Question phpBB 3.0 to Kunena

Our community has been using phpBB for over about 4 years now, but recently we've started working on a new website. We'd like to incorporate our forum better this time around, which is why we've been considering Kunena.

During those 4 years, however, we've gathered an incredible amount of users and posts, and it'd be a shame to ditch that legacy. I've been looking into transferring everything from phpBB to Kunena, but most posts on these forums simply tell you to use the search function: really useful if they only redirect you to more 'use search'-advice...

Anyway, from what I've gathered, we need to use Kunena 1.7 to import phpBB, then gradually upgrade to the latest Kunena version. I'm not sure how to go about this, though, since our new website is already nearing completion (fresh Joomla 3.1.4) and it doesn't seem to support Kunena 1.7.

Some step by step advice would be greatly appreciated, and I think it'd also prove useful for those wanting to start using Kunena in the future. Would it be possible to run an older Joomla version (1.5?) on a different installation and use that to get Kunena up to 3.0 and then switch it to the 'real' installation?

Again, help would be greatly appreciated. And please don't redirect me to the search function.

G'day, Biggar, and welcome to the community.

I have moved your topic to another category that deals specifically with these often-asked, I-want-the-step-by-step-procedure to migrate an existing forum to Kunena. Believe me, if I only did this kind of "forum migration work" as full-time job (and did nothing else) I could probably generate a very healthy income stream for myself.

I disagree that most of the messages on this forum say "search for the answer yourself". I try to help people by pointing them in the right direction. For example, this category contains a lot of useful information for people who are in a similar position to yours.

You are correct in your assessment of the situation. At this time, the "automated importer" component (that was developed a while ago by one of the team) only works with migrating some other forum systems to K 1.7.2. Yes, you are right: K 1.7.2 will not operate on J! 3.1.x. The leaves you with a much bigger migration issue to resolve.

You have correctly identified one alternative, i.e. install on a J! 2.5 platform (K 1.7.2 will run on J! 2.5) and then migrate from there. That's one possibility. Another possibility is to consider calling in an expert to do this work for you and to save yourself the headache.

Install a Joomla 2.5 website on a localhost (using something like XAMPP) and install Kunena 1.7. Then do a phpBB migrate over to Kunena there. Once you have done the migration for phpBB, upgrade Kunena to the latest version.

On your main site, install Kunena (same version as your localhost).

Then you can dump the Joomla and Kunena tables from your localhost to a file and import them into your live site. The Kunena tables are all xxx_kunena_ and the Joomla user tables are all the xxx_user ones (_user_notes, _user_profiles, _user_usergroup_map, _usergroups, _users).

Just make sure you have a backup of your live site

Thanks for the reply, Sozzled.

I understand there'll be quite a lot of newbies around here who keep asking the same questions, myself being one of them. The conversion isn't very well documented, however, so my searches brought me quite a bit of mingled information, adding to my uncertainty on how to go about doing this.

I'm glad you could confirm that my solution is a viable one, so I'll give it a go and see how it goes.

Edit: And thanks to you as well, Jominimonka! Now I know for sure what versions I should be using. I hadn't considered using a localhost, but now that you've mentioned it, it does sound like a better idea than hosting a second installation of Joomla online.

The only real uncertainty I have with Jiminomonka's suggestion is whether you can directly copy J! 2.5 user tables to J! 3.x and expect things to work. There may be structural differences between J! 2.5! and J! 3.x that get in the way. It may be better to do as Jiminimonka suggests (i.e. do the data import on a J! 2.5 system using K 1.7.2, then upgrade to K 3.0.1) and then migrate your J 2.5 test bed to J! 3.1.4 before your export the data tables.

I have not exported J! 2.5 users to a J! 3.1 site, so I'm not sure of the consequences here. Anecdotally , what I've heard hasn't been very reassuring.

So I tried migrating Joomla 2.5.13 to 3.1.4, but I can't seem to make it work. Using short term support doesn't show any new updates, not even when I purge the update cache. I have deleted all (well, the ones that could be deleted...) icompatable extentions, but I cannot find the update any where.

I couldn't find a way to migrate manually, are there any alternatives to the one click update?

Let me be sure I understand the question correctly. This topic is now "How do I migrate from J! 2.0 to J! 3.1?" Is that correct?

Email me matias at kunena.org as I have upgraded (but not tested) version of the migration tool.

Yes, pretty much. I asked the same question over at the Joomla forums, but there I was told the core Joomla tables are exactly the same. Still, I'd rather play it safe and do what you proposed, but updating Joomla 2.5.13 to 3.1.4 is proving to be a pain in the butt...

Edit: and thank you, Matias. I have sent you an email.

Edit 2: I have managed to update Joomla manually. It became barely usable, but at least the tables were updated, which meant that I could import them in the real installation. Had to mess a little bit with accounts and passwords to get access to the backpanel again, but in the end I managed it.

Thanks for the help, everyone. Now I just need to iron out the flaws that are bound to be there.

Biggar wrote: I asked the ... question over at the Joomla forums, but there I was told the core Joomla tables are exactly the same. Still, I'd rather play it safe and do what you proposed, but updating Joomla 2.5.13 to 3.1.4 is proving to be a pain in the butt...

*** Off-topic ***

Thanks for this information. I really haven't had the time (or the energy) to even ask the question "How do you migrate from J! 2.5 to J! 3.1?"

Perhaps it's my cynicism but whenever I hear someone tell me "there is no difference between the core Joomla tables from one major version to another major version" I find that rather difficult to believe. As things stand today, there have been enough difficulties arising from the screwed-up releasing of J! 2.5.12 and J! 3.1.3 (resulting in the cobbled-together J! 2.5.13 and J! 3.1.4 together with a patchwork-quilt of hotfixes) that need to be re-engineered into J! 3.1.5 (and, I guess J! 2.5.14).

But if you say that the you've been told that there's no difference between the core Joomla tables between J! 2.5 and J! 3.1 then I'll take your word for it.