I read the directions a thousand times, searched google and youtube and still I do not seem to understand the directions. I am trying to go from PhpBB to MyBB and the merging system is too complicated to understand. can someone please help me out by giving easier step-by-step directions on how to do so. I dont want to try to risk anything because I dont want to lose any of my information(posts, threads, users, etc.)
thanks a lot, I would really appreciate it.
You could do what I'm doing and experiment with a backup copy of your board. This way, you get to see what breaks and what doesn't but you also get to keep your actual board online while you mess around.
All you need is MySQL (there's an installer, and for your purposes you can just click "Next" until it goes away), PHP (same thing) and Apache (again). There are even convenient installers that will give you all three in one go (XAMP and WAMP are the first two that come to mind). Then you just download the backup, import it to your local MySQL ("mysql -u username -p -h localhost DATA-BASE-NAME < data.sql" should work once you've changed the different parameters) and have at it.
Once it's working, you can then take what you know and do it for real on the server. Be sure to lock your board while you're converting so people don't get any weird stuff while it's in 'limbo.'
thanks for the info will definetaly do so.
but i had a question
1) how do i install mybb when i already have phpbb installed? do i delete phpbb or just ftp mybb and leave everything as is?
upload MyBB in a separate folder and install it. leave everything else as is. you should have provision for using two databases (MyBB and phpBB).
do i make the mybb folder in the same public_html folder as phpbb?if so then all i have to do is just ftp the mybb file in that folder with all of the phpbb directories?
then what do i do woth the merging system?
required details are here -:
http://docs.mybb.com/Running_the_Merge_System.html
if phpBB is in a folder under public_html then make another folder for MyBB.
if phpBB's files are directly under public_html then make a folder named forums for using MyBB.
MyBB's merge system can be uploaded to a sub-folder of MyBB and it needs to be run from there.
so i hace to make folder named forums in public_html (which directly has the phpbb files) and ftp mybb just like i would regularly? then i would take the merge folder and put it in forums (which directly has the mybb files)?
public_html -------------- phpBB
public_html -------------- forums(MyBB)
public_html -------------- forums(MyBB) -------------- merge
run merge system by visiting :- site url/forums/merge
thanks alot for the help
one last question, do i have to put all the phpbb files into one folder within the public_html folder or can i just leave it the way it is (all the phpbb files are directly in public_html)?
You can leave it as-is. The merge system only cares about the database.