====== Updates ======

  * New features, bug fixes and security patches are regularly released - it's important to stay up-to-date
  * It's important to take regular (e.g. nightly) backups of your ITFlow instance; **you should not attempt to run updates without a current backup** (e.g. VM snapshot)
  * Always look over the changelog before running updates to check for breaking changes
  * Updates are a two part process:
    * Download the updated files
    * Apply any required database migrations

===== Web Interface =====
  - Login to ITFlow as an admin
  - Navigate to Admin Settings > Update
  - Select **Update App**
  - If prompted, also select **Update database** (you may have to do this several times)

===== CLI =====
  - Connect to your server via SSH as a user with root privileges
  - Navigiate to the ITFlow scripts directory (usually /var/www/itflow.yourdomain.com/scripts)
  - To update the app files run: ''sudo -u www-data php update_cli.php''
  - Then apply database updates: ''sudo -u www-data php update_cli.php %%--%%update_db'' (this may have to be run several times)

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===== Explanatory notes about updates (to be tidied up) =====
==== Files ====

The majority of ITFlow updates are just changes to the PHP files. The update tab will show the latest [[https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow/commits/master|git commits]] and offer to download them for you. In the background, this is just running ''git pull''. 

If you've manually edited any files, the updater will fail - navigate to your web directory and run git pull to review and resolve the issue.

{{updates_git_pull.png?direct|}}

==== Database ====

After pulling down the latest files, the update page will then show if the latest database version has increased. If it has, it will offer to run the commands in //database_updates.php// to update the database.

If you have updated your files and the database is showing it needs an update, it is crucial that you run the database updater as soon as possible.

If you do not update the database after updating the files, you will start seeing database-related errors
  * e.g. ''PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught TypeError: mysqli_fetch_array(): Argument #1 ($result) must be of type mysqli_result, bool given in /var/www/html/''. 

  * What this error is saying is that PHP failed to correctly pull data from the database. The query returned boolean false rather than a dataset. This would be due to something not matching (table/column names may have been added/changed).

  * If you are ever unable to login to due not updating the database, you can manually apply the relevant SQL changes in //database_updates.php// at the CLI / using phpMyAdmin.


**Additional notes: ** 
  * The database update applies one update at a time. If there are multiple updates needed, you will need to manually cycle through each update.

  * If you run into any issues running multiple database updates, it may be worth signing out and back in again between updates. Some updates alter files in your PHP session, which might only be set during login.

{{:updates_database.png?direct|}}