Upgrading to a new release

You can upgrade most versions of ArchivesSpace to a later version using these general instructions. Typically you do not need to progress through other versions of ArchivesSpace to get to a later one, unless there are special considerations for a specific version. Special considerations for these versions are noted here and in release notes.

Create a backup of your ArchivesSpace instance

You should make sure you have a working backup of your ArchivesSpace installation before attempting an upgrade. Follow the steps under the Backup and recovery section to do this.

Unpack the new version

It’s a good idea to unpack a fresh copy of the version of ArchivesSpace you are upgrading to. This will ensure that you are running the latest versions of all files. In the examples below, replace the lower case x with the version number updating to. For example, 1.5.2 or 1.5.3.

For example, on Mac OS X or Linux:

 $ mkdir archivesspace-1.5.x
 $ cd archivesspace-1.5.x
 $ curl -LJO https://github.com/archivesspace/archivesspace/releases/download/v1.5.x/archivesspace-v1.5.x.zip
 $ unzip -x archivesspace-v1.5.x.zip

( The curl step is optional and simply downloads the distribution from github. You can also simply download the zip file in your browser and copy it to the directory )

On Windows, you can do the same by extracting ArchivesSpace into a new folder you create in Windows Explorer.

Shut down your ArchivesSpace instance

To ensure you get a consistent copy, you will need to shut down your running ArchivesSpace instance now.

Copy your configuration and data files

You will need to bring across the following files and directories from your original ArchivesSpace installation:

the data directory (see Indexes note below)
the config directory (see Configuration note below)
your lib/mysql-connector*.jar file (if using MySQL)
any plugins and local modifications you have installed in your plugins directory

For example, on Mac OS X or Linux:

 $ cd archivesspace-1.5.x/archivesspace
 $ cp -a /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/archivesspace/data/* data/
 $ cp -a /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/archivesspace/config/* config/
 $ cp -a /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/archivesspace/lib/mysql-connector* lib/
 $ cp -a /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/archivesspace/plugins/local plugins/
 $ cp -a /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/archivesspace/plugins/wonderful_plugin plugins/

Or on Windows:

 $ cd archivesspace-1.5.x\archivesspace
 $ xcopy \path\to\archivesspace-1.4.2\archivesspace\data\* data /i /k /h /s /e /o /x /y
 $ xcopy \path\to\archivesspace-1.4.2\archivesspace\config\* config /i /k /h /s /e /o /x /y
 $ xcopy \path\to\archivesspace-1.4.2\archivesspace\lib\mysql-connector* lib /i /k /h /s /e /o /x /y
 $ xcopy \path\to\archivesspace-1.4.2\archivesspace\plugins\local plugins\local /i /k /h /s /e /o /x /y
 $ xcopy \path\to\archivesspace-1.4.2\archivesspace\plugins\wonderful_plugin plugins\wonderful_plugin /i /k /h /s /e /o /x /y

Note that you may want to preserve the logs file (logs/archivesspace.out by default) from your previous installation—just in case you need to refer to it later.

Configuration note

Sometimes a new release of ArchivesSpace will introduce new configuration settings that weren’t present in previous releases. Before you replace the distribution config/config.rb with your original version, it’s a good idea to review the distribution version to see if there are any new configuration settings of interest.

Upgrade notes will generally draw attention to any configuration settings you need to set explicitly, but you never know when you’ll discover a new, exciting feature! Documentation might also refer to uncommenting configuration options that won’t be in your file if you keep your older version.

Indexes note

Sometimes a new release of ArchivesSpace will require a FULL reindex which means you do not want to copy over anything from your data directory to your new release. The data directory contains the indexes created by Solr. Check the release notes of the new version for any details about reindexing.

Transfer your locales data

If you’ve made modifications to you locales file ( en.yml ) with customized labels, titles, tooltips, etc., you’ll need to transfer those to your new locale file.

A good way to do this is to use a Diff tool, like Notepad++, TextMate, or just Linux diff command:

 $ diff /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/locales/en.yml /path/to/archivesspace-1.5.x/archivesspace/locales/en.yml
 $ diff /path/to/archivesspace-1.4.2/locales/enums/en.yml /path/to/archivesspace-v1.5.x/archivesspace/locales/enums/en.yml

This will show you the differences in your current locales files, as well as the new additions in the new version locales files. Simply copy the values you wish to keep from your old ArchivesSpace locales to your new ArchivesSpace locales files.

Run the database migrations

With everything copied, the final step is to run the database migrations. This will apply any schema changes and data migrations that need to happen as a part of the upgrade. To do this, use the setup-database script for your platform. For example, on Mac OS X or Linux:

 $ cd archivesspace-1.5.x/archivesspace
 $ scripts/setup-database.sh

Or on Windows:

 $ cd archivesspace-1.5.x\archivesspace
 $ scripts\setup-database.bat

If you’re using external Solr (required beginning with version 3.2.0)

Full instructions for using external Solr with ArchivesSpace

If you’ve deployed to Tomcat

The steps to deploy to Tomcat are esentially the same as in the archivesspace_tomcat

But, prior to running your setup-tomcat script, you’ll need to be sure to clean out the any libraries from the previous ASpace version from your Tomcat classpath.

 1. Stop Tomcat
 2. Unpack your new version of ArchivesSpace
 3. Configure your MySQL database in the config.rb ( just like in the
    install instructions )
 4. Make sure all you other local configuration settings are in your
    config.rb file ( check your Tomcat conf/config.rb file for your current
    settings. )
 5. Make sure you MySQL connector jar in the lib directory
 6. Run your setup-database script to migration your database.
 7. Delete all ASpace related jar libraries in your Tomcat's lib directory. These
    will include the "gems" folder, as well as "common.jar" and some
    [others](https://github.com/archivesspace/archivesspace/tree/master/common/lib).
    This will make sure your running the correct version of the dependent
    libraries for your new ASpace version.
    Just be sure not to delete any of the Apache Tomcat libraries.
 8. Run your setup-tomcat script ( just like in the install instructions ).
    This will copy all the files over to Tomcat.
 9. Start Tomcat

That’s it!

You can now start your new ArchivesSpace version as normal.