Upgrading XAMPP from ver 5.5.19 to 5.63 was easier than I could have imagined. I wanted to take advantage of the new PHP 5.6 ‘argument unpacking‘ feature using the splat operator. I was afraid that the process of transferring test websites, including a full WordPress installation, and command line scripts would be painful. It was not. Here are the steps I took.
- Renamed the old xampp folder from \xampp to \xampp Old
- Unpacked the new xampp package to \xampp
- In the new installation, renamed the following files and folders by appending “Old” to their names:
- /apache/conf/httpd.conf, apache configuration file where the virtual host settings reside;
- /mysql/data/, the entire mysql data folder
- /php/php.ini, the php initialization file where there have been many customizations over time.
- Copied the files and folders in step 3 to the corresponding location in the new installation.
- Copied the website folders I wanted to transfer from /htdocs/
Fired up the new installation, and everything worked perfectly! Even the WordPress site picked up right where it left off on the old installation without a hiccup.