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How difficult is it to opdate WebWork and the OPL?

How difficult is it to opdate WebWork and the OPL?

by James Mc Laughlin -
Number of replies: 2
Is it really that difficult to update WebWork and the OPL?

I asked our IT/Academic computing department if they could take over updating WebWork and the OPL, and they stated categorically that they would not have anything to do with it.

They did not say so, but I got the impression that they were afraid to go near it. Maybe it was the fact that we also wanted to transfer WebWork to a new server that scared them of, or at least contributed to scaring them.

The result is that we are dependent on someone from another department who does it as a favour to us, which means of course that all his own work obligations take precedence.

The fact that our own IT people will not do is what makes me ask is it really so hard.

On a related note, most software nowdays will periodically ask if you want to check for updates, and if you click "yes", will download and instal the updates itself.

Is that how it is now with WebWork and the OPL?
If that is the case, or if there is a button someone could click to check for updates and have them installed with the click of a button, we could have someone else take over updates, once the latest version is installed on the server (hopefully over the winter break).
In reply to James Mc Laughlin

Re: How difficult is it to opdate WebWork and the OPL?

by Michael Gage -
"What version do you have?"

What I see at the bottom of the page is WeBWorK © 1996-2011 The WeBWorK Project


Updating WeBWorK has become much easier since version 2.6. You have an earlier version so the first upgrade step is likely to take some time and a lot of trouble shooting.

It is probably better to wait until the break. If you can install webwork on a new machine (particularly if it runs Ubuntu or some other common distro) then you might start with the ww_install script which will either eliminate or greatly reduce the tedium of starting setting up a new server. It handles the infra structure as well as the webwork repo itself. https://github.com/openwebwork/ww_install

To review the upgrade path if you start earlier (I suspect you are at about
and read through the release notes.
In reply to Michael Gage

Re: How difficult is it to opdate WebWork and the OPL?

by James Mc Laughlin -
Sorry, I should have replied on the forum.

When I got the email, I had not realized that it had come from the forum.

I will pass this onto a colleague who helps the person who does the actual updating.