Manual talk:Upgrading to 1.9

Please do not place support requests here. See Communication for information on getting in touch. robchurch | talk 02:37, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Updating on Windows XP
The update.php script was crashing the CLI (XP SP2; php 5.2.0 with APC) until I disabled APC - after which everything went fine.

Updating on SuSE10.1
If you run your wiki on SuSE10.1 than you have to execute php5 update.php in the maintainance folder.

Updating on Ubuntu Linux (5.10)
When upgrading MediaWiki running on Ubuntu Linux, make sure you installed the package php5-cli before running the upgrade script. apt-get install php5-cli

LdapAuthentication 1.1c Bug with 1.9.1
Just for the people who utilize LdapAuthentication: -You need to use 1.1c or higher and apply 1.9.1 specific fix.

Link: m:Talk:LDAP Authentication

Running update.php can take a long time!
Note that the  script can take a very long time, so long in fact that you might think that it's erroneous. Don't worry, just leave it for a good ten minutes, or half and hour, or even longer maybe.


 * The particular step that takes all the time is "Deleting old default messages..."

Clarification of Alternative 2: Re-run the installer
An alternative to running the update script from the shell is to re-run the web installer. To do this:

Jeff cropp
 * 1) In the parent directory, rename   to.
 * 2) Make the   directory writable by the web server.  If an older version of   exists in the   directory, delete it.
 * 3) Browsing to the wiki will start the installer.
 * 4) Fill in the form fields with the same values as was done during the previous version's installation (much of this information may be found in  ).  When the installation process starts, the script will detect existing MediaWiki tables, and upgrade their schema.
 * 5) The installation process is not complete until it gives the message, "Installation successful! Move the   file into the parent directory, then follow this link to your wiki."  One step in the process, "Deleting old default messages..." takes a lot longer than the other steps and doesn't indicate any status of its progress.  You may need to hit refresh before you know if the installation is truly complete.
 * 6) A new   will be generated in the   directory when the installation is complete.  Delete this file.  (Before I deleted the file, I actually moved the   file into the parent directory and followed the link to my wiki per the instructions at the end of installation.  I don't know if this was necessary, but it didn't take any extra time.)
 * 7) In the parent directory, rename   back to.
 * 8) Restore permissions on the   directory.


 * Do not hit refresh while the installation is running. That would abort and restart the installation; that takes additionaly time, and may even lead to corruption (it shouldn't, but you never know). Just wait it out. -- Duesentrieb ⇌ 14:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Recomend PHP 5.2
Please recomend PHP 5.2, not 5.1 because of known problems!


 * We won't generally recommend a branch of PHP 5 unless we know it to contain bugs which severely impact MediaWiki. What are these "known problems" you speak of, aside from 5.2.x not being the bleeding edge? robchurch | talk 04:03, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Upgrading hacked code
Like any good mediawiki administrator, I've severly hacked my wiki code base, which was originally 1.6.5. Now I'd like to upgrade to 1.9.whatever, and am having a lot of difficulty merging the code, primarily because the code has been so rearranged between 1.6.5 and 1.9. I have the original files I installed (1.6.5), and have tried three way diffs and merge utilities, etc, but it's a total mess. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to do this, besides to quit whining and just tough my way through? Thanks. Bmearns 04:01, 18 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't know if this will help, but you may find it easier to upgrade in smaller increments. Then again you may not... ;-) --HappyDog 15:02, 2 April 2007 (UTC)