Home → Installation and Upgrade Manual → HelpSpot 4 - Installation & Setup → Minor Version Upgrades (v4)

1. Minor Version Upgrades (v4)

These instruction apply to minor version upgrades. For example: v4.5.1->v4.8.1 or v5.0.45->5.0.58. For major version upgrades (v4 to v5) see the separate upgrade documentation as the process is a bit different.

The update process for windows installations and and Linux installations are separate on HelpSpot 4 and greater.

Windows

Before running the windows update executable ensure that you have backed up your database and HelpSpot files. You can then download and run the windows updater executable. This updater will perform all of the upgrade steps for you via the graphical wizard.

Linux

It's strongly recommended that you backup your HelpSpot database and files before upgrading. It's especially important to backup files if you have customized your templates or edited the language file.

The installer will make database changes during an upgrade. If something goes wrong the only way to roll back the changes is if you have an up to date backup.

Upgrading Files

Before beginning review the latest system requirements to make sure that the software installed on your server are compatible with the latest version.

After downloading the new version of HelpSpot, move the files to your server and unpack the tar.gz or zip file in a temporary location.

1. Move your current helpspot install directory to a backup location (we'll need to restore some files from this backup).
2. Copy your new helpspot package to that same location where HelpSpot was installed
3. Copy these directories and files back into your production helpspot folder:
   

   File / Directory	Description
   config.php	HelpSpot Config File
   data/documents	Attachment Storage (may be a different customized folder depending on configuration in Admin > Settings)
   custom_code	Custom Code
   custom_templates	Custom Portal Templates
   custom_pages	Custom Page Code
   Any secondary portal sites or other custom code you have defined

Note: The HelpSpot files are binary and your FTP program will most likely upload them as text unless you tell it to use binary mode. This is why it's recommended to move the compressed file (tar.gz/zip) directly to the server first which will avoid any problems. After uploading if you get a file corrupted or Fatal error in your browser at the installer then the files have been uploaded as text instead of binary.

Upgrade Database

The best way to upgrade the database is by using command line php. From your HelpSpot directory run:

php hs update

You can find more info on the HelpSpot command line here: The HelpSpot Command Line