...

Automatic upgrade

...

PrestaShop introduced automatic upgrade in version 1.4.4 and 1.4.4.1, which was then turned into a free module for earlier versions (starting with PS 1.3) and later versions (including 1.5.x).

...

Downloading and installing the 1-Click Upgrade module

Simply follow the normal path to installing a module on PrestaShop:

...

The configuration screen presents you with a series of sections, providing information, tools and settings.

...

Welcome

This section compares your version of PrestaShop with the latest stable one. You can quickly see whether you need to update or not. If you know that there is a newer version available than the one presented, you can trigger a version check by clicking the "Check if new version available" button.

If you want to check for a version other than a stable one (for instance, beta, RC or any other unstable version), click on the "More options (Expert mode)" button. This will open a new section, named "Advanced mode", where you can choose the distribution channel to which you want to update.

Advanced mode

This section enables you to pinpoint exactly which version you want to upgrade your current PrestaShop installation to.

The options are:

• Channel. Choose the distribution channel that you want to use. The recommended selection is "Minor releases", which means "any stable release above the current one". The other options are:
  • Major releases. Only major stable releases above your own: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, etc.
  • Release candidates. RC versions are deemed stable enough to be tested by the majority, but not stable enough to be the real release. Use at your own risks.
  • Beta releases, alpha releases. These are development versions. Use at your own risks.
  • Private release. Sometimes, the PrestaShop developers upload a private test version. If you have the right URL and hash key, you can update to this version easily using this channel. If you check the "Allow major upgrade" box, you indicate that are only interested in major releases.
  • Local archive. To be used if you have downloaded the version you want to upgrade to in the correct local folder, /admin/autoupgrade/download. Once you have selected archive in the drop-down selector, indicate the version number in the text field (be very exact!).
  • Local directory. To be used if you have downloaded and uncompressed the version you want to upgrade to in the /admin/autoupgrade/latest/prestashop folder. That /prestashop folder must come directly from the archive that you downloaded.
• branch. Indicates if anything is available in the chosen channel.
• name. The name of the latest version in the chosen channel.
• url. The URL to the latest version in the chosen channel.
• md5. The hash check for the latest version in the chosen channel.

Checks

The "Checks" small section serves as a reminder that an upgrade is never 100% safe, and therefore that you should make sure you have made a complete backup of your files and data. This way, should the upgrade fail, you will be able to return to the initial state of your shop – albeit with a bit of work putting your files and data back into place.

Note that the 1-Click Upgrade module performs its own set of backup in order to allow for reverting of the whole upgrade. Nevertheless, you should rely on your own backups.

The pre-Upgrade checklist

The "The pre-Upgrade checklist" section gives you useful information on your current PrestaShop installation, and how it might interact with the automatic upgrade. You must make sure that all the checks are validated before you can launch the upgrade.

• Module version The 1-click upgrade module is up-to-date (your current version is x.x). Indicates whether you need to update the update module itself. If you have just installed it, there is little chance you will need to update it.
  If you do not have the latest version of the module, a button appears below this field, marked "Install the latest by clicking 'Add from my computer'". Clicking it takes you to the "Modules" page. From there, click on the "Add a module from my computer" link to reveal the pre-filled form. Click the "Download this module" button to start updating the module. Finally, go back to the 1-Click Upgrade configuration page to continue performing pre-upgrade checks.
• Root Your store root directory is fully writablewriteable (appropriate CHMOD permissions). Indicates if the read/write permissions are correctly set. If not, you will have to change them, using your FTP client, such as FileZilla.
  See the Getting Started guide's "System compatibility & system configuration" section for a quick explanation of how to perform a CHMOD.
• Shop deactivated. The PHP "Safe mode" option is turned off.
• *You put your store under maintenance *. Indicates if your shop is active or in maintenance mode. You must put your shop in maintenance mode during the whole process (file backup, database backup, automatic upgrade, verification), so as to prevent customers from losing orders... and prevents you from losing clients. The module will not can disable your shop for you, but does provide a button leading to the shop : Simply click on the "" button. You can also choose to disable the shop yourself, using the shop's preference page:
  • PrestaShop 1.4: enable/disable the shop in the main "Preferences" tab.
  • PrestaShop 1.5: enable/disable the shop in the "Maintenance" page, under the "Preferences" menu.
• Cache deactivatedYou de-activated or are not using the Caching features of PrestaShop. Indicates whether your shop's cache is enabled or disabled. You must disable it during the whole process. The module will not do it for you.
  • PrestaShop 1.4: enable/disable the cache in the "Performances" page, under the "Preferences" tab.
  • PrestaShop 1.5: enable/disable the cache in the "Performance" page, under the "Advanced parameters" menu.
• The PHP time limit : disabledis high or disabled (Current value: xxx). The automatic upgrade can be a lengthy process, as it needs to download the archive from prestashop.com, unzip it on the server, replace the currently installed files, then trigger the update itself. Hence, the PHP settings might be too low, and break the upgrade altogether, mid-process at worse. In this field, PrestaShop gives you an indication of the current PHP settings. Ideally, it should indicate "disabled".Options chosen.

All these indicators must be green for the upgrade to work. Otherwise, the upgrade button will not appear.

Start your Upgrade

This section compares your version of PrestaShop with the latest stable one. You can quickly see whether you need to update or not. If you know that there is a newer version available than the one presented, you can trigger a version check by clicking the "Check if new version available" button.

