Moving a site from LoveStack #

Most sites do not need to do anything. If you run Exponential and never ran LoveStack, nothing on this page applies to you. The features Exponential took over from LoveStack are part of 6.0.15, switched off where they could change how an existing site behaves.

This page is for those who run LoveStack (Mugo Web's distribution of the legacy kernel, mugoweb/ezpublish-legacy) and want to move a site to Exponential 6, and for developers who used a LoveStack-only API in their own code. A LoveStack database is close to Exponential's, so the move is mostly an ordinary upgrade with two extra commands. The upgrade guide has the same path in short: Coming from LoveStack.

Step 1 — Do you need to do anything? #

Run this from your installation root:

grep -l -i "lovestack" lib/version.php composer.json composer.lock 2>/dev/null

To check a database rather than the code (for example a copy you were given):

SELECT name, value FROM ezsite_data
 WHERE name IN ( 'ezpublish-version', 'db-schema-version' );

lovestack and a db-schema-version row mean a LoveStack database; a number such as 6.0.15stable means Exponential. Once Exponential is installed (step 3), one command does both checks and also lists the settings and extensions that need attention:

./console exp:lovestack check

Step 2 — Before you start #

1. Back up the code, the database and the storage directory:

   tar czf ../site-code-backup.tar.gz --exclude=var/cache --exclude='var/*/cache' .
   mysqldump --single-transaction --routines mydatabase > ../site-db-backup.sql
   tar czf ../site-storage-backup.tar.gz var/storage var/*/storage

   Replace mydatabase (use pg_dump for PostgreSQL). Keep the backups until the moved site has run for a while.

2. Check PHP. Exponential 6 runs on PHP 8.0 to 8.5 (PHP 7.4 usable without support). LoveStack's composer.json allows PHP 7.3–7.4 and 8.1–8.3, so a site on PHP 7 moves to PHP 8 at the same time: php -v.

3. List your own code. Everything you or your agency wrote lives in your own extensions, settings/override/ and settings/siteaccess/. Those are what you carry over; the kernel, extension/ezjscore, extension/ezoe and extension/ezformtoken come with Exponential.

   ls extension/ settings/override/ settings/siteaccess/

Step 3 — Install Exponential next to the old site #

Install Exponential in a new directory, as the installation guide describes, for example:

cd /var/www
composer create-project se7enxweb/exponential exponential

Do not unpack Exponential over the LoveStack directory: files that LoveStack moved (for example the ezenum datatype, which LoveStack keeps in extension/legacy_2018) would be left in two places. Then copy your own parts across:

OLD=/var/www/lovestack-site
NEW=/var/www/exponential
cp -a $OLD/extension/myextension     $NEW/extension/       # once per own extension
cp -a $OLD/settings/override/.        $NEW/settings/override/
cp -a $OLD/settings/siteaccess/.      $NEW/settings/siteaccess/
cp -a $OLD/var/storage                $NEW/var/            # or var/<site>/storage

Now run the check in the new directory, against the copied settings and the old database:

./console exp:lovestack check

Each line is marked FOUND (something to do; the line below says what), info (present, and Exponential works with it as it is), clear (not present) or unknown (the engine does not tell). It ends with OK (exit code 0) or NEEDS ATTENTION (exit code 1); --json gives a machine-readable report. It writes nothing.

Step 4 — Settings #

4.1 Remove legacy_2018 #

LoveStack moved the ezenum datatype into an extension called legacy_2018. Exponential keeps ezenum in the kernel, so the extension must not be active (two classes called eZEnumType would collide):

grep -rn "legacy_2018" settings/override settings/siteaccess

Remove every ActiveExtensions[]=legacy_2018 and ActiveAccessExtensions[]=legacy_2018 line it prints. Content using ezenum keeps working. Do not copy the extension directory.

4.2 Rename or remove LoveStack-only settings #

exp:lovestack check lists them, with the Exponential name to use. In short:

4.3 Permission defaults #

LoveStack requires a policy for two things that an upgraded Exponential site keeps open. To keep LoveStack's behaviour, set both in your overrides:

• Registration. Add to settings/override/site.ini.append.php:

  [RoleSettings]
  PolicyOmitListExclude[]=user/register

  and give the Anonymous role User / Register if visitors should still register (L02).

• Node data calls. Add to settings/override/ezjscore.ini.append.php:

  [ezjscServer_ezjscnode]
  RequirePolicy=enabled

  Roles that had ezjscore / call with ezjscnode under LoveStack keep working (L01).

Step 5 — Database #

1. Run Exponential's upgrade SQL for your engine, in order. LoveStack's schema starts from the legacy kernel's 5.4 schema, so both 6.0 files apply:

   mysql mydatabase < update/database/mysql/6.0/dbupdate-5.4.0-6.0.0.sql
   mysql mydatabase < update/database/mysql/6.0/dbupdate-6.0.0-6.0.15.sql

   For PostgreSQL:

   psql mydatabase < update/database/postgresql/6.0/dbupdate-5.4-to-6.0.sql
   psql mydatabase < update/database/postgresql/6.0/dbupdate-6.0.0-6.0.15.sql

   The columns LoveStack added (ezuser.password_hash with 255 characters, ezcontentobject_trash.trashed) are the same in Exponential and are not touched.

2. Record the database as Exponential's:

   ./console exp:lovestack migrate            # dry run: prints what it would write
   ./console exp:lovestack migrate --apply

   It sets ezsite_data ezpublish-version from lovestack to this release's version (6.0.15stable), which Exponential's upgrade check and about page read, and records LoveStack's schema version as lovestack-schema-version. LoveStack's own db-schema-version row stays as a record. It never changes content, users or settings; a second run changes nothing; a database that does not come from LoveStack is refused. Below the rows it prints the settings and extensions still to change, from step 4.

3. Keep what LoveStack's schema step 4 added. The unique index on ezuser.login stays: Exponential works with it, and new Exponential installations have it too (L04). The ezcontentobject_attribute.data_text NOT NULL DEFAULT '' column can stay as well: Exponential stores an empty string there, never NULL; the same content operations were tested on such a database and on an Exponential one with the same results.

Step 6 — Clear caches and check #

php bin/php/ezpgenerateautoloads.php -e
php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-all
./console exp:lovestack check

The check should now end with OK. Then open the site and the administration, and check:

• the front page, a few content pages and a search;
• log in and out in the administration; edit and publish an object with an image;
• var/log/error.log and var/<site>/log/error.log stay quiet.

Step 7 — Your own PHP code #

If your extensions call a LoveStack-only API, this is the Exponential one:

Find calls in your code:

grep -rnE "eZURI::build|setKeyValue\(|writeDeprecated|LEVEL_DEPRECATED|MAX_INT|MIN_INT|'site_data'|rawurl(en|de)code|eZNamePatternResolver::instance" \
     extension/myextension design/mydesign --include=*.php --include=*.tpl

About LoveStack #

LoveStack is developed by Mugo Web and published at https://github.com/mugoweb/ezpublish-legacy and on Packagist as mugoweb/ezpublish-legacy. Its own upgrade notes are in its update/README.md. Thanks to Mugo Web, whose documented schema steps (update/database/mysql/lovestack/1.sql to 4.sql) made it possible to recognise a LoveStack database this precisely.

Moving the other way, or running both, is not covered: the two projects share their origin but not their release lines.