Thread

Previously on Windows I used FileZilla. Now that I’m using a Mac, I’ve been using Transmit for FTP. I decided to finally upgrade to version 1.6.8 tonight and ended up breaking my site. The issue ended up being that when I uploaded all of the new folders, it over wrote all of my modules, plugins, and extensions therefore broke the site. I know, I know, there’s a warning in the upgrade instructions telling me to backup all of my addons but I’m lazy, and with FileZilla I never had too. 😊

With FileZilla, it would simply copy over the new files over the existing files and leave everything else alone, i.e., installed modules, plugins and extensions. It seems like Transmit has this same functionality by selecting “Merge” instead of “Replace.” When I selected “merge” and then selected “apply to all.” After selecting apply to all which I assumed meant it would merge all files and not continue to prompt me, it proceeds to prompt me every once in a while and inform me that there’s already an existing file with that name and if I wanted to replace it?

Anyone else use Transmit and have similar issues?

Transmit and I have had this argument many times.

Merge overwrites existing files and leaves others alone. Replace deletes the directory first so you’re sure to get a good upload.

Apply to all means “apply to all in this directory” so every time it navigates to another directory it’ll prompt again.

I currently use Flow.app for FTP. =)

Transmit and I have had this argument many times.

Merge overwrites existing files and leaves others alone. Replace deletes the directory first so you’re sure to get a good upload.

Apply to all means “apply to all in this directory” so every time it navigates to another directory it’ll prompt again.

I currently use Flow.app for FTP. =)

Ah that makes sense now, Lisa. I just kept thinking “why does this thing continue to prompt me!?” I’m not sure I like Transmit now to be honest and may start looking elsewhere for my FTP needs because I don’t want to go through this every single time I do an upgrade for myself or a client.

Flow looks nice. So you don’t run into any of the aforementioned issues with Flow? Just select folders, upload and it does the rest without prompting you every new directory?

One other question about Flow, Lisa. Does it have the two pane view similar to Transmit, FileZilla, etc? Where it shows “my stuff” and “their stuff” or does it only show the remote folders and you have to drag files from Finder, Desktop, etc over to Flow? I’ve always been a fan of the former but I guess that’s what I’ve always used and have gotten used to.

Spamming my own thread here…

It looks like there is an option inside of Transmit’s preferences that will allow you to tell it what to do when an item already exists when uploading. By default it’s set to “ask.” Have you ever tried to simply set this to “merge the existing folder.” Seems that may take care of the issue?

Well I use the method now described in the 2.0 docs, to upload the entire folder and do renaming, so I don’t run into these issues with Transmit either. =)

Flow’s interface is incredibly beautiful, and their bookmarking ability has saved me a ton of time.

Yes, it has both views.

It’s free to try for 15 days, I was hooked after 3.

No, I haven’t tried that with Transmit since I switched my method of updating anyway.

I’ll download flow and give it a go.

The method described in the EE Docs won’t work for 1.6.8 will it? Or would it be the same but I would just have to upload the modules, plugins and extensions folders from backup so they were all restored after the upgrade?

I’m not using 2.0 yet but was curious about this line in the upgrade from previous version section:

It is recommended that you delete the files you will be replacing before uploading the new files and directories.

It says that, but then goes on to outline how to upgrade and replace your system folder with the new one. It tells you to upload the new system folder, rename the old, rename the new to the old name. So is it recommended that you delete the directory before uploading new or is it recommended that you rename it after uploading the new?

Deron, there is a version of FileZilla for the Mac, too. 😊

I put the site offline, rename the system folder, and then upload the new system folder. Then copy back over config.php into /system/expressionengine/config.

Yes, you can do this with 1.x, but different files to replace.  It’s a bit harder as you don’t want to replace, say, the entire modules folder - just the third-party folders.

And of course config.php.

Thanks for the replies on this.