By default, the update tool is set to update your store to the next minor version. This means that if you use a version from the 1.4.x branch, it will not suggest the latest 1.5.x version, but rather the latest 1.4.x version. Therefore, if you want to update from a 1.4.x version to the latest 1.5.x version, you must click on the "More options (Expert mode)" button. This will open a new section, named "More options (expert mode)", where you can choose the distribution channel to which you want to update.
This is also very useful if you want to check for a version other than a stable one (for instance, beta, RC or any other unstable version).

Before launching the upgrade, you must make sure that you understand

...

its settings. The "Backup options" and "Upgrade options" sections are available at the bottom of the page

...

All these indicators must be green for the upgrade to work. Otherwise, the upgrade button will not appear.

(and are described later in this chapter). Make sure you understand them all.

Expert mode

This section enables you to pinpoint exactly to which version you want to upgrade your current PrestaShop installation.

The options are:

• Channel. Choose the distribution channel that you want to use. The recommended selection is "Minor releases", which means "any stable release above the current one". The other options are:
  • Major releases. The next stable releases from the latest branch: since the current branch is 1.5.x, the update tool would use the latest 1.5 version (as of this writing, v1.5.2).
  • Minor releases. This is the default setting. Uses only the next stable release within the current branch: if you have PrestaShop 1.4.2, it will update your shop to v1.4.9, even if v1.5.2 is available.
  • Release candidates. RC versions are deemed stable enough to be tested by the majority, but not stable enough to be the real release. Use at your own risks.
  • Beta releases, alpha releases. These are development versions. Use at your own risks.
  • Private release. Sometimes, the PrestaShop developers upload a private test version. If you have the right URL and hash key, you can update to this version easily using this channel. If you check the "Allow major upgrade" box, you indicate that are only interested in major releases.
  • Local archive. To be used if you have downloaded the version you want to upgrade to in the correct local folder, /admin/autoupgrade/download. Once you have selected archive in the drop-down selector, indicate the version number in the text field (be very exact!).
  • Local directory. To be used if you have downloaded and uncompressed the version you want to upgrade to in the /admin/autoupgrade/latest/prestashop folder. That /prestashop folder must come directly from the archive that you downloaded.
• branch. Indicates if anything is available in the chosen channel.
• name. The name of the latest version in the chosen channel.
• url. The URL to the latest version in the chosen channel.
• md5. The hash check for the latest version in the chosen channel.

Version comparison

For the curious, the numbered differences between your current version and the latest version in the chosen channel.

In case you have make changes directly to the core files instead of using the overriding possibilities of PrestaShop, these lists can help you know if your changes are safe or not.
Nevertheless, you can improve the lifespan of your custom code by turning it into overriding files. See the developer documentation for more information.

Rollback

This section only appears when at least one upgrade has been performed.

See below for more information.

Backup options

These options enable you to have some control on the backup process:

• Backup my files and database (required). It is not even an option: you . You must have your files backed-up, and the module will take care of this for you. Back up You should never disable this setting, unless told to.
• Backup my images. You should let the module take care of your images too, in order to be able to do a clean re-install again by re-uploading your files.

...

These options enable you to have some control on the upgrade process:

• Preserve the original Server performance. Some shared hosted offer poor performance, which might hinder the performance of the upgrade process, or even make it fail. "Low" is thus selected by default, but if you know you have a powerful server, you can choose "Medium" or even "High".
• Disable non-native modules. It is recommended to choose "Yes" for this option, as some module might prove a hindrance when upgrading PrestaShop.
• Upgrade the "default" theme. The upgrade process overwrites the default theme with its latest incarnation. If you have made changes to the theme directly, you can protect these changes by choosing "Yes". As a reminder, it is NOT recommended to edit the default theme! You should make a copy of the theme, and make changes to that copy.
• Keep Upgrade the default e-mails. An update might bring new default e-mail templates. By default, the upgrade will replace the existing ones with the ones from the newer archive, and add the new templates. If you have customized your templates, it is recommended you keep them. You would then have to customize the new templates in order to fit the general style of your shop.
• Deactivate custom modules. It is recommended to choose "Yes" for this option, as some module might prove a hindrance when upgrading PrestaShop.
• Manual modeStep-by-step mode. PrestaShop 1.5 only. If enabled, the module will stop at each step to ask you for confirmation.
• Server performance. Some shared hosted offer poor performance, which might hinder the performance of the upgrade process, or even make it fail. "Low" is thus selected by default, but if you know you have a powerful server, you can choose "Medium" or even "High"Display PHP errors. PrestaShop 1.5 only. If enabled, the module will displays PHP errors, which could help you discover server issues that would otherwise stay hidden from view.

The Upgrade process

Once all the indicators in the "pre-Upgrade checklist" section are green, the update button appears in the "Start your Upgrade" section, along with an indication of which Smarty version you are currently using, and the URL from which the new version will be downloaded.

Clicking the "Upgrade PrestaShop now !" button triggers the whole process.

...

You'll know the upgrade is over when the following message "upgrade complete. Please check your front-office theme is functional (try to make an order, check theme)" appears in green, along with the following final log entry: "End of process".
The upgrader also indicates that you should re-enable your shop, but before you do that, you should first check that everything is working in your back-office: no errors, all products and categories are in place with their images and attached files, etc. Until you have checked that everything is okay in your shop, it is better to keep it from the public eye.

...

Is everything working fine? Congratulations, you know have successfully upgraded your PrestaShop install!

...

Going back to the previous version: rollbacks

Sadly, not all upgrades are successful – which is the very reason why you should always back-up all your files and data, and why PrestaShop performs an additional backup of said files and data by itself (which you should not always count on, obviously. Make your own backup first).

...