After creating a v7.5.9 release to provide to The Powers That Be on our ability to push out releases to the UBB.Threads platform we've taken ahead and upgrades ourselves here after Brooks pushed it out at UBB.Central.

You can expect to see this in the Member Area soon, a full document of changes can be found at the UBB.Wiki entry UBB.Threads v7.5.9 Changelog.

Hopefully this is an appropriate follow-on.... but what's the most current product that is recommended for "file comparisons"?

I have made just enough "small" changes over the years that I would be afraid to install this without a full comparison first.

I don't know how to do this any better way, but having a new release is always a gut-wrenching effort for a couple of months until all "missed" tweaks are found.

beyond compare still works.
It is not free anymore but it has a trial version.

Yes. That's the one that I was trying to think of. I paid for a copy years ago. Still have it. But it sounds like we might have to check "hundreds" of files, unless we just focus on the commonly modified ones.

I know that id242 and I still use Beyond Compare as well, finally took the plunge to 4.0 (I was rockin 2.0 still).

Where I haven't used it before, there's also one called WinMerge, but your mileage may vary.

There's been some updates where it was easier to move the modifications to the new files. It sounds like a lot of the updates were stripping trailing spaces, converting spaces to tabs, etc. Unless you're very familiar with your own changes, it's going to be difficult to update to this one using any simple file compare - most lines will trigger differences.

I generally use BC to compare my current version to the stock version, then move the changes over to the new version; takes a little more time, but you don't have to worry about minor changes in a new build to just move changes over.

I was thinking that with the comparison HIGHLIGHTED, that it would become obvious what the changes were in the NEW file. Then, using your logic, I would only need to copy the CHANGES that show up in the OLD file.

But.... it's still a pita.

Oh, my next issue? I just checked and my VER 3 of BC is an Eval copy... Dang it. I will have to purchase the new one. Maybe by doing that, this will become good luck and I'll have to use the new version of BC for MANY, MANY more updates to UBB? You think?

Allen, you're absolutely correct in this, and your suggested procedure of moving your site's custom modifications into the 7.5.9 release, rather than the other way around.

To help you do-it-yourselfers out, I'll have a quick BeyondCompare tutorial up in a few hours for doing just that.

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In this 7.5.9 release of UBB.threads -- if coming from 7.5.8-r2 -- every directory is mostly "modular."
/languages/english files can be be installed without affecting anything.
Also, /templates/default are independent of everything.
/admin doesnt require any additional dependencies, nor do the files within /libs or /scripts.

IIRC, everything updated in 7.5.9 should be modular. That's your pro-tip for today.

The feature list for the next release of UBB.threads will most likely have changes that will be dependent upon other files. UBB.threads 7.5.9 lays down a foundation for those things.


I AM HERE TO DRINK COFFEE AND KICK ASS. AND RIGHT NOW, I AM ALL OUT OF COFFEE.
(caps. sorry. but they do add more feeling to it.)

http://www.ubbwiki.com/wiki/view/68/ubb-threads-v7-5-9-changelog.html

this is not recommended if you've modified the stock styles as your changes will not carry over

If you would like to utilize the corrected styles (which only include updated names, font size corrections and proper hex codes for colors) you can import the three files (1.txt, 2.txt, 3.txt) from install/styles directory.

1. Go to Control Panel > Styles
2. Choose the "Import Style" bottom-tab.
3. Click the "Browse" button
4. Navigate to the install/styles directory on your local computer.
5. Choose 1.txt, 2.txt, or 3.txt.
6. Click "Continue"
Do this for each of the three txt files listed above.

Take note that these files will need to be available on your local computer as the editor will not look for files on the system.

You will then need to remove the original styles listed in the above-quoted changelog.

Don't forget to set your Default style and click the "Update Styles" button after an import of the new styles.

NOTES: New installs can ignore this - it's automatically done during the new install process.

Thank you guys for the updates on the product - we had discussed doing the 'trailing spaces/tabs' thing years back on the beta forum but it never made it into the final product. Looking forward to what you are working on in the next version.

Yeah, I need to see about getting Isaac access to the old beta forums to see about making a kludge of ideas for future releases, otherwise it just adds a step for our late night google talk brain trust... lol

Well I Know all the discussion went away for v8.
But the steering committee forum at ubbcentral has a lot of suggestions that are more current to the v7 series than probably the beta forums .
Also I found that the last two oldest topics on that forum have some v8 enhancement discussion.

In fact I just added him to the group.
So Iassc you should be able to view it now.