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« moods for moderns | Main | i have spoke with the tongue of angels »

January 23, 2005

ah, the joys of upgrading

Embiggened by the success I had installing Debian Sarge on my desktop machine, I upgraded to Movable Type 3.14 from 2.661 today.

So far, the upgrade has been mostly painless, but I have encountered a few headaches, which I may go into another time. I'm glad that I exported my entire blog before I started, that's for sure.

It looks like the comments have vanished all the way back until December, and I don't know if they're even working right now, but I've been here for hours, and now it's time for dinner. I kinda hate computers right now.

If anyone notices anything strange, post a comment (if you can) or drop me an e-mail, if you don't mind.

Update: Comments don't work. They time out for me, and I hear via e-mail from a lot of WWdN readers that they are encountering various errors that sound MT-Blacklist related.

I'd love to sit here for another few hours and figure it out, but I'm tired, my back is sore, and I have an audition tomorrow. I'll try to fix it later this week if I get some time.

Other than this incredibly annoying problem (which is probably my fault, like I forgot to set some stupid file to 755 or something) and a massive slowdown (which is probably server-related) the upgrade looks great. I especially like how 3.14 handles plugins.

So if you're having problems commenting, I know. No need to e-mail about it. However, if you're an MT user, and you've had any problems like this upgrading, I'd love to hear how you got around it.

Oh, if you're looking for actual weblog content, I recorded an audioblog on Friday called "Wanting . . . ".

Update the second: Comments are making it through, because MT-Blacklist (2.04b) is e-mailing them to me, which is weird because I didn't configure it to force moderation of new comments . . . but even when I approve them, they're still not showing up. Maybe it's a template thing.

Tell you what, I've learned a whole lot about MT because of this little snag . . . sort of how I learned a whole lot about recompiling a kernel when my machine puked recently.

So to review — things breaking: bad. Learning stuff while you fix things: good.

Update the last: I converted my database from Berkeley db to MySQL, and everything seems to be magically working. Cool!

The conversion was 100% painless. I edited two lines of mt.cfg (with vim, of course) and ran a perl script to do the conversion. I have about sixteen billion entries and comments and stuff, though, so it took about three hours to convert . . . but I just sat here at my desk and watched the update scroll by while I worked on my audition.

By the way, this pilot I'm reading for today is the best pilot I've seen in ages. Maybe five years or so (I use five, six, and nine years as benchmarks, because that's how long I've been married, lived in this house, and known Anne, respectively).

Update the last, for reals this time: Got back from the audition to find a blog positively overflowing with spam. Tried to login to MTBL, discovered that since I switched to the new database, MTBL thinks I have an invalid username. D'oh! Until I get that worked out, I've turned on a MT feature which will only allow comments from people who are registered Typekey users. It's free, it's not that big a hassle, and it could be a week or more before I finally work out all these issues . . . so if you'd like to post a comment, get yourself an account, just like my typekey profile whydontcha.

Posted by wil at January 23, 2005 07:38 PM
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference ah, the joys of upgrading:

» Off to GMEA and a few things from The Blog - eddiejennings.net
I'll be at the Georgia Music Educators Association Annual In-Service/Conference for the rest of the week. I've been able to attend a few times in the past and have always had a blast. This year I'm armed and ready to... [Read More]

Tracked on January 25, 2005 08:41 PM

» WWDN Database Convert from James Landrith - Taking The Gloves Off
Wil Wheaton has finally converted from Berkeley db to MySQL. Damn. Given that his blog receives far more traffic than this one, how in the world did he avoid the Berkeley database meltdowns that plagued Taking The Gloves Off during its first two year... [Read More]

Tracked on January 26, 2005 08:51 PM
Comments

No comments? But WHY?!

Posted by: midnitewolf at January 24, 2005 02:36 AM

Just seeing if comments are working yet...

Posted by: joffonon at January 24, 2005 03:01 AM

hey will try being a windows user trying to learn linux and not haven a clue what so every
besides if we didnt have things like this what else would we have to piss us off royally during the day?

Posted by: Nick Notarangelo at January 24, 2005 04:19 AM

This is a test. I repeat this is a test.

Thank you.

Posted by: morgan at January 24, 2005 04:48 AM

sorry to hear you're getting mild headaches from the upgrade. I'm sure it's some stupid thing that you'll slap your forehead about once you get it fixed. Best of luck on the results of the audition, though, Wil!

Posted by: Kristen at January 24, 2005 05:20 AM

Hey, the comments seem to work for me!

Pauly P.

Posted by: Pauly P at January 24, 2005 05:41 AM

Hey, the comments seem to work for me!

Pauly P.

Posted by: Pauly P at January 24, 2005 05:42 AM

seems to work so far

Posted by: grant at January 24, 2005 06:13 AM

test

Posted by: test at January 24, 2005 06:34 AM

I just thought I'd try to comment, mostly so I can see what it burps.

Posted by: anc at January 24, 2005 06:39 AM

Testing comments

Posted by: Jon at January 24, 2005 06:40 AM

Congratulations on the upgrade and I hope you get that part!

Posted by: Kelly at January 24, 2005 07:24 AM

I can comment cause I am great,
For desert I like chocolate cake.
If for some reason you can't see this,
I'm sure this lame poem you will not miss.

Fats

P.S. If this does work, I am usig FireFox FYI......if it matters. Phrrrt.

Posted by: Fats Vernon at January 24, 2005 07:39 AM

That wasn't a very cromulent thing to do.

Posted by: Jesse C. Slicer at January 24, 2005 07:41 AM

This is only a test to see if Wil has gotten the comments workin' again. BTW, yeah upgrading does suck sometimes but don't give up the faith with computers!

Posted by: Me at January 24, 2005 07:48 AM

It looks like they're working! Good luck with your audition.

Posted by: Matt at January 24, 2005 07:55 AM

well, did this work?
upgrading the choice of champions!

Posted by: dave at January 24, 2005 08:07 AM

Break a leg with the audition!

Posted by: Andrea (aka Delphine) at January 24, 2005 08:09 AM

I hate computers sometimes too :) Good luck!

Posted by: Kris at January 24, 2005 08:23 AM

This sentence does not exist.

This comment does not exist.

Please rotate your monitor 90 degrees and try reading the comments section again. ;)

Posted by: sparrowhawk at January 24, 2005 12:15 PM

Dude get Wordpress, you'll be much happier..I am.

-Cory

Posted by: Cory at January 24, 2005 12:20 PM

Uhhh . . . what? Comments work now?

Sweet! :)

Posted by: wil at January 24, 2005 12:24 PM

My favorite quote for situations like this:

"Testes...testes...one...two...THREE?!?!"

Posted by: Winona at January 24, 2005 12:34 PM

When MT 3.0 was announced, instead of upgrading I switched to WordPress because I don't feel comfortable with their new licensing. It took some getting used to, but I'm a lot happier with WP.

Posted by: Mike C at January 24, 2005 12:47 PM

Garrrrr. Upgrading really sucks. I think it is a prime example of how to apply Murphy's Law. I mean, you can cover every angle and have everything ready and forget one stupid thing, like copying your favorites folder before formatting C:
I can understand the headaches :) Hope you finish soon and painlessly!

Posted by: Glyn at January 24, 2005 12:55 PM

Gald to see that things are working for your site again.

I only discovered your site last week when a friend commented to my blog about GeoCaching that you had blogged about it once or twice. Very nice site, Wil!

And break a leg at the audition! I hope we get to hear more about it later.

Posted by: Dave at January 24, 2005 01:21 PM

I replaced a burned out hard drive this past weekend (in the snow storm), and it's the first time I've ever done anything real to a computer in my life. The feeling of powerfulness is awesome indeed. Thanks, Wil.

Posted by: Kristen at January 24, 2005 01:24 PM

**MOJO** on the audition!!!

Posted by: Gem at January 24, 2005 01:30 PM

I can understand. My husband works on computers as a job, so i do all upgrades,ect on the home computer. It's also very tricky with toddler. Just be happy your boys are big enough to know that their not Spiderman and jumping off the loveseat all the time.

Peace, love and extra memory

Posted by: Angi Dudas at January 24, 2005 01:37 PM

Good luck on landing that role!

Posted by: marcus at January 24, 2005 02:31 PM

What the heck, William?? You never responded to my email!!!!

(I'm a big dork who just bought Stand by Me on DVD this month)

HA!

Posted by: Farked & Flipped at January 24, 2005 02:44 PM

Glad to see you fixed your upgrade issue! :) I finally got Just A Geek today and when I was on the bus reading it people were wondering what was wrong with me as I was smiling to myself and laughing at some funny parts. Thank you for the entertainment Wil.

Also, break a leg with your latest auditions. :) When you get a second E mail and let me know how they went. You know why I am asking you to E mail if you have gotten my last E mails. :)Take care and BREAK BOTH LEGS TODAY! (HaHaHa)

Posted by: Quincey at January 24, 2005 03:22 PM

Wil, I listened to your audioblog entry, so I am commenting here. (What, you don't have audio comments for your audioblog??)

I am crossing my fingers for you to get that role. I know what it is like to *want* a role and not just think, "Gee, it would be nice to get this job." I had something similar happen to me at the first acting gig I ever had after moving to L.A. A friend told me that he was going to be in a play, and they needed more people so why don't I come down to audition. I went to a rehearsal, they gave me a script and said, "Read this part that hasn't been cast yet." I read it at that rehearsal, and the next one, and the next, and they must have thought I did OK because I kept the role. Maybe your having sat in on the table reading for the film will make them realize that you are the best choice for that part. Here, have some mojo for that to happen. ***CASTING MOJO***

Posted by: Dave Westbay at January 24, 2005 03:49 PM

Well, looks like I got all excited about Typekey for nothing.

Man, this is frustrating.

Posted by: wil at January 24, 2005 10:31 PM

Just so you know, a major security flaw in MT has been discovered that allows a spammer to hijack your comment script and send e-mail spam out to an arbitrary list of recipients.

MT 3.15 fixes the problem, as does a plug-in patch released by Six Apart. You can get them both here.

Posted by: Adam M. at January 25, 2005 06:40 AM

Hmm, I got an error when I clicked on the popup comments. :( But the actual post shows up fine.

I skimmed through the comments and didn't notice this mentioned, but you might want to check out this thread about MT and MT Blacklist

Posted by: Cyndy at January 25, 2005 09:37 AM

Thanks for the link, Cyndy :)

Posted by: Wil [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 25, 2005 02:00 PM

The kernel rebuild indicated it but the vim clinched it. You're such a nerd. Only the hard core go through the painstaking process of learning vi. Rock on :)

:wq

Posted by: freecia at January 25, 2005 02:21 PM

Congrats on the upgrade. Now, can you audioblog it so my in-house tech support can help me upgrade to (what is it now? MT3.15?) Thanks!

(Audioblog tech support not really necessary. But thanks for the notes of your victorious travail - it looks like an upgrade is in the cards for me, too)

Posted by: ginny [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 25, 2005 10:56 PM

Hey Will,
I wanted to leave a comment on your audio blog but couldn't find a possibility to do so. Therefore I post here: you might want to use feedburner’s (www.feedburner.com) smartcast feature to add mp3 enclosures to your blogspot rss feed. This way we could subscribe to your audioblog with our podcast-clients. That would be great :)
Kind regards,
Martin

Posted by: Martin J. [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 26, 2005 02:59 AM

Can anyone tell me how you get your words to be "lined-through" like Wil has it on this post? I am not sure how to accomplish that.

Thanks!
Ally
ciavyn@hotmail.com

Posted by: Ally [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 29, 2005 04:08 PM
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