Hi all

after a couple of private e-mails I owe everyone both an apology and an
explanation.  Previously, I said:

>
>The goal here is to move a like version to a like version, ie. 1.8e ->
1.8e
>or 14.4 -> 14.4.  Moving 1.8e -> 14.4 is doomed to failure.
>

'Doomed to failure' was a hasty turn-of-phrase in this situation.  What I
meant by it was:

'Any attempt to move files directly from a computer with an older version
of LISTSERV (ie. 1.8e or older) to a computer with a newer version (14.3+)
will most likely not work successfully.  It will generate errors and more
hard work for you.'

As a bit of background, LISTSERV 14.3 was a big step forward in terms of
templating.  Many mail templates and the majority of WWW templates received
an update, and many previously hard-coded messages became available for
editing.  On top of that, there were quite a few new templates introduced,
too.

Further, the way templates are generated and assembled changed to a more
modular concept, as opposed to the very linear style of templates in 1.8e
and previous.

When moving LISTSERV from one computer to another, it's quite safe to
simply pick up the files from the old machine and put them on the new
machine.  HOWEVER, in the case of a version upgrade as well, if you were to
move *any* template files from a pre-14.3 installation to a new 14.3 or
14.4 installation, LISTSERV will get itself into all sorts of strife.
You'll see many error messages in the system log to the effect of 'Can't
find the XXX_XXX template', etc.

It *is* possible to recover from this situation but that's a Hard Road to
go down.  
The best way to handle this gracefully is to allow LISTSERV to do all the
template conversions for you.  Hence my advice:

>...apply any new 14.4 LAKs that you've received to the *old* server
>first.  Next, upgrade the *old* server to 14.4.  Lastly, move the 
>files [to the new server that has 14.4 already installed].
>
>Alternatively, install 1.8e on the *new* server, move the files, then
>apply new LAKs and upgrade.

It doesn't matter if you upgrade before or after the move, you'll just want
to ensure that the files you're moving are the same version on both the old
and new machines.  When you perform the upgrade, LISTSERV will recognise
that there's a mis-match of templates and do the necessary converting (with
some exceptions - see URL below).

Details of the changes can be found on the L-Soft web site in a new page
devoted to Mail Templates in 14.3
<http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/relnotes/LISTSERV_mail_templates.html>.
(Note: the URL has '1.8e' in it but the information is specific to 14.3.)

If you have any specific concerns about moving or upgrading feel free to
contact L-Soft Customer Support.

I deeply apologise if I caused anyone concern with my earlier post.  I
shall now return to the process of removing my foot from where it has been
firmly wedged...  :-)

--
Regards,
 Michael Shannon
 Senior Consultant, Asia Pacific Region           [log in to unmask]
 L-Soft international, Inc.                     http://www.lsoft.com

 Chazzozz!!

 Knowledge is just a click away: http://www.lsoft.com/optin.html

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