already using phpbb3.0.1, how best to install phpbb SEO

[weasel]

Hi,
I am a relative phpbb newbie, although I have installed phpbb3.0 on Windows and successfully upgraded to 3.0.1 without problems. I have only just stumbled across this site and was wondering what is the "best" approach to installing the phpbb3 SEO stuff onto an already existing phpbb3.0.1 site? Also, I use my own style but don't know whether this makes a difference. I would imagine that I would start by overlaying some/all of the PREMOD files onto my existing forum, but imagine that I would need to do some extra stuff before I could start to configure the SEO add-ons.

I am pretty familiar with apapche2.2 and php5

Thanks in advance

[HB]

It depends on how many mods you have. If not that many, I recommend installing the premod and migrating your customizations. If you have extensive changes, then it's probably easier to apply the phpBB-seo mods one-by-one. There's nothing particularly different about applying this site's mods versus those on phpBB or elsewhere, except for the Apache rewrite module requirement (.htaccess changes).

METACOMMENT:

I recommend installing a local test server using XAMPP or equivalent. That way you can test in isolation then confidently move to phpBB-seo's solution. There are some webmasters who evidently apply mods to live boards. I suppose that's OK for very low traffic sites. Too often I read "HELP! My board is down!?!?" threads here and on phpBB.com (*). A good test environment and regular automated system backups can greatly reduce your chance of heart attack.

When I'm applying lots and lots of changes, I will test it locally using XAMPP lite and on the hosted site. Sometimes there are subtle differences in the Apache / PHP / MySQL installations. It's really quite easy: Copy the live database to another database. Copy the phpBB installation to another directory. Update the .htaccess rewrite rules to allow for both installation (e.g., /forums and /forums301). Update the copied database CONFIG table to point to the new script location; it's also good to modify the cookie prefix setting too, so you can log into both installations in the same browser. Oh, and update the config.php of the copied installation to point to the copied database.

With the two installations, you can then test like crazy on the "semi live" board. When you're satisfied it's correct, simply rename the directories (e.g., /forums -> /forums-backup, forums3 -> /forums). Be aware some directories are writable, so they'll need to be resync'd (/files for attachments and the /images directory for avatars).

(*) OK, OK... I admit it, I've brought my board down a few times and learned the hard way how to avoid it - or at least how to recover quickly.

[weasel]

thanks
I'm a low traffic board so can play about a bit more than some - and have no mods apart from style. I have been in IT for 20+ years so know the value of backups . I can create a test board so will test things out 1st. I will probably initially apply the mods manually but was looking for an easier approach

[HB]

If all you have is style mods, go with the premod. There are very few phpBB-seo style related changes (e.g., overall_header.html). Since you're an I/T guy, I recommend doing a comparison of the styles directory of the phpBB-seo premod and the stock phpBB install. That will show you in one minute precisely what needs to be migrated (or you can wait for dcz to point to the thread that tells you the same thing ).

I use Beyond Compare for merging changes, but there's lots of other tools to do the same job. Migrating over the changes you describe would be a 10 minute job.

[dcz]

For custom style, you'll need to add the required code changes manually, the full list for the premod is provided on this thread : Prosilver / subsilver2 code changes

Themes are usually based on either prosilver or subsilver2, the closer one's code changes should be easy to implement.

About installing our SEO premod over and existing phpBB3 install (same version), you'll need to follow the steps I mentioned in this thread : phpBB3 => phpBB SEO premod

The main advantage if you use the premod, beside you won't have to install all mods manually, it that we maintain the same type of update packages as phpBB does, with an automatic update package and a changed file only one.