I have tried upgrading to 1.8.4 from 1.8.0 but constantly getting expired token message and error on trying to sign in.
p.s maybe my htaccess has got something to do with site slow on guests.
# compress text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and XML
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
# remove browser bugs
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
Header append Vary User-Agent
Options -MultiViews +FollowSymlinks -Indexes
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/ow_updates/index\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/ow_updates/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/ow_cron/run\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/e500\.php
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.xml|\.feed|robots\.txt|\.raw|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.xml|\.feed|robots\.txt|\.raw|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/robots\.txt
RewriteRule (.*) index.php
# Enable keep alive
<ifModule mod_headers.c>
Header set Connection keep-alive
</ifModule>
# Disable ETags
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header unset ETag
</IfModule>
FileETag None
# Activate mod_expires for this directory
ExpiresActive on
# Feed
ExpiresByType application/rss+xml "access plus 1 hour"
ExpiresByType application/atom+xml "access plus 1 hour"
# Favicon (cannot be renamed)
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 year"
# Media: images
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
# CSS
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
#JavaScript
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 year"
ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access plus 1 year"
# Webfonts
ExpiresByType application/x-font-ttf "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "access plus 1 month"
here check this out
So you can either pay now or pay later, its better to do it now by choice or do it later when users are yelling at you to fix things yesterday.
1. server config - if something is suppose to be on or off and is not then that will cause issues. However you just set the config correctly and done.
2. Missing or changed DB fields - this is a bit time consuming but not hard to do. I would just compare the sql file between what you have now and the one in install folder for 1.8.4 and make any changes needed. You can use use a free program called winmerge on your pc to compare the two files and it will show you the differences.
3. different htaccess base - just be sure the 1.8.4 htaccess is installed
Once you have the right htaccess, server config, and the DB where they need to be, the only thing left is files, and files should not be any issue.
Just be sure you make a backup, even two, of your old site so you can save the config file as you will need it for the new site.
Thats all you need to do IMO, everything is done in a test environment and then moved live only when things are working smoothly. You will need to be sure you take the site down when you make the move so you dont miss any new registrations or post data.
before you ask, the reason for two backups is what if one is corrupted.. it happens.