BookAdder Docfile:
Upgrading

BookAdder: Upgrading From Earlier Versions

About the name BookAdder: this toy used to be know as "Freebie", and I'd just as soon have kept that name, as it is now tolerably well known. Regrettably, I have found that a great many e-mail programs' spam filters are so set that they will bounce any e-mail whose subject line contains the word "Freebie", which often meant that e-mails from me (and perhaps to me) about this tool were never delivered. So I reluctantly changed the name. Though the tool is much improved in the 3.xx release, it is at bottom the same familiar "Freebie".

The 3.xx version of BookAdder has some notable difference from earlier versions. If you are running, or have run, any 2.xx or 1.xx version, there are a few simple but critical things you need to know and do to use the newer versions. I will try to make them as simple, clear, and step-by-step as possible here.


Cleaning Up

You need to clean up a few leftover things before starting the new install. I suggest that you do this cleanup just before you do the new install.


Your .htaccess File

If you are using a version so old that it relied on your .htaccess file, be sure to remove any old "Freebie"-related entries whatever from that file. If you ever used such a version, be sure that there are no "leftovers" lurking in your .htaccess file.

Be aware that your .htaccess file is an extremely critical system file, so edit with extreme care, being absolutely, positively sure to have a backup copy handy. As soon as you make any change whatever to that file, you should always check, at once, that your web pages seem to be getting delivered ok to your browser.


Your robots.txt File

Edit this file to remove anything in it associated with any prior "Freebie" version. We will start anew at install time in modifying robots.txt, and should have a clean slate to work with.

The entries associated with old "Freebie" should all be recognized by having the "Freebie" directory name in them.


Your Sitemaps_index.xml File

Edit this file to remove anything in it associated with any prior "Freebie" version, which should be just the six divisional sitemap files. You can and should leave in any reference to staticmap.php (if you have one) or any other non-"Freebie" sitemaps. As of 3.00, BookAdder keeps its sitemaps entirely within its own directory structure, and independent of any other sitemaps on your site.

If your Sitemaps_index.xml is reduced to just a staticmap.xml entry--or no entries at all--you should, at your convenience, tell the search engines to change your index listing from Sitemaps_index.xml to staticmap.xml direct (or, if you have no staticmap.xml, to delete the old index file). You will be registering separately the map-index file associated with the new BookAdder installation, as the install instructions provide.

Recall that if you have a staticmap.xml file made in whole or part by an earlier "Freebie" version, it will contain references to some old bookshop files; you eliminate from staticmap.xml any references to bookshop files. Those are now all handled in the bookshop's own sitemaps.


Do a Tentative Install

Avoiding the Need For a Tentative Install

If you don't mind using a name for your BookAdder home directory different from what you have been using for your "Freebie" package, you need no "tentative" install: just go ahead and install wholly afresh, following the instructions that start in the docfile Installing BookAdder. When you're satisfied with everything, all you need do is change the links anywhere in your non-BookAdder site pages that point to your bookshops' front pages to point at the new front pages, then utterly erase the old "Freebie" directory and all its subdirectories, and all their contents. Bingo, and that's all she wrote on that.

If, though, you feel that your extant "Freebie" directory name is so wonderful that you cannot bear to give it up, you'll need to take a few extra steps, and will be without your bookshops for a few minutes. Do, though, think about that name. If you're using, say, red-cats-book-shop, would you lose so much SEO force by using instead red-cats-bookshop? Only you can say, but if you're willing to use a new name, however little different from the old, things are certainly a bit simpler.


How to Do the Tentative Install

If you insist on keeping the old name, then do this:

  1. Choose a temporary dummy BookAdder directory name for your tentative install--something obvious, like TEMPSHOP.

  2. Do the full installation as if starting anew, beginning from the docfile Installing BookAdder, except do not yet splice the new entries into your robots.txt file or register any maps with the search engines.

  3. Be sure you're fully satisfied with the results, just as if they were your real bookshops.

  4. In the temp directory, delete the newly made Bookshop_index.xml file and the six sitemaps ending in .gz.

  5. Screw your courage to the sticking place, then utterly erase your extant "Freebie" directory and all its subdirectories, and all their contents (that may take a few minutes, especially for the /trapfiles subdirectory.

  6. Using your FTP software, rename the temp directory to the old "Freebie" directory name, then change your ftp and browser target to that directory.

  7. Re-run the finstall.php script (to make a correct Bookshop_index.xml file).

  8. Run the makemaps.php script to re-make the correctly named sitemaps and corresponding entries in the new Bookshop_index.xml.

  9. Now edit your robots.txt file (using the made file robots.new as per the appropriate docfile).

  10. Finally, register your new Bookshop_index.xml file with the search engines.

You should be left with a perfectly functional new set of bookshops (but make sure automatic daily updating is in place). If you have any problem, e-mail me at once and we'll work it out with you.


Moving On

BookAdder Documentation Files Available

They are:


What to Read Next

Rather obviously, Installing BookAdder.