Upgrading AWStats from a previous version

To upgrade AWStats, all you have to do is:

1. Read this page completely before beginning the upgrade.

2. Optionally backup your AWStats configuration and history data files.
Standard AWStats distributions do not change these, but backing them up allows you to recover them if something does go amiss. The AWStats default distribution will only overwrite the configuration file example called awstats.model.conf. Your history data files are saved in the directory defined with the DirData parameter in your AWStats configuration file (awstats.mysite.conf).

3. Replace AWStats runtime files with the new ones.
To do this you can:
- decompress the new AWStats zip or tgz package over the old installation directory (old AWStats runtime files are replaced by new ones. This works for AWStats versions 3.x and higher).
- or just run your OS package tool (i.e. rpm, apt for Linux, .exe for MS Windows).

Migrating to 6.x versions from earlier versions, observe the following additional notes:
i. As of AWStats 6.9+, Perl version is 5.007 or higher is required. To see the version number, run the command perl -v from your operating system's command line.
ii. If you use the ExtraSections feature, you must check that the parameter(s) ExtraSectionConditionX uses a full REGEX syntax (with the 5.x series, this parameter could contain simple string values). If you don't update your configuration, the feature will be broken.
iii. If you use the MiscTrackerUrl feature, you must check that your ShowMiscStats parameter is set to "ajdfrqwp" in addition to setting up MiscTrackerUrl tags and a JavaScript include for your web site. Otherwise the new default value "a" will be used (only the "Add to favorites" will be reported).
iv. The MaxLengthOfURL parameter has been renamed MaxLengthOfShownURL; update your configuration file accordingly.
v. To enable the worm detection feature (not enabled by default), you must add the parameter LevelForWormsDetection=2 in your configuration file.
vi. If you use the urlalias or userinfo plugins, you must move the urlalias.*.txt or userinfo.*.txt file from the Plugins directory to the DirData directory.

4. Convert your AWStats history files when migrating from 3.x or 4.x versions to 5.x or higher.
If you upgrade from the 3.x or 4.x series to 5.x or higher, AWStats will still be able to 'read' your old history files but a warning may appear to ask you to run the 'migrate' process on your old data files. Just run the command that will appear in warning message. This warning will only appear if data migration is necessary after an upgrade from the 3.x or 4.x series to a 5.x or higher version.

5. Review new feature default settings.
Sometimes new feature parameters are introduced in a new AWStats version. AWStats will use default values for them, maintaining backward compatibility with your existing AWStats configuration. However, you can review the "New Features / Change Log" to see how you might change the new feature's behavior.

Article written by Laurent Destailleur.

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