Remember vBulletin 3...

[Mr.Domains]

I am stuck with 3x copies of vBulletin 3, (which I am not going to upgrade, because I think it's a massive rip-off to charge nearly $200 for software, then force your customers to re-buy it again every time you update)...

ANYWAY, I thought I might as well put them to use, so I am trying to install a copy on one of my domains.

I downloaded the latest version of 3 from the members area, (version 3.6.8), I installed it, only to be told that the latest version available is 3.8.7 Patch Level 3. So I downloaded the 3.8.7 Patch Level 3, tried to update, and it brought down the whole forum:

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'lastprefixid' in 'field list'
Error Number : 1054
Database error in vBulletin 3.6.8:
Invalid SQL: SELECT forum.forumid, lastpost, lastposter, lastthