Upgrading - best practices for modified site?

Hi everyone,

When I upgraded from 7.0.1 to 7.0.2, I ran into a few issues with upgrading that I want to prevent in the future.  For example, my language file was completely written over.  Before I started the upgrade, I exported the language file.  However, when I tried to import it back, I got a database error.  So, I was stuck with having to edit the language file again.  Any advice on upgrading with language files?

Also, I have made extensive modifications to my Dolphin installation.  Thus, upgrading using the traditional methods will overwrite these changes.  So, what do people with large sites do when they need to upgrade?  Simply go through all of the files and verify the "differences" between them?

Thanks in advance!

When you have ton of modifications to your site you will have to go through and edit your files manually. The program I use is called Diffmerge It costs $30.  I'm sure if you search around you will find something like it for free.

Thanks for getting me pointing in the right direction.  I was able to find:  http://winmerge.org/

That should really make it easy to upgrade.  Thanks again!

Anyone else have any recommendations?

I like and use winmerge.

Just make sure you use the option to go in to subdirectories.

Now that 7.0.3 has been released, I'm curious what process people are using to upgrade their modified site to 7.0.3.  As of right now, I plan on using Winmerge to compare the new updates to my existing files.  It'll take a while to sort through everything, but that's expected.  However, my biggest concern is dealing with any database updates.  Anyone else have any general tips on how they're going to upgrade their site?

Upgrading means replacing individual files, not entire directories right?  This means you need to replace like a billion files... ? Anyone have a smooth way of doing this instead of going one by one via FTP?