UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads Version 7/8 Support Pre-support needed for very old install

Hi! Happy to see a v8. I'm still using the UBB.Threads since 2003 or something (upgraded from UBB.Classic which I used from 2001).

I need some advice on a good path to update to v8 as I know I'll run into some issues.

1/ I have an old database with MyISAM tables all set to collaition latin1_swedish_ci
2/ UBB.Threads 7.7.1 with some customisations
3/ PHP 7.3.33

My host this week forced UTF-8 output on the database, so I today did what was necessary in terms of changing the charset I once modified everywhere

I would like to know what I should do best to upgrade to v8...
- database: what should I do best in PHPmyadmin? What would be the procedure to duplicate the existing database, at the same time switching to UTF-8?
- Then... I guess the best option would be to do a full backup of the file system, first change the existing install to make it connect to the new database (keeping the old as a backup), then do the upgrade?

I want to do this before I update to PHP8.

There is a UTF8 converter tool in (I think) 7.5.5 and v8. UBB.threads v8+ would be the only version capable of running on a PHP8 system, but it also runs on PHP7 so you can upgrade in place then change to PHP8.

Thank you Gizmo! I will start making plans and investigate.