Improving the update procedures

By jbellis on 18 Nov 2016 at 19:26 UTC

I'll be happy to edit the update procedures at...
https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/updating-your-drupal-site/update-procedure...
if I can get some clarifications.

First question, is the procedure written from the perspective of having a local instance, which one then FTPs or otherwise uploads to another server?
Presumably, the phrase "Upload the new files" in step 4 means the answer is yes.

Thanks,
Jack Bellis

Comments

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VM commented 18 November 2016 at 21:11

If it helps: 'upload' can viewed as moving a project from development environment to staging and/or production environment. The tool chosen SFTP through git push, is up to the end user.

I agree that in the doc linked upload probably should have been avoided with the multiple options available today to deploy and maintain a site.

I think 'transfer' would be a

Jaypan commented 19 November 2016 at 00:58

I think 'transfer' would be a better word that upload. Considering how many people are using GIT these days, there isn't really an upload to the server, it's a transfer. And transfer will also cover uploads.

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VM commented 19 November 2016 at 03:07

agreed. transfer seems a better fit.

Next question, archive download/unzip/replace

jbellis commented 21 November 2016 at 14:09

1) Thanks for the quick responses. This will take several more questions. If there's a better venue for the level of give-and-take I'm after, just say so.

2) More precisely, my first question needed to be written as "are these instructions for updating from one instance to another (vs. directly on a single instance)?" I'm not quibbling about the wording of upload vs transfer, but I understand why it went down that path.

3) After I'm done, below is what the improvement to the docs will look like (but this is just a format example, the real improvement will be informational). I should add, now that I see I'm joined by 18 years of Drupal experience, that this is my second attempt to implement Drupal. A year ago I gave up when I was prompted to do my first update, it was that much of a pain in the ass to figure out. Now that I've spent more time, I can see where it's trivially simple... AFTER you understand it. I'd call myself a quasi-developer... lots of coding experience, but I need stuff spelled out.

BEFORE:
If you are upgrading to Drupal version x.y.z, then x is known as the major version number, y is known as the minor version number, and z is known as the patch version number. The download file will be named drupal-x.y.z.tar.gz (or drupal-x.y.z.zip). Drupal 7 uses only x.y (MAJOR.MINOR) to designate versions.

AFTER:

In Drupal version numbering, using “x.y.z” as an example...

x is the major number,
y is the minor number, and
z is the patch number.

The download file will be named drupal-x.y.z.tar.gz (or drupal-x.y.z.zip).

Note: Drupal 7 uses only x.y (MAJOR.MINOR) to designate versions.

4) And now, question 2: Shouldn't there be a step about downloading, expanding, and copying the archive files into the Drupal folder? I'm not asking you to write this stuff... I'll do it. I briefly asked myself if the update.php step could conceivably do that but I concluded that that probably just updates the DB, and the folks who wrote the update procedure consider the unzip so elementary that it is a "given."

Thanks again.

1) Here is as good as

Jaypan commented 21 November 2016 at 14:41

1) Here is as good as anywhere

2) These are the instructions for updating a single site. It has nothing to do with instances. It's for when the version of an instance has become outdated, and needs to be updated to the current version.

3) I would suggest splitting this up into two sections, one for D7, and one for D8, so that users don't have to try to sort out the differences between the two, but can read specifically about which version they are interested in.

4) Maybe... but I wouldn't explain how to do the unpacking specifically, as it's not Drupal related. At most, say that the files need to be unpacked, and maybe provide links to somewhere on the web that explain how to do so.

Edited instructions

jbellis commented 21 November 2016 at 19:22

2) Instances>>>OK, looks like my brain was really stuck on multiple instances (dev vs production), maybe as you noted because of the word 'upload' but also cause that aspect clouded the whole matter for me.
3) D8>>>As soon as I saw "10 times as many files" for D8 I stuck with D7. Sorry, too much for me at the moment.
4) Wouldn't explain how to do the unpacking>>> Agreed. I didn't mean to explain, merely to include an explicit step. First-timers need it.

I edited the instructions, below, if someone wants to consider them for use. I know it's hard for experienced folks to put themselves in the position where this level of nuance is helpful, but I'll let you decide. I'll only mention for the sake of writing credentials that I've done techwriting for years and am the author of an Amazon 5-star book in its 11th printing.

I guessed about modifying the config files since that wasn't involved in the 7.52 update.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ROXu2LibXjYsgPgLfu8yBZEqHsEJVLS4am8U...

Version Numbering:

Drupal 7
- n Drupal 7 version numbering, using “x.y” as an example:
  - x is the major number
  - y is the minor number
- The download file will be named drupal-x.y.tar.gz (or drupal-x.y.zip).
Drupal 8
- n Drupal 8 version numbering, using “x.y.z” as an example:
  - x is the major number
  - y is the minor number
  - z is the patch number
- The download file will be named drupal-x.y.z.tar.gz (or drupal-x.y.z.zip).