Update EE 2.x to 5
How Do I?
We’re looking to update several EE 2.x installs to the version 5. (Thinking we should avoid v6 until it’s more mature.) I’ve read various articles on this site and searched the forum.
I understand that plugins are likely the biggest hurdle but, aside from that, it’s not clear if I should manually update from 2 > 3 > 4 > 5? Or if the latest version has a reliable built-in updater that will do the update from 2 > 5 for me?
Older posts seem to talk about manually making the gradual jump until we’re on the current version but this article (https://docs.expressionengine.com/latest/installation/updating.html) talks about going straight from v2.
Thank you!
If you only want to go to EE5 you’ll need to follow this general process doing manual updates at each step (the one I use):
Update to latest EE2 version 2.11.9, some earlier versions can error on upgrading (2.7 and 2.9 spring to mind)
Update addons to EE3 compatible versions where available while still on EE2 (worth checking if these have EE5 versions)
Addons that don’t have an upgrade path to EE5 you’ll need to review, either replace with different addons with EE3/5/5 compatibility, use native functionality, or remove altogether and rework dependent content.
Upgrade to latest EE3, check everything is ok
Upgrade addons as required before you go to EE4 (some addons may have different version between EE3 and EE4/5)
Upgrade to latest EE4 (EE4 has the newer inbuilt updater, you probably don’t want to use this else it will bump you up to EE6. Upgrade manually!).
Upgrade addons as required before you go to EE5 (some addons may have different version between EE4 and EE5, not sure there are any but I always check)
Upgrade to latest EE5
Oh and backup at every stage, system files and database!
Thank you Rob