We finally upgraded our VM LISTSERV from 1.8b to 1.8c this week.
One of the delays in making this move was that it was our first
time going through the product upgrade cycle and we were unsure
of the exact steps we should take to upgrade without introducing
some problems with existing lists.  If I'm overlooking some
good procedural (VM) documentation on how to do this, please
point me to it and I'll RTFM.

Here is what we did.  I am interested in whether this is the
"normal" method that other VM sites are using for such upgrades.

Modified install is swap step 4 and 5 in reverse order
Copy LOCAL SYSVARS and LISTSERV FILELIST to 291
Possible check LSVCHK EXEC for problem with BACKBONE= blank instead of 0

1. Read 1.8c release notes
   Notes exist for both list owners and listserv maintainers.
   They explicitly say that 1.8c is to be installed over 1.8b.
   I don't see anything in them that gives me concern that this
   will be anything other than transparent for us with the
   exception that any of our subscribers using DIGEST mode will
   now get digests formatted according to the MIME specification
   for mime digest types.  We may need to keep an eye on this
   and change the default for lists to a non-digest.

2. Shutdown LISTSERV

3. Create new LISTSERV 291 to which the new version files will be merged.

4. Copy current listserv 191 files to listserv 291

5. Copy ctncor:listserv.ver18c files to LISTSERV 291 with REPLACE option.

6. Replace following newly distributed files on 291 with our tailored
   versions from 191 disk (assuming that the form of these files has
   not changed in the new release).

     LOCAL SYSVARS
     LISTSERV FILELIST
     DEFAULT MAILTPL  (yes, I know, but we modified it anyway)

7. Swap 191 and 291 in listserv directory

8. Autolog listserv

9. Test listserv operation by observing console, sending subscribe
   unsubscribe and other commands from local and remote addresses
   and trying some trial posts.

P.S. It has been two days now and the upgrade seems to have been
     trouble-free.

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Terry A. Moore - [log in to unmask]
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