Upgrading core

Before upgrading core, you should do two things:

• Back up your database, and test this backup by copying into an empty database.

• Back up the sites directory. The sites directory contains the files directory, the modules directory, the themes directory, and your settings.php file—all of which are critical elements of your site.

Once you have completed these steps, you are ready to proceed with your upgrade.

Upgrading core – the short version

When performing a core upgrade, we will replace the old version of Drupal core with the updated version. This process involves five steps:

1. Log into the new site as UID1; place the site in maintenance mode, and run update.php.

2. Download the new codebase from http://drupal.org/project/drupal.

3. Extract the Drupal codebase.

4. Delete the sites directory from the freshly downloaded codebase; replace it with the sites directory from your existing site.

5. Replace the existing codebase with the new codebase.

Upgrading core – the detailed version

These more-detailed...