Drupal Upgrade - 5.7 to 6.3 - Flawless!

Upgrading software, especially web-based software, has always had a negative stigma in my eyes. Working in the industry, I’ve seen the problems that arise, the headaches it can cause, and the many hours of sleepless nights that result. So, naturally, I’ve put off upgrading my 5.x install of Drupal - which runs this site - as long as possible. With the announcement of 6.x release candidates for Views and CCK, I figured the time had come.

It wasn’t that long ago that it seems I was pushing to 5.x from 4.7.x, and boy did I screw that one up! I don’t remember exactly what I did, but I remember it turning into a copy and paste job of my blog posts. This isn’t a rag on Drupal, because I will admit I didn’t RTFM. I’m sure that had I done my due diligence it would have went a lot smoother.

So, for this upgrade I decided to RTFM. And, guess what? The upgrade went off without a hitch. All my nodes, terms, blocks, and even some contrib module settings are perfectly intact. I’ve also found a shiny new 6.x theme which I find easy on the eyes.

So cheers to all the developers who put many tireless hours into D6, and I look forward to seeing exciting new things in D7!