Looking for Help with OLD read only Forum

[stoo23]

Hi All, we have a very Old SMF 1.0.12 Read Only 'reference' forum and we have recently been upgrading the 'Live' active forum to 2.1.4 along with doing various upgrades on the server software.

Whilst I AM able to concurrently run different versions of php (our new 2.1.4 installs are on php 8.2), the current MariaDB version is 10.2.44 and so was wondering if the OLD 1.0.12 version of the forum would remain happy and functional if we upgraded to a later MariaDB version.

BTW, Is it Still possible to 'Patch' the Old version to a later version, that will Still 'Look' intrinsically the same ??

See here: http://www.masmforum.com/board/index.php
Thanks

[Kindred]

1- I am not sure that 1.0.x was ever tested with mariadb at all....
It is REALLY OLD.

2- 1.0.x has known security issues. We have not patched it in a decade,  since it went end-of-life. So running it, at all, is a bad idea.

3- whether you can upgrade everything,  including the visual presentation (theme) so that it looks the same is dependent on the theme you were using....  the short answer is probably not without effort.

[Doug Heffernan]

BTW, Is it Still possible to 'Patch' the Old version to a later version, that will Still 'Look' intrinsically the same ??

It depends on what you mean with a later version. If I were you I would go straight for smf 2.1.4. Regarding looking the same, you will have to create a new theme as well for it.

[stoo23]

Thanks all, but I Don't Need OR Want the Old forum to Work,.. as it is ONLY Read Only and WILL Stay that way !!

Well, it IS currently running happily on that version and php 5.4 

And the old format / Theme made it appear quite 'Compact' compared to 2.1.4, so would Not really want to take it to that version necessarily, unless I Had to.

Theme wise you can see what it looked like below 

It is Also HUGE !!

[Kindred]

But you **DO** want it to "work" -- in that you are still using it and allowing people to access it (even in read-only)

Since you have it running, there are potential, KNOWN, security issues that could allow a hacker to get access to your server. (additionally, I believe there are KNOWN security issues in old, deprecated versions of php which are required to run SMF 1.0.x)

So, if you want your *SERVER* (with everything else on it) to be secure, you need to upgrade. Period.

That looks like the babylon theme...  which I don't believe has been ported to 2.1.x

[stoo23]

But you **DO** want it to "work" -- in that you are still using it and allowing people to access it (even in read-only)

Since you have it running, there are potential, KNOWN, security issues that could allow a hacker to get access to your server. (additionally, I believe there are KNOWN security issues in old, deprecated versions of php which are required to run SMF 1.0.x)

So, if you want your *SERVER* (with everything else on it) to be secure, you need to upgrade. Period.

YES !! Understood AND Agreed to ALL.
That is Why we have Upgraded the other 2 x Forums (one being the Current MASM forum), to 2.1.4 and now running php 8.2 !! 

I was thinking of Not bringing it Right up to 2.1.4 (just so it looked different) but maybe  2.0.19 
I guess I could Lock it into a Different Theme  if I have to bring it Up to the latest version.

Any ideas of a suitably Similar one ??   

Looks like a Damn LOT of Patching and upgrading to come   

[stoo23]

Thinking of the Upgrade / Patch methodology,.. is there an Ideal Method,.. or can you possibly Advise me of a 'Course of action' to get it to a useful Working version that I can upgrade easily

I really CAN'T Lose this OLD Resource !!!

I would have to Leave Earth LOL

[Doug Heffernan]

Thinking of the Upgrade / Patch methodology,.. is there an Ideal Method,.. or can you possibly Advise me of a 'Course of action' to get it to a useful Working version that I can upgrade easily

I really CAN'T Lose this OLD Resource !!!

I would have to Leave Earth LOL

You will have to do a manual upgrade. For more on the subject please see the following documentation.

Upgrading SMF

[stoo23]

Yeah,.. OK, I have read that before and just recently Upgraded the 2 x forums we have running from 2.0.11 for one with the other from 2.0.13 Both to 2.1.4 and working fine,.. BUT 1.0.11 is VERY OLD, Surely it's not possible to Upgrade Directly to 2.1.4 !!??

I figured I'd HAVE to Patch to a certain more modern version first ??
btw I could Not get Patch 1.0.14

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Make proper backups first, but yeah - It is possible to upgrade directly to 2.1. The upgrade script is designed to work all the way from before SMF even was SMF.

[Doug Heffernan]

BUT 1.0.11 is VERY OLD, Surely it's not possible to Upgrade Directly to 2.1.4 !!??

I know for a fact that a direct upgrade from that version, to 2.1.4. will work just fine. As it happens a while back I have upgraded several such old versions forums for a couple of members here to 2.1.x and each time it went off without a hitch.

That being said, it would be best that besides making a full and proper backup, to uninstall all third party mods and switched the default theme to the forum 's default one. That goes for the default language as well, it is best to be english, but you have that covered by looking at your forum.

[stoo23]

Gee,.. OK then,. thank you all very much.

Full backups have Already been made 

I just need to make myself the Admin' and set about the task 

I'll let you all know how it went,.. cheers

[stoo23]

Hi again  guys was just wondering if you could confirm that the theme the OLD site is using Was the Default Theme used in that version AND if so, at what version upgrade would that become an Issue and would need changing to a more recent theme ??

Thanks again,.. your help IS very much appreciated !! 

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Based on the images, you are very likely currently using the default theme. No need to update or change anything in advance.

Also, the themes shouldn't really cause issues even if that wasn't the case, the upgrade package includes an all new updated default theme. Removing possible custom themes in advance can be a good idea though, they won't be updated to support the new software version and won't work after upgrade.

[stoo23]

Well, we finally got there.

Much like with one of the later 'active' forums, that 'appeared' to be at 2.0.13, (but had a real 'Mish-Mash' of various (Marked Red) file versions everywhere), SO did his old 1.0.11 version.

Initially i didn't want to let us Patch, or Upgrade, but with a friend's help, we managed to get it to a 'Happy' 1.0.13 and then proceeded with the 2.1.4 Upgrade ... and after a while (with everything proceeding smoothly), we arrived at a good, functioning fully upgraded Forum.

I decided to apply the 'Bend' Theme, see here: https://www.masmforum.com/board/index.php
to keep it Relatively Clean and Simple in appearance and whilst I still have some Text & Graphics stuff to add, it looks pretty good  and at least now has let us run php 8.2 on all the forums.

Much better than the Ancient version it was running previously.

Thanks once again to all those that offered help & advice 

Cheers