July 16, 2006
Upgrading Movable Type
If you want to upgrade your Movable Type, open an account at sixapart.com (if you haven't already) and follow the link that will be provided to you so you can get the upgrade scripts. Then follow the Movable Type installation instructions provided under "documentation" at the Movable Type site. But before you upgrade, don't forget to make a backup of all your entries and your templates!
You can make a backup of your entries by exporting your files and saving the document that will be created to your hard drive. Click the "import/export" tab in your Movable Type interface and follow the instructions at the foot of the page. (Even if you don't upgrade, it is wise to do this periodically, so that you always have a backup of your entries.) Instructions on how to do that can be found here.
You can save your templates by i) copying and pasting them to .txt files in Notepad, OR ii) using the "link this template to a file" option. Fill in that space with the name you'd like to give the template, just make sure it's different from the output file name! For example, if you want to create a backup template of your Main Index file, and the output file of your Main Index file is index.html, write "index_template.html" in the "link this template to a file" option space. When you hit save and rebuild, you'll discover that the template - complete with Movable Type tags - will be created on your site under the name "index_template.html". This could serve as a backup of your template.
Another option is this: If you are using a MySQL database for your Movable Type, you can save everything - entries, templates, etc. - in one go via a MySQL backup. Instructions to do that can be found here.
Posted by prettyposies at July 16, 2006 9:44 AM