Upgrade problem from 1.2.4. to Backlight 5

Hi!

I’m finally upgrading my old Backlight 1.2.4 site to Backlight 5. I followed the instructions here Upgrading | Backlight and here Installation & Setup | Backlight.

I removed everything except “custom” and “data” folders from by backlight folder on my site. Then I copied all from the Backlight 5 installation package to the site. I replaced the old files with new ones in folders “custom” and “data”.

On step 2, run the installer, the installer page is not found. (Error 404: Page not found) Propably that is due to my site’s folder structure. I access the site with url kuvauspalvelurintala.fi/backlight/installer, but actually the URL redirects to https://kuvauspalvelurintala.fi/valokuvauspalvelurintala/backlight/installer/. On ftp the folders go like public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala/backlight.

When I updated the -htaccess -file in public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala with the file from Backlight installer package (Backlight-5-Installer-117/.htaccess), the url kuvauspalvelurintala.fi/backlight/installer redirects to completely wrong folder and I cannot access the normal pages on my site. They are not found.

So, propably some changes has to be made to .htaccess -file. What those would be? I tried to merge the two .htaccess files with no good success, unfortunately. Please, I need some help with this.

With kind regards,
Markku

You don’t want to overwrite the old custom and data folders unless you plan on starting from scratch. The data/ folder contains all the information for your site (setting, design, albums, pages, text, etc) and the custom/ folder contains any customization you’ve done, such as with custom css, phplugins, etc.

As to the redirect issue, make sure that you’re using the correct .htaccess file.
don’t upload the .htaccess file found inside of the backlight/ folder to the root of your site.
When you unzip the download you got from TTG, you should see these files and folders:

index.php
.htaccess
backlight/
galleries/

The .htaccess file in the root of the unzipped Backlight-5-Installer-11z.zip file is the one to upload to the root of the site. Try uploading it again. (do not upload the .htaccess file that’s inside of the backlight/ folder to the root of the site, it’s specifically for the backlight/ folder)

If that doesn’t work, then @Ben will need to take a look. He’ll likely need Backlight Admin and FTP access.
You can save some time by sending him a private message with credentials.
To do that, just click on his name above. Then click on the blue Message button.

Hi!
I triple-checked that I copied correct -htaccess -files to correct folders.

I’ll contact Ben. Thank you very much, Rod!

  • Markku

Hi @ma.rintala, I’ve had a look at your site structure. For some reason it’s structured so that requests that should be served by public_html are instead served by public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala via a set of rules in public_html/.htaccess. Do you know why this has been set up like this? In any case, it’s breaking any attempt to access /backlight/installer on your server.

I can see two possible paths forward:

  1. Change your site’s configuration so that requests to https:// kuvauspalvelurintala.fi/ are served directly with files from public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala without relying on any tricks with public_html/.htaccess. This may be something you can change via your control panel.

  2. Moving all of the files and directories from public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala into public_html.

I’m not 100% sure that either will directly solve the problem, and I’m hesitant on trying anything considering how nice a site you currently have.

Hi @Ben!

Thank you very much for your investigations!
I happen to know why the site is organized like it is. Originally the site was created for another domain that doesn’t exist anymore. Then I created another domain, kuvauspalvelurintala.fi and these two domains were organized under the same web host. So, the traffic to the original domain was redirected to public_html and traffic to https:// kuvauspalvelurintala.fi was redirected to public_html/valokuvauspalvelurintala - or something like this. I’m not an expert on this era.

So, I think the second option could be the best option, since there no use for the root folder public_html at this moment.

I think I’ll discuss about the possibilities also with my service provider. They have quite good support also. I’ll get back to you after that.

  • Markku