Clean install or update preferred? Quirks with current installation

Software Support
1

I didn’t get any errors when upgrading from 2.4.8 to 3, but I have noticed some little quirks here and there and things that don’t seem to be working the way I anticipate they will. Asking for opinions on which is the better option - clean new install and then import data from backup or update to current version and do a comparison of all the files via DeltaWalker or some such. I really want to get rid of anything lingering from previous installs or whatever that may be causing some issues.

2

Hi @sheardln

The main problem with starting fresh with a clean install is that there is no way to migrate the “workflow”, like reviews or queries. If you started with a fresh OJS 3 install you can use the quickSubmit plugin to create your content again, but you’d lose the other material. I’d suggest trying to figure out how to resolve the quirks.

Cheers,
Jason

3

Wouldn’t I just be able to import the data into mysql tables and do some tweaking after a clean install?

4

The database structures are dramatically different between OJS2 and OJS3.

Cheers.
Jason

5

Thanks, Jason. We are already in 3. How much different are they between different versions of 3?

6

Ah! Not quite so bad then. The main thing that happened in 3.1.2 is that names were localized, so they are now stored in the *_settings tables. You can see the differences by looking at the upgrade scripts in the dbscripts/xml/upgrade directory, for the files beginning with 3.1.2.

7

Hi all,

@sheardln, before you dive into this (potentially time consuming) process, can you describe the quirks you’re encountering?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

8

Really inconsistent stuff - file location errors, permission errors, email errors, slow loading, partial loading of pages. All of them occur at strange times and aren’t always reproducable. They will sometimes “fix” themselves with a reload/refresh or exiting OJS and signing back in. Sometimes I have to go in and try and manually fix things - especially the file not found issues - that can be troublesome.

9

Hi @sheardln,

Is there anything relevant in your PHP error log? At least some of it should be showing up there.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

10

Thanks Alex,
Unfortunately no. I am usually not notified until later and have yet to find a useful instance in the logs. That would really be helpful, but not dice as of yet.

11

Hi @sheardln,

OJS (and really any web app) should be nothing if not predictable; the same action should have the same result. If you’re seeing very inconsistent behaviour, then I’d suggest comparing your code against the stock .tar.gz file to see whether it’s been modified somehow. You can use standard server-side tools like diff to do this.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

12

I would have thought so as well - not sure what is going on. The general consensus seems to be to do a comparison, so that is where I will start. Hopefully, I will find an easily altered nugget that will fix things. Thanks!