Need help upgrading 4.4.5 to 4.7.18 0n Ubuntu 16.04 server with PHP 7 on Drupal 7

Question

The VPS host running Drupal/CiviCRM was upgraded from Ubuntu 14 LTS to 16 LTS. That ran without error. However, that upgrade came with PHP7. immediately after the upgrade all three CiviCRM sites experienced The following Drupal Log error:

"ParseError: syntax error, unexpected 'clone' (T_CLONE), expecting '(' in require_once() (line 1 of /var/www//sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/DB/DataObject.php(207) : eval()'d code)."

After disabling CiviCRM on all three sites the error cleared.

Per CRM-17789 PHP 7 compatibility comes with CiviCRM 7.12. Upgrade of 4.4.5 site tto 4.7.18 was attempted. However, now "http://www..com/civicrm/upgrade?reset=1" produces the following: "ERROR: The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later."

Apparently, the installation with the CiviCRM module enabled was not a fix. This was tried several times after clearing the browser cache ... and in more than one browser with an open admin session set-up before the upgrade.

Is there a way around short of a new install of CiviCRM?

The other two sites are currently running 4.1.2 and 4.2.8. No CiviCRM upgrade has been attempted on these

Thanks,

TJH43

Answer 1

Does your VPS let you choose the version of PHP? If so, downgrade the version of PHP, upgrade CiviCRM, reset the PHP version.

Alternatively you could copy your installation to another server with older PHP, upgrade CiviCRM there and then transfer back to your VPS.

Since you have attempted an upgrade your system may be in a partially upgraded state. You should start from the database dump and software tree that was backed up before the Ubuntu upgrade.

If you want to copy to another server, be sure to follow the instructions at Moving an Existing Installation to a New Server or Location. You may want to get some help if those instructions look daunting.