF1 templates don't seem to exist in 2)?

And would be better off waiting until XF2.1 is out, or will we need to go XF1 > XF2 > XF2.1 anyway?
 
Template edits are not maintained across the upgrade. The code is totally different.

You will be able to upgrade direct to 2.1.
 
Thanks Mike. So you start on XF2 with the default template set and have to re-make any / all changes you've applied to your XF1 site?

What happens to your XF1 templates then when you upgrade? Are they kept for reference somewhere or just trashed? Do you need to export them first?
 
  • Better keep a local copy of your xf1 on XAMPP or similar.
  • Then install a fresh xf2.1 locally too (you can upgrade a xf1 version, but it is not needed. In any case you have to have two parallel installations afterwards: your xf1 copy and a xf2.1)
  • If needed install an additional style (if you use one for xf1, like PixelExit, Themehouse...).
  • Then reproduce your changes of your xf1 style in a child style on xf2.1, one by one, till you are satisfied.
  • Then you can export the modified child style and import it to your live site after migrating it to xf2.1 with the same installed styles.
 
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What I am going to do before upgrading to xf 2 is to make local copy with xampp and keep my xf1 there and test things. I am also writing all of the template edits I made to text file so I can later upgrade to xf2 easier. Mostly things like some links in footer and header and the header image and logo.
 
I'm confused. I thought you just uploaded the XF2 files and ran the upgrade process like for XF1.

Both XF1 and XF2 have mostly similar file and directory names so there doesn't appear to be a separation between your "original" XF1 files and the new ones for XF2 - it essentially overwrites your existing XF1 install?

So does it create new database tables so you no longer have access to your XF1 data then? An import so-to-speak?

Seems like the complete opposite of all the prior XF upgrades we've done and looks like a lot more planning and work needs to be done beforehand.

Presumably you can't install them side-by-side and do a staged migration?
 
You’re over complicating it slightly.

It is a normal upgrade in terms of uploading the files and running the installer. No content is lost, there’s no migration required. It might just take a tad longer as there’s a number of steps which run various queries etc.

After the upgrade, you will need to install a new style or create a new one.

The main difference between XF1 and XF2 is that XF2 is a complete rewrite. Any add ons you have will need to be updated and any templates are essentially overwritten by the entirely new XF2 default style.
 
Thanks - that sounds less complex, but, presumably, once you've upgraded to XF2 you cannot see (visually speaking) the changes you've made to the XF1 templates? Hence the suggestion to retain a working version of your XF1 install - so you can refer back to it to apply the changes to your new XF2 style?

I guess it is best to do a number of dry runs to ensure you can apply your changes in a reasonable timeframe to ensure your board isn't down for long.
 
I guess it is best to do a number of dry runs to ensure you can apply your changes in a reasonable timeframe to ensure your board isn't down for long.
We'd always recommend this for any significant upgrade.

What you most likely want to do is get a second, test installation setup for your current XF1, then upgrade that test installation to XF2. Then you have as much time as you need to test things, test add-ons, and re-create your style.

Once you're happy with everything, export the style from the test installation, close then back up your live installation, upgrade your live installation to XF2, import the new style, then upgrade/install any add-ons before opening up the live forum.
 
Thanks for the extra detail Chris. We'd imagined the upgrade was as straight-forward as the usual XF1 upgrades but clearly not, so glad we asked. 👍 I think waiting for XF2.1 is probably the best approach, but presumably practising with XF2 will yield similar results in the meantime, and the template syntax is the same?
 
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