Updating CumulusMX to latest version - save older files?

[inmyrvm]

Once again new user question that I couldn't find an answer to but likely exists somewhere. When updating the software are there any files I need to copy off somewhere else to avoid losing any changes I made, such as modifications to indexT.htm or other template files? I assume all the datafiles are left alone.

[mcrossley]

If you have modified the default files, then those will be the only ones to watch.

Rather than editing the default files, I recommend you make copies of them and edit those instead. It does mean a bit more effort as you have to add them to the Extra Files list rather than using the simple "Include standard files". But it make upgrading much easier, you can then just copy the whole contents of the zip file, and you can compare the new default files with your modified versions and see what you have to update.

It also means that files that really only need to processed and uploaded once each time time they changed (eg the graph pages, and gauges) can be controlled and you will not have to upload them every 5/1015 minutes whatever you choose.

[radilly]

Hi-

I've been tinkering with a script to help me do updates which - after having gotten hopelessly behind on at one point - I am determined to keep up with. I've used it several times and it does look for, and flag any files I have modified from the the standard installation. One file that I've modified and that has also happened to have changed across the last several builds has been identified properly by the script. The script just flags these files leaving it to the user to handle them. There is an option to output a script for either dos or bash to handle the update - skipping these modified files, if any, but noting them in commentary.

If you'd like to try it, I'd be interested in your experience. It is available at https://github.com/radilly/cmxaux. It is written in Python which runs native on most Linux / Pi systems, but Python is easily installed under Windows. I do run on a Pi myself, but I have done some testing on a Windows 10 system and it appears to run properly under the Python 3.5.1 I have installed.

Being cautious, I back up my entire CMX installation before making an update - and I recommend that strongly. While I just use diff on the Pi, I've used WinMerge (https://winmerge.org/?lang=en) on Windows to assess the differences between files and potentially merge them.

You can message me if you have questions, suggestions or need help.