Skip to content
XOOPS 2.7 Docs

Upgrading from XOOPS 2.5 to 2.7

What Changed in 2.7

Section titled “What Changed in 2.7”
  • PHP 8.2+ required — PHP 7.x is no longer supported
  • Composer-managed dependencies — Core libraries managed via composer.json
  • PSR-4 autoloading — Module classes can use namespaces
  • Improved XoopsObject — New getVar() type safety, deprecated obj2Array()
  • Bootstrap 5 admin — Admin panel rebuilt with Bootstrap 5

Pre-Upgrade Checklist

Section titled “Pre-Upgrade Checklist”
  • PHP 8.2+ available on your server
  • Full database backup (mysqldump -u user -p xoops_db > backup.sql)
  • Full file backup of your installation
  • List of installed modules and their versions
  • Custom theme backed up separately

Upgrade Steps

Section titled “Upgrade Steps”

1. Put the site in maintenance mode

Section titled “1. Put the site in maintenance mode”
// mainfile.php — add temporarily
define('XOOPS_MAINTENANCE', true);

2. Download XOOPS 2.7

Section titled “2. Download XOOPS 2.7”
Terminal window
wget https://github.com/XOOPS/XoopsCore27/releases/latest/download/xoops-2.7.x.zip
unzip xoops-2.7.x.zip

3. Replace core files

Section titled “3. Replace core files”

Upload the new files, excluding:

  • uploads/ — your uploaded files
  • xoops_data/ — your configuration
  • modules/ — your installed modules
  • themes/ — your themes
  • mainfile.php — your site config
Terminal window
rsync -av --exclude='uploads/' --exclude='xoops_data/' \
  --exclude='modules/' --exclude='themes/' --exclude='mainfile.php' \
  xoops-2.7/ /var/www/html/

4. Run the upgrade script

Section titled “4. Run the upgrade script”

Navigate to https://yourdomain.com/upgrade/ in your browser. The upgrade wizard will apply database migrations.

5. Update modules

Section titled “5. Update modules”

XOOPS 2.7 modules must be PHP 8.2 compatible. Check the Module Ecosystem for updated versions.

In Admin → Modules, click Update for each installed module.

6. Remove maintenance mode and test

Section titled “6. Remove maintenance mode and test”

Remove the XOOPS_MAINTENANCE line from mainfile.php and verify all pages load correctly.

Common Issues

Section titled “Common Issues”

“Class not found” errors after upgrade

  • Run composer dump-autoload in the XOOPS root
  • Clear the xoops_data/caches/ directory

Module broken after update

  • Check the module’s GitHub releases for a 2.7-compatible version
  • The module may need code changes for PHP 8.2 (deprecated functions, typed properties)

Admin panel CSS broken

  • Clear your browser cache
  • Ensure xoops_lib/ was fully replaced during the file upload