ls_updater

Update a LimeSurvey instance using packages from the official website.

Functionality

• Downloads application builds directly from the LimeSurvey website
• Follows the upgrade instructions in the LimeSurvey Manual, including differences between versions 3-6
• Supports all branches: Unstable (master), Development (previous master), and Stable (LTS)
  • I am aware this is a bit weird, but it allows for the naming convention to remain unchanged from their previous one
• Performs backups of the database and application files
• Stops and starts the web server, with support for various init systems:
  • systemd
  • init.d / OpenRC
  • rc.d
  • Upstart / Finit
  • Epoch
  • generic (service)

What the script is doing

1. Load and verify config.json, configure the logger
2. Parse the release page, download the selected version
3. Stop the web server using the init system
4. Dump the database and zip up the existing install as a backup
5. Install the new application files, restore user data files, apply permissions
6. Start the service for the web server back up using the init system

Using ls_updater

System requirements

• LimeSurvey 3+ running on GNU/Linux (tested on Ubuntu 20.04)
• Web server software managed with one of the supported init systems, such as systemd or init.d
• Standard single-node LimeSurvey installation without custom modifications to the core files
• Python 3.6+ with bs4 (BeautifulSoup), requests, and wget packages available
• mysqldump available in the PATH, typically installed with the mysql-client or mariadb-client packages
• Root or sudo access to execute (note: the above Python packages and mysqldump need to be available as root)
• Database in MariaDB or MySQL with a .my.cnf file prepared with credentials (see config.json details below)
• Configured config.json alongside the script

Using config.json

Take a look at default-config.json, which assumes systemd & nginx.

• "branch": select the update branch. Supported values:
  • "unstable" (version 6+, i.e. latest-master)
  • "dev" (version 5+, i.e. latest-{d})
  • "lts" (version 3, i.e. latest-3.x-LTS)
• "db_cnf_path": path to a .my.cnf file with database credentials able to use mysqldump
• "db_name": name of the LimeSurvey database in MySQL/MariaDB
• "db_port": port of the database server
• "db_server": hostname or IP address of the database server
• "install_octal_permissions": 755-style permissions applied to the newly-installed application files
• "install_owner": Formatted like "username:group", the owner of the newly-installed application files
• "install_path": path to the application files on the disk
• "log_to_file": print the output of the script to logs/ls_updater.log
• "log_to_stdout": print the output of the script to the console
• "log_to_syslog": print the output of the script to local syslog
• "web_server_init_system": select the init system used to restart the web server service. Supported values:
  • "generic"
  • "systemd"
  • "service"
  • "init.d"
  • "openrc"
  • "rc.d"
  • "upstart"
  • "finit"
  • "epoch"
• "web_server_service": init/service name of the web server. Typically set to "apache2" or "nginx".

Running ls_updater

1. Prepare system to ensure the dependencies are met. For example, on Ubuntu 20.04:
   • sudo apt install python3-pip mariadb-client
   • sudo python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
2. git pull https://github.com/xenago/ls_updater
3. cd ls_updater
4. nano .my.cnf (only required if you don't already have one elsewhere - if you do, add its path to config.json)
5. Copy default config and edit to include all necessary information (see above for config.json details)
   • cp default-config.json config.json
   • nano config.json
6. sudo python3 ls_updater.py
7. In the browser, login as admin to verify that no database upgrade is required. If one is needed, it may prompt one when logging into the web interface.
   • It is also possible to check <base url>/index.php?r=admin/databaseupdate/sa/db - if an error appears when loading that URL, then no upgrade is required

Sample output