@Lisa - I downloaded Flow and have been testing it out. I have to say, I’m really liking it. Love how it fits in perfectly with OSX, i.e., Finder window on the left, etc. I typically right click a file(s) and click “upload” in Transmit so little different dragging and dropping but shouldn’t take long to get used too. As for the way Flow uploads folders and files, it seems to work just like I’m used too with existing folders/files being replaced and new folders/files added, but no folders/files deleted. So, it doesn’t replace the entire directory like Transmit does by default.

It did crash on me after about ten minutes of use, but that could have just been a fluke.

@Sue - Yeah I looked at FileZilla but read a lot of reviews where people said it was really buggy on Mac? Just doesn’t look at pretty either. 😉

I put the site offline, rename the system folder, and then upload the new system folder. Then copy back over config.php into /system/expressionengine/config.

Lots of ways to do this, but overwriting old files with new files is probably the worst way. Too many things can go wrong, and there’s no fall back.

My years old method is a variance on Sue’s:

1 - Prepare a new /system directory with appropriate plugins, extensions, modules, etc.

2 - Make backup of EE’s DB, FTP to the site, download the config.php/config.bak.php files to the new /system directory.

3 - Upload new /system directory to the site; change permissions of config.php and /cache, appropriately.

4 - Take system offline, rename old /system directory, and new /system directory accordingly.

5 - Take system online, run update.php.

6 - Optional: pat self on back, take a break with a cold beverage

Lots of ways to do this, but overwriting old files with new files is probably the worst way. Too many things can go wrong, and there’s no fall back.

In my case when I did this with Transmit unknowing that it replaced files instead of merged them, my fall back was to restore files from the back up I had just performed before starting the update.

My years old method is a variance on Sue’s:

1 - Prepare a new /system directory with appropriate plugins, extensions, modules, etc.

2 - Make backup of EE’s DB, FTP to the site, download the config.php/config.bak.php files to the new /system directory.

3 - Upload new /system directory to the site; change permissions of config.php and /cache, appropriately.

4 - Take system offline, rename old /system directory, and new /system directory accordingly.

5 - Take system online, run update.php.

6 - Optional: pat self on back, take a break with a cold beverage

On your #1 when you say you prepare a new /system directory with appropriate addons, do you download the installed addons from your server into this new /system directory you’re preparing? Isn’t that how you have to do it so you can restore all of your addon settings? Or are the settings stored in the database?

...my fall back was to restore files from the back up I had just performed before starting the update.

One of the benefits of not overwriting your live /system directory is that it also contains your working config.php file. If something goes madly wrong with the update, you can quickly revert back to a /system directory that was working fine.

On your #1 when you say you prepare a new /system directory with appropriate addons, do you download the installed addons from your server into this new /system directory you’re preparing? Isn’t that how you have to do it so you can restore all of your addon settings? Or are the settings stored in the database?

On most EE sites I’ll have the latest plugins, modules, extensions on my Mac before I upload. That way I only have to download the live config.php file. I manage a couple of sites with special plugins, which I copy from the live /system directory back to my EE /system directory update.

It’s the same process, though. Prepare a fully working EE update, then upload it, and just change the directory names.

I haven’t run into any add-on settings that were stored in the plugin itself, though. There might be a few but that would require changing permissions.

I guess I’ve always just updated EE by overwriting because I’ve been too lazy to go through and make a list of all my modules and extensions and then prepare a new local system directory with all of those module, extension and language directories.

I guess I’ve always just updated EE by overwriting because I’ve been too lazy to go through and make a list of all my modules and extensions and then prepare a new local system directory with all of those module, extension and language directories.

I’ve been there.

Some of my early EE updates (circa 2004) used the simple overwrite method. All worked well for a number of updates. Then, one day, it all went bad and nothing on the site worked after an upgrade to a new version. And, of course, since all older files were overwritten, there wasn’t a back up to go to.

That’s how I learned to build a config.php file from scratch. Still, it doesn’t take any more time to prepare a new /system directory, upload it, set permissions, and so on, than it does to upload and overwrite. It’s an up front effort that yields plenty of benefits later.