I'm currently running MT 3.33 and finally ready to upgrade to MT 4.2. This time, however, I think I want to create a 'sandbox' or development install before I commit to the upgrade. I know the basic steps involved (intall MT 4.2 to a separate folder, make a backup of my database and use it), however I'm fuzzy on a detail or two.
- How do I point MT 4.2 to my copied database rather than initiating an upgrade of my main installation? If I remember right, MT just 'finds' you database and installation when you hit mt.cgi the first time. I don't want it to do that, how to I prevent it?
- How would I transition to MT 4.2 once I've gotten everything the way I want it in the sandbox install? At first I'm thinking that I'd swap the database again, but won't that overwrite everything I did in MT4.2? This is where I'm confused as to how folks manage to run two versions side by side to get things set up before going live.
Thanks in advance for your help, I'm sure I'll have more questions.
Reported on Movable Type 4.2
What I did was create a separate mysql db for my test install. I went through the normal first time setup for MT and pointed it to my "test" db. Then I created my first blog and restored the backup I had created from "production".
As for changes to my "production" install, I just pretty much copied and pasted, though you may be able to use Mark Carey's Template Export from http://mt-hacks.com/
Normal first time setup is simply to copy the files to the server, right? How does one "point it to my 'test' db" and keep it from 'finding' the current install and running an upgrade when you go to mt.cgi?
I think I figured it out. If you add the proper DB login info in your mt-config.cgi, it won't try to upgrade the existing DB.
Man it's been a long time since I did any behind the scenes work in MT, I've forgotten a bunch.
You might want to try exporting your blog and importing it into a fresh installation of Movable Type 4.2. You'd lose your templates that way, but you'll probably find that the new templates are worth it as they're much more streamlined and easier to edit.