MySql Migration to Vanilla?

fernando

I have been keeping track of this discussion, and fear it's not going to blossom any time soon into something like this so i thought i might seek some general guidance and support for doing something on my own.

one of the communities i admin is perfect for Vanilla! I want so much to jump right in with both feet. However, it's currently a punbb forum, and I'm going to need to convert the database from punbb to Vanilla.

My questions are not:
will you hurry up and do this for me?
or
why haven't you done this for me yet?

My questions are:

Regarding operations: as i am not the world's finest coder, or hacker (limping) my plan was to export the current punbb database to an excel spreadsheet, and then try using some type of migration tool to put the applicable data into the correct fields of a backup copy of the vanilla database and generate a schema for adding the data from there.

Using a tool like this:
http://www.realsoftstudio.com/overview.html

This may or may not work. heh... So I guess I'm asking for input about that [Mac os x please]

Also, if i do it and it works, happy as that will make me, it won't really serve this community much.

So how do you actually generate this sort of migration tool for others? Is there some kind of reference material I could read to perhaps make this project more useful to others in the end?

If only to say, if you don't know what you're doing: don't

Minisweeper

Well. As for making it useful for others, my master plan was to create some sort of migration plug-in engine where you would feed it all the data and it would put it into the right place at the right time. So assuming i actually got that done, your goal would be to create something to put that data in correctly. Exporting to an excel spreadsheet (although i havent read your reference link) doesnt seem like the brightest idea. Adm and i discussed a go between like this (or another database) but to me it seems like a massive waste of processing power. If you were going to change the data out of one forum to put it in a go-between you may aswell have gone the whole way and just put it straight into the final data structure (i.e. vanilla). I tell you what though; If you can get your hands on a punBB database and the vanilla schema and write me a link from each type of data as such: punbb_user.username -> lum_users.username With all the data it's possible to migrate, i'll stick it into a script for you (based on my plug-in system, hopefully) - as really thats the hardest part of the transfer. Working out what it's actually possible to transfer and what changes are necessary take up most the time but no real 'skill' (i'll be the first to admit that compared to most, my migration script is really some very unskillful php). You up for that?

fernando

Yes I am. Considering I was sitting here with Excel open thinking "I wonder if this would be of any use to anyone else?" when i posted this... I am totally up for it. I'll get on it starting right now.

fernando

I've gotten all the easy stuff done for this, and am now left with the odds and ends which don't clearly or easily match up. Haven't forgotten, still working on it...

Minisweeper

Alrighty. Well when you're done just chuck me an email or pop something on here and i'll check it out. If theres anything puzzling you about how to make the link i might be able to shed some light if i managed it with phpBB. You'll never be able to get *everything*

fernando

I thought that maybe this this converter might be useful to kinda convert punbb to phpbb and then migrate using the existing tool over to Vanilla.

Taking a crack at it, it seems you have to actually have both punbb and phpbb installed and then run this converter via the web.

So it's not a matter of dumping the db into one, then the other, and posting it.

Not so easy, but perhaps the converter from punbb to phpbb would be useful to better assist in a direct migration? Maybe the hard work has already been done?

* fingers crossed *