Upgrading

Re: Upgrading

by Emma Richardson -
Number of replies: 4
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Howard is correct.  This error normally shows up when the php version is not compatible.  It is possible that your host has a higher version and you just need to switch to it.  You would be much better off to install manually than to use an installer program as it would give you full control over the installation and you would not have to deal with any added "stuff" that the installer does to your install.

As to upgrading from 1.6, it is going to be a long process.  There are several interim steps that you need to go through.  If you can get it to 1.9 then you could export your courses and import them into your new installation which might be the best way overall.  Someone might correct me, but I think that you have to be on 1.9 or later to import courses into the newer versions and you cannot import the users that way, just the course content.

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In reply to Emma Richardson

Re: Upgrading

by Howard Miller -
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I can't honestly remember but, even so, it's a good idea. It's tricky enough as it is restoring from 1.9 and the latest 1.9.19 will give the best chance. 

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Upgrading

by Robert Brenstein -
Indeed, to follow the formal upgrade path, one needs to go from 1.6 to 1.8 then to 1.9 and only then to 2.x. However, even though the basic operation hasn't changed, considering numerous other changes (addition of roles, module evolutions, new admin/site options, themes implementation, etc etc) as well as varying experience of sites upgrading from 1.9 to 2.x, it might be better to re-create the service in a clean install of 2.9, taking full advantage of the new features and functionality.

The "simpler" interface that you refer to, Rob, was last seen in 1.9. The newer interface is however the future, so you should try to embrace it. You can control the appearance thru the selected theme, of course, and there are many options that allow you to control what is shown, where and how, although the new interface is inherently more busy and complex as compared to 1.6.
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In reply to Robert Brenstein

Re: Upgrading

by Howard Miller -
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And 1.6 is *much* simpler than 1.9 even. 

Those old enough to remember may recall a proposal to fork 1.6 as 'Moodle lite' because  1.7 and newer were substantially more complex. In any case, the resource requirements of Moodle took a big jump with the introduction of roles in 1.7 (which took until 1.9 to sort out various performance problems)

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Upgrading

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Rob

Confirming what others have said. See https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Releases for a history of releases. https://download.moodle.org/releases/latest/, https://download.moodle.org/releases/supported/, https://download.moodle.org/releases/security/ and https://download.moodle.org/releases/legacy/ to find out the system software requirements.

Yes, 1.6 was a milestone. If I may use a forbidden word, it was the first (inofficial) LTS release. The performance suffered a lot during the transition > 1.7 > 1.8, but then smoothed out in later 1.9. In my openion (today) it is not worth to keep 1.6 going: a) 1.9 has the same interface b) during almost the decade since 2006 was introduced the performance of computers has come a long way. You got it right: it is worth fighting for 1.9 (the Windows XP of Moodle HQ;). See https://moodle.net/stats/.
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