Continue the legacy...

[kali]

Like most of us, I'm clinging to this really old forum I'm still running on phpbb2. It is nice because it still works and the community, despite fading, still is there...

Long time ago we went as far as voting for a new version, seeing that phpbb2 was already too outdated and some users were demanding features from modern forums. We decided on vbulletin and even cashed in all together and got a license. Only to discover that:
a) vb at the time did not have a spanish langpack. this was a deal breaker
b) the testing site got spammed faster than we could try the migration
c) the migration script they promise to work seamlessly on the sales department, did not work properly

We stopped there and ditched our paid vb license, and stuck to phpbb2. Spam here was no longer a thing with a very tiny effort. Mostly because all those script kiddies are now targeting phpbb3.

Time went by and the situation has got worse with more users moving away mostly because of the lack of features. So we are re-evaluating our options.

Biggest problem now is, nobody seems to be able to migrate data away from phpbb2. VB's impex got discontinued by themselves, as they finally came to terms they could not make it work. Any other software out there no longer even know phpbb2 as a thing, and they all refer to simply phpbb which is of course v3.

So the question is, is there any kind of software or service which do offer data migrations from phpbb2? I won't even consider any options if this is not feasible, to be honest, i'd rather let the forum die of inactivity before killing it with a broken migration...

Myself I'm a seasoned sysadmin and mysql power user, but I haven't spent any time trying to decypher other forums' software and db structures enough to try and write a migration script of my own.

Maybe someone here has done anything remotely similar and is willing to share it?

Cheers

[lumpy burgertushie]

there is a convertor for phpbb 2 built into phpbb3 by default.
the conversion does not touch your phpbb2 board.
they both have to be installed on the same server.
then just follow the instructions and run the convertor.
It should work just fine.
you will not be able to keep any MODs you may have installed or any styles.
all of the forums/topics/posts will be there. all of the members will be there etc.

https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1213555
explains how to do it all.

luck,
robert

[Salvatos]

(And once you have your data running on a phpBB3 board, it should be much easier to convert it from there if you prefer to use a different forum solution.)

[kali]

ok that makes sense... i guess i will have to try that mid point

anybody here has experience with phpbb3 as a final destination? i remember trying it out years ago and it was horrific

[Vendethiel]

You're asking people with a fairly strong bias at that point .

Do note that you'll probably need to do phpBB2 -> phpBB 3.0 -> phpBB 3.1 -> phpBB 3.2 -> ...

Also, remember that you'll lose all mod data by default. If you got a subforum mod, also remember to put everything on the top-level before migrating.

[Jim_UK]

I was just wondering what the extra functions are that his members are so keen to have and whether he could add them to his phpBB2 install. There are after all many hundreds if not thousands of add on mods for phpBB2.

Jim

[lumpy burgertushie]

[Vendethiel]

[kali]

[kali]