TB Posted July 18, 2003 Posted July 18, 2003 What I normally do when installing a contribution is extract the files to a new folder. Noting the ?NEW? folder? so at to DEFINATLY not just paste over my old files. Instead, I use ExamDiff (similar to BeyondCompare) to find the required differences and install them manually. Once I have finished the installation for each file, I delete it from the NEW folder so I know all changes from it have been completed. This is the way I do it? others may have different ideas/methods? I?d like to hear them if they do... it'll help me, you and hopefully a lot of others. Cheers, Tony Quote "The price of success is perseverance. The price of failure comes much cheaper."
Aric Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 Depends on how extensive the changes are.... But usually I keep a "current" OSC folder, make a copy of it and rename it "experiment" and do the changes in there using Beyond Compare. If all the changes come out to my satisfaction, that folder gets renamed to "current", and the old "current" gets renamed in a stepping fashion so I can easily revert any time if needed. I also add extra documentation to any file I edit so I can easily find all edits (I use a specific sequence of characters on each edit) with an extended find/replace on the entire directory. Quote
Aric Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 ....forgot.... I also keep a running tab on all contribs I've added (in a seperate folder). Basically I unzip the contents in that directory.. do the changes necessary to the "experiment" folder. Quote
TB Posted July 19, 2003 Author Posted July 19, 2003 Good point which I forgot also... I copy the zip files to an 'add-ons' folder so I know at a glance what contributions I have installed. I also keep at least five COMPLETE site backups... not all of the one version, but rather than copying over the last backup, I just rename them in sequential order... so, should anything from my last few changes stuff things up, I just upload a working backup and all is fine... hopefully! :) I also keep an exact repositry of my website on my local drive, so I can do testing offline and know the results I will get... when I'm happy with the changes I just upload the modified files and violla... all is good. Quote "The price of success is perseverance. The price of failure comes much cheaper."
Guest Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 When I unzip the mod, I go to my cart and get the files I am changing. I save them as .orig then I download a copy to the same folder as I am doing the mods. I also keep a copy of the original file in the cart so easy to revert. If you are changing the files in a particular order - I put a number after each so I can revert in order. Also, if you are playing around with tweaking a file, it is sometimes best to comment out the changed parts instead of deleting altogerhter - makes error tracking easier to see the difference Quote
Guest Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 These are all things I've learnt to do the hard way! Only thing I do differently is to save the unmodified file with .date.b4contribname instead of .orig so that I can tell at a glance which one I need, especially since I've sometimes needed to go back a couple of contributions with a file. Perhaps this thread could be made a sticky, or someone could write up the suggestions for adding to the dcumentation? It could save a lot of heartache for those just starting out. Quote
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