Partly working: a test installation as a sub directory of the real installation

Question

My ultimate goal is to create a test baseline where I can work through an upgrade from 2.5.9 to a current 3.x. I need to test changes as I apply them to be sure I am not breaking anything. (This is not a business site, but an active club that I belong.)

Current live installation is under public_html. I created a sub directory called joomla_test_update and cp all of the files and directories into there. (I have ssh access to the server).

I updated configuration.php

    public $log_path = '/home/myuser/public_html/joomla_test_update/logs';
    public $tmp_path = '/home/myuser/public_html/joomla_test_update/tmp';

and I also updated htaccess.txt (not .htaccess) as

RewriteBase joomla_test_update

It works that I can load the "home page" by navigating to http://mysite.org/joomla_test_update

Links from the home page work, but the items in the Main Menu throw an error

404 - Category not found
 You may not be able to visit this page because of:
  an out-of-date bookmark/favourite
  ...

What do I need to update to make this work? Also any other suggestions to ease my journey from 2.5.9 to 3.x.

Thanks, JimR

Answer 1

I would suggest to use a subdomain and do your testing over there instead of the subdirectory.

A good documentation is already created and is the first place you should visit to find out the migration steps.

https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_2.5_to_3.x_Step_by_Step_Migration

Answer 2

Joomla consists of files and a database. When creating a test version of the website, you should also create a copy of the database.

I usually use Akeeba Backup and Akeeba Kickstart to make a copy of the website in a sub directory. This makes it easy to update tmp and logs paths and specify the test database.

RewriteBase probably needs a forward slash like this:

RewriteBase /joomla_test_update