Best way to upgrade evo 0.9.6.3

Today I got a call from a client with an ancient 0.9.6.3 installation. Somehow it suvived all these years but a recent updates to PHP 5.3 finally crashed it.

Basically I would like to pout it out of its misery, but at this point this is not an option.

I have a bad feeling about this update and I wonder if you can give me some piece of advice regarding this topic.

Regards,

pepebe

Make a complete backup of this 0.9.6.3 on the Server
Make a second backup and don´t touch this.
Install Wamp version WampServer2.0i.exe on your laptop.
The good thing with Wamp is that you can switch between php 4.X and 5.X and this way can quickly find out where it goes wrong on what php version.
Start with php 4.X on your Wamp Server on your laptop.
Install the first backup of your website on your laptop with wamp and try all php versions. From the php 4.X or 5.X where it (possibly) goes wrong you can debug your website. Then upgrade modx evo on your laptop.
Once debugged and diagnosed on your local wamp you can upgrade modx evo on the server. If you are lucky there is not much to debug.
http://netcologne.dl.sourceforge.net/project/wampserver/WampServer%202/WampServer%202.0/WampServer2.0i.exe (very stable version)
WampServer2.0i.exe already comes with a lot of php versions included.
Download the necessary php version packages you need from the php website and include them in the Wampserver on your laptop. [ed. note: sitecms last edited this post 13 years, 8 months ago.]

Here's how I do it.

1. backup files and database.
2. If possible, upload the Evo zip file to the server and unzip into a different directory; it will usually unzip into its own directory anyway. If you can't unzip on the server, do the unzipping and renaming on your local machine and upload everything.
3. Rename all the new unzipped top-level files and folders (index.php, assets, manager etc) to add a .new to them: index.php.new, manager.new, etc.
4. Move the .new stuff into the web root alongside the originals.
5. Copy your site's customized data (images, templates, etc.) from the old folders to the new. If you haven't backed up everything yet, do so now.
6. Rename the original top-level files and folders to add .old: index.php.old, manager.old, etc.
7. Rename the new ones to remove the .new
8. Run the installer in upgrade mode.

If something goes wrong, all you need to do is rename those top-level files and folders back to add the .new and rename the old ones to remove the .old and import your database backup to restore (you did backup first, didn't you?). The site is down only for the time it takes to rename four or five files and folders.

I also tend to avoid upgrading the old default snippets, since there are a few cases where the snippet properties have changed, so until you can turn your attention to changing the snippet tags in your templates and content you need to continue using the old snippets. AjaxSearch is one that I can think of right now that will definitely need to have its snippet tags changed.