Upgrade Dada Mail from a Simple Scripts Installation


Before Going Forward:

Simple Scripts is a great way to get started with Dada Mail, as their easy installer makes it painless to begin using Dada Mail. Many people who begin to use Dada Mail this way, move over to Pro Dada. Upgrading to Pro Dada from a Simple Scripts install of Dada Mail is not automatic - Simple Scripts won't do this for you.

Simple Scripts has, in its history of offering Dada Mail, sometimes changed the method that they install Dada Mail. Since starting to offer the program, their installs are less and less different from the install directions we give, and thus, it's much easier to upgrade.

The below directions will work to upgrade Dada Mail v4.3.2 as installed on, 1/16/11 to Pro Dada on a cPanel-based hosting account.

To do this upgrade, you will need:

If the below directions seem out of date, please let us know and post your questions on the boards:

http://dadamailproject.com/support/boards

Thanks!


What's the big difference?

As far as we can currently tell, the only difference that a Simple Scripts install has when compared to our own instructions to install Dada Mail, is the placement of the .dada_files directory. Simple Scripts will put this directory in the same directory it installs Dada Mail, The Program. Our directions say to put this directory under your, home directory.

That's it!

The easiest course of action would be to move the .dada_files directory and update the, .dada_config file - this file is located in the, .dada_files/.configs directory.

For this walkthrough, we've installed Dada Mail, via Simple Scripts at:

http://dadademo.com/dada/mail.cgi

The absolute path to that, dada directory is,

/home8/dadademo/public_html/dada

We're going to install Pro Dada at:

http://dadademo.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi

The absolute path to this site's cgi-bin is:

/home8/dadademo/public_html/cgi-bin

Our home directory is:

/home8/dadademo

This information is going to different for you.


Move the .dada_files directory

The first thing you want to do is move the, .dada_files directory.

Simple Scripts sets the, .dada_files to be created in the same directory as Dada Mail, The Program. For us, the absolute path to this directory is:

/home8/dadademo/public_html/dada/.dada_files

Remember, /home8/dadademo is our home directory, that'll probably be the default directory we log into, with our FTP program.

We just need to move the current .dada_files directory into our home directory. The FTP program I use allows me just to drag the directories to different locations - much like you would do with your desktop computer:

If you're having trouble doing that, you can try simply downloading the entire, .dada_files directory and uploading it again.


Update the .dada_config file

We need to update two variables in the .dada_config file. They are:

Most likely, they'll be the first two variables at the top.

The, .dada_config file is located in your .dada_files directory. Here's what the path, starting with, .dada_files will look like:

.dada_files/.configs/.dada_config

In my example, the $DIR directory is set to:

 my $DIR         = '/home8/dadademo/public_html/dada/.dada_files';

I want to change it to the location I just moved it to - right under my home directory:

 my $DIR         = '/home8/dadademo/.dada_files';

Then, I just need to update the $PROGRAM_URL variable. It's currently set to:

 $PROGRAM_URL    = 'http://www.dadademo.com/dada/mail.cgi';

I'm going to set it to:

 $PROGRAM_URL    = 'http://www.dadademo.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi';

Save your file - and you're done!

At this point, your previous Dada Mail will not work. All you have to do now is install your new (Pro) Dada Mail!

You can use the instructions located at:

http://dadamailproject.com/d/install_dada_mail.pod.html

http://dadamailproject.com/d/upgrade_dada_mail.pod.html

When using the our installer, just make sure that when it asks for your, .dada_files " Directory Location", you use your home directory.

Again, for us, that was:

 /home8/dadademo/

And again, this will be different for you.

You won't need to fill anything else out - just click the, Configure Pro Dada! button at the bottom.

The installer will say that it cannot make a new, .dada_files directory, because one already exists, but it will also say that you can use the current .dada_files directory. Use that option and click, Configure Pro Dada!, Again:

Your Dada Mail should now be upgraded from a Simple Scripts installation.


Remove the Listing of Dada Mail from Simple Scripts

In the Simple Scripts interface, you may want to remove the listing of Dada Mail, so as to avoid confusion when working in Simple Scripts in the future.

In your Simple Scripts home screen, you should see a list of your installed apps under, "My Installs". Under the Dada Mail listing, click, "Uninstall". Use the option, Remove from the List and not, Automatic Removal - this will make sure you do not remove anything important, inadvertantly.


Remove the old, "dada" directory

To clean things up, you'll want to remove the old dada directory that Simple Scripts put in place. In our example, that directory was at:

/home8/dadademo/public_html/dada

(Make sure not to remove the, dada directory we just installed!