Upgrading Flatpress

There are a couple of ways to upgrade a Flatpress installation. But you should consider, what kind of upgrade you want to do and how many entries and attachments already exist in your blog.

Before changing anything at your FlatPress instance, always do a backup of the whole FlatPress folder. Thus, if anything goes wrong, you can just delete the complete blog and copy it back from your backup.

1. Upgrade of single files, for example security updates
2. Upgrading the complete blog to a new version by moving the content
3. Upgrading the complete blog including a full backup
4. Upgrading to the newest language pack
5. Upgrading a theme
6. Upgrading a plugin

This is the easiest way with the least efforts. Just overwrite the files in question with the new ones, after that clear the cache. This method is suitable for security updates or small bugfixes from the developer version (from SVN) or for changes of the theme files. An upgrade of single files has to be tested for each individual case and is only recommended for experienced webmasters.

This is a very interesting option for updating an existing blog without loss of content. The method requires full webspace access and a good FTP software. This method is not recommended for installations that reside in the root directory of your webspace. The blog should be installed into its own subdirectory, for example “/flatpress”.

1. Create a directory named “new”
2. transfer the new Flatpress version into the directory “new”
3. Rename the current Flatpress directory to “old”
4. Rename the “new” directory to the name, the “old” directory had before
5. Adjust permissions for “fp-content” directory to 777
6. Run setup the usual way (including language selection, menus and plugins)
7. Copy the Flatpress data from “old/fp-content/” to your new installation
8. Rebuild the Index in Adminstration Panel - Maintain

Important Note: For security reasons, it is recommended to delete both the “Setup” directory and the file “setup.php” from your web space!

In case something went wrong, you can reactivate your previous installation by just renaming the directories accordingly.

This should be the preferred upgrade method and is suitable for any Flatpress installation. It does not matter, whether the blog resides in your webspace root directory or within a subdirectory. In addition, you have a full backup of your webspace.

1. Download your complete blog using your FTP software
2. Delete blog contents from the webspace
3. Transfer the current Flatpress version to your webspace
4. Change permissions for “fp-content” directory to 777
5. Run setup the usual way (including language selection, menus and plugins)
6. Transfer Flatpress data from your backup to your new installation
7. Rebuild Index in Administration Panel - Maintain

Important Note: For security reasons, it is recommended to delete both the “Setup” directory and the file “setup.php” from your web space!

Depending on the blog's size and your internet connection, this can take some time. It is recommendable to create an “index.html” file that tells your visitors, that you are currently doing an update. Here is an example procedure:

1. transfer index.html to your webspace
2. follow steps 1 - 4 (see above)
3. delete index.html
4. follow step 5
5. transfer index.html to your webspace
6. follow step 6
7. delete index.html and clear the cache.

Following this procedure, you have any time for doing the backup and the upgrade, and no visitor can upset your plan with comments or whatever.

In case you are using the German language pack, you can upgrade by transferring the files to your webspace. The files just need to have the permissions to overwrite them. You can upgrade the language pack without going out of service.

As first step, you should change the Flatpress theme to Leggero standard theme. This way, the theme-to-be-upgraded is not accessed by visitors on your webspace and thus can be altered and overwritten. After successfully transferring the updated theme files, you can switch back to your new theme.

Within your Flatpress installation, the themes can be found in path: /fp-interface/themes/…theme name…

1. Change to Leggero standard theme
2. Backup of the current theme by renaming or downloading
3. Transfer the new theme to your webspace
4. Clear the cache (recommended)
5. Change to new theme

When upgrading a plugin, you should follow basically the same procedure as if upgrading a theme. It is recommended to deactivate the plugin-to-be-updated in plugin administration panel, before doing the upgrade.

1. Deactivate plugin
2. Backup of current plugin by renaming or downloading
3. Transfer new plugin
4. Activate plugin
5. if necessary, configure and change according to your needs.

If you have problems after upgrading a plugin, be it error messages or malfunction, deactivate the new plugin, replace it with the old one and ask for help in the Flatpress Forum.

This article is currently under development. It just describes the procedures in a simplistic way and will be refined in future