By ccshopper on

Hi all,

I'm new to Drupal and I'm still trying to feel my way around. The previous individual who maintained our site left in 2011, and no updates have been applied since. As you can imagine, once I gained access to our site I had quite a few Drupal updates waiting for me. Right now, I'm only concerned with applying the security updates; I'll apply the others once we get caught up a bit (unless this is inadvisable). Currently, I'm running Drupal core 6.6.

My site shows me the new updates which need to be installed. I have the option to download them, but I don't know how to apply them to our site. When I log into the FTP, I see a couple of Drupal folders inside the public_ftp and www folders respectively (presumably placed there by the previous web designer) and I wasn't sure which one to replace. Furthermore, I was afraid to replace either one as I wasn't sure if it would impact or potentially destroy/erase the content we do have.

I backed up my database using myPHPAdmin and downloaded the .SQL file to my computer. Please tell me if there are any other precautions I should take before updating my site.

Thank you so much for any help or insight you guys can provide a newbie like me.

-Devon

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

VM’s picture

VM commented

typically contrib modules are placed in sites/all/modules. However, as you didn't build the site you should verify where the modules folders are before blindly uploading.

you mention that there are a 'couple' of drupal folders inside the public root (www and public_html is a mirror image of each other). if you have more than one installation (dev and production) you will need to figure out what is what before continuing.

The easiest way to figure out what is what is to remove the index.php file (back it up first) from one of the folders and try to pull the site up in the browser. If the site breaks that is the active site. replace the index.php and prepare your updates.

to ensure an update doesn't break the site the site should be backed up first. the files/folders and the active database. Skip this step at your own peril.

ccshopper’s picture

ccshopper commented

There are exactly 2 different Drupal folders - 1 in my public_html folder, and 1 in my www folder. If these folders are exact mirror copies of each other, then will the changes I make to one be replicated in the other? I planned on making all of my changes in my public_html folder.

Additionally, there is another folder in my public_html and www folders called 'drupalrestore29'. Inside this folder are two files - default.settings.php and settings.php. However, I also see these two files in my generic Drupal folder. Does this mean that the drupalrestore29 folder is not needed and can be deleted?

It should be noted that the individual who set up our website does not appear to have practiced logical web content management. Our public_html folder barely shows any organization at all, with random .html pages and images and txts scattered throughout. I'm also seeing some Wordpress files that were dumped in here, but apparently never used.

VM’s picture

VM commented

yes. make changes in the public_html folder.

I don't know what the drupalrestore folder is. It isn't a default folder in drupal. perhaps the previous maintainer or host moving your settings.php file as a backup.

as far as the wordpress files are concerned they should be removed. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the previous maintainer for extra files laying about. The site has been running insecure for years based on the version. i'd back up all files and folders. I'd backup the database. I'd delete all files and folders. I'd upload the latest version of Drupal 6. I'd build a new settings.php file. I'd run update.php.

kruser’s picture

kruser commented

I'm guessing that probably every module in the site needs updated if it hasn't been updated since 6.6. There should not be any content data lost, however various settings may break and/or require updating as some modules may have changed over time.

To update the module just replace it's folder (usually sites/all/modules/[module]) with the new folder. Then run http://yoursite.com/update.php and cross you fingers that nothing breaks.

You can try updating them all at once, but I'm a bit more cautious and do one at a time so I have better control if something breaks.

You may have to update more that just the security updates because the newer security patched modules may have dependencies on other modules which also require updating.

-----------------------------------------------------
Bob @ Drupal Aid (https://www.drupalaid.com)

msti’s picture

msti
Location Heraklion
commented

I would also recommend that you install the hacked module. https://www.drupal.org/project/hacked before performing the updates.

It is common practice among some developers to hack the contribs instead of creating a new module with the desired functionality. The Hacked! module will tell you if this is the case so you will have the chance to move the functionality in a new module.

Drupal developer and consultant
http://www.mikestiv.com