This section deals with how to upgrade from Drupal 5.7 to version 5.8 using a live site running on cPanel. Drupal is now 5.12. To upgrade apply same also.

If you are upgrading from 5.x to 5.y, we can follow steps below.

There are 5 simple key issues to keep in mind before upgrade:-
(1) backup your sql database and all site folders and files (everything)
(2) login to drupal site as first user (remember the 'supreme/God' user, our case is 'adam')
(3) disable all contributed modules
(4) change theme back to 'garland' (stable theme)
(5) put site off-line

That's it, you are ready to upgrade. The idea is to replace all our Drupal 5.7 folders/files with Drupal 5.8 except for 2 folders - the /sites and /files folders. That is why we are encouraged to make all our changes in these 2 folders.

Login to your cPanel account and use the 'Backup' feature to backup the (1) database sql file and (2) 'home directory' files i.e public_html

Go to Drupal.org and download Drupal 5.8. to your harddisk.

Use 7-zip to untar/unzip files and take a look at /sites/[folders HERE]. This is to ensure they are the same as our original 5.7 'sites/' folder.

Open a new browser and go to www.my_domain.com

Login 'adam' and password (the first 'supreme' user).

Select > Administer > Site building > Modules > [Disable all Contirbuted modules] > Save configuration.

Select > Administer > Site building > Themes > [Default, change to] garland > Save configuration

Select > Administer > Site configuration > Site maintenance > [Site status] off-line > Save configuration

Click Home.

That's it. Do not logout of this site.

Still in cPanel (from above), Select > File Manager > public_html > Upload > drupal-5.8.tar.gz

We replace our Drupal 5.7 folders/files with 5.8 except for 2 folders, i.e 'sites' and 'files' folders. We keep these two.

Select > File Manager > public_html > sites > Rename > [say rename as] hold_sites.

Remember: our 5.7 'sites' folders contains sub-folders all/modules/[our modules][our themes] and very importantly our /sites/[my_domain.com]/settings.php file which has our database setup configured. We need to put back this whole folder. So renaming is just temporary to facilitate our replacing the 5.8 folders/files with the 5.7.

Then, delete all 5.7 Drupal folders except 'files' (which has our images,etc).

Select > public_html > drupal-5.8.tar.gz > Extract and move all folders to /public_html.

Copy and replace the new drupal-5.8/htaccess file to (old) public_html/htaccess file.

Select > File Manager > public_html > (new 5.8 folder) sites > Rename > [say] kiv_5.8_sites. (We can also delete this folder)

Don't forget to put back (rename) our old 'hold_sites' folder to 'sites'

Select > File Manager > public_html > hold_sites > Rename > sites.

Note: All this while our live my_domain.com is still logged in as first user 'adam'.

Also: notice the file public_html/update.php file. This is the file we need to run (there is no 'upgrade' file per se).

That's it.

While still logged in as first user 'adam',

In url box, add 'my_domain.com/update.php'

Click Enter

Select 'run the database upgrade script'

Select 'Update' and wait for upgrading process.....

Select > Administration pages > Logs > Status report

If all okay, put back your theme, enable contributed modules and put back site on-line.

Logout.

Log out cPanel also.

That's it.