Upgrading to OrangeHRM Version 2.5

Compatibility

OrangeHRM 2.5 upgrader only supports upgrading from version 2.4.2

Prerequisites

You need to create a folder called newversion under the root directory of your current OrangeHRM installation.
The web server user needs to have write permission to the newversion folder.
You need an empty MySQL database under the database user of your current OrangeHRM installation.

Procedure

2.5 upgrader does not affect your current installation. It will only import data from your current installation and will be installed as a separate installation at newversion folder. This will make it possible to try OrangeHRM 2.5 while having the old installation as it was. If you are comfortable with 2.5 then you can leave the old installation and move to the new installation (how to move is described below).

Download OrangeHRM 2.5 and extract its content to newversion folder that you created in your current installation (Tip: Once properly extracted, there should be build and lib directories inside newversion).
Download OrangeHRM 2.5 Upgrader and extract it to newversion folder. (Tip: Once properly extracted, there should be upgrade directory along with build and lib directories inside newversion).
Call the web path to newversion/upgrade/ in your web browser to start the upgrader (e.g.: If your current installation is accessed at http://www.example.com/orangehrm then call http://www.example.com/orangehrm/newversion/upgrade/).
Enter admin login details to proceed with the upgrade.
Upgrader will have following steps.
- Version Check - checks whether your current version is 2.4.2
- Data Check - checks for data incompatibilities in your current installation. It then asks the database name for new installation.
- Data Import - imports data from your current OrangeHRM database.
- Database Changes - applies new database changes.
- Configuration Files - copies necessary configuration files from existing installation and create required new ones.
- Login to New Installation - you can login to new installation and try its features out. Verify your previous data has not been misinterpreted in new installation.

Moving to New Installation

If you are satisfied with your new OrangeHRM installation, you can follow below steps to have the new installation in the same location as the current installation is.

Let's assume your current OrangeHRM folder is called orangehrm, then the folder of your new installation is orangehrm/newversion.
First move newversion folder one level up (i.e. to the same level where folder orangehrm is).
Then rename the folder orangehrm to something else, for example orangehrm-old.
After that, rename newversion to orangehrm.
Make sure all the permissions applied to your old OrangeHRM installation also apply to renamed orangehrm folder.
Remove upgrade directory from orangehrm.
That's all! Now you should be able to access, new OrangeHRM installation at the same location, i.e. if previous installation was at http://www.example.com/orangehrm/ then you should be able to access new installation at the same location.

Troubleshooting

Once you started upgrading process, results of each step is logged in a file called upgraderLog-1.log which is under newversion/upgrade/. If you get an error in any step, reason for the error will be logged in this file. Carefully, examine the error and see whether you can correct the error. After correcting, when you run the upgrader next time, a new log file will be created as upgraderLog-2.log at same location. This will log status and any error you get in second attempt. Likewise for each attempt, a new log file will be created.

If you are unable to correct the error or think that it's a bug of the upgrader, you can report it as a bug at Source Forge. Make sure you choose Upgrader as the Category and V2.5 as the Group. That will make sure your bug will be considered when OrangeHRM developers look into upgrader issues. You can also post the issue in OrangeHRM Forum and get help from OrangeHRM community.