Wagn 1.6 - Decko

The Wagn 1.6 upgrade involves three key tasks:

1. You must run database migrations for Wagn 1.6 to work. Please backup your database before migrating in case there are any issues.

rake db:migrate

Why are migrations necessary? Because we've updated the handling of "built-in" cards, like *navbox, *now, *version, *account links, etc. They are now real cards that use the new "card pack" views API.

2. You will need to install, configure, and run "bundler" if you are using git.

Install bundler
gem install bundler
Use bundler to install / update your other gems.
bundle install  #WAIT!  This is the basic command, but read the following before running it.
If you just run that command, bundler will install all the gems Wagn ever uses, including many that you probably don't need, upping the odds that you'll encounter problems.

So it's best to specify which groups of gems you DON'T need:
# sample install command for wagns using mysql
bundle install --without test hosting sqlite postgres

# sample install command for wagns using postgres
bundle install --without test hosting sqlite mysql
Bundler sometimes stumbles on the mysql gem because it doesn't know where the database is stored. You may find this bundler configuration document helpful in resolving that issue, especially this command:

bundle config build.mysql --with-mysql-config=XXXXX
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Why is this necessary? Wagn is a Ruby-on-Rails application, and it needs gems to run. Gems are specially-packaged independent ruby programs/libraries. Bundler is the gem management system used in Rails 3 (on which Wagn will soon run), and it dramatically improves gem maintenance.

Why is this worth it? Installing gems with bundler can sometimes take a little extra time upfront, but saves a ton of time in the long term. Bundler stores your configuration preferences in a .bundler file and uses that file to keep your gems up to date with Wagn. It may be hard to notice the headaches you're not having, but this is an investment in many non-headaches in the future.

Do I want those extra "gem groups"? Not unless you're feeling hard core. The "test" group is recommended for programmers interested in modifying or extending Wagn. They are needed to run Wagn tests (rspec, cucumber, etc). The "hosting" group is not needed to host a wagn site; it includes gems that we use on our hosted wagns and are not needed in most hosting scenarios. The database groups are only needed if you're using that database.

3. You should also update your submodules (plugins using remotely managed code):

git submodule update --init

It's possible (though not yet confirmed) that migrations directly from 1.5.0 to 1.6.0 may be challenging. If you have problems, try first migrating to version 1.5.3 and then to 1.6. And please let me know if this turns out to be true! If you are migrating from versions earlier than 1.4, you'll almost certainly need to migrate to 1.4 first. We are planning to improve our migration architecture so that fewer such hops are needed.

using bundler with Wagn

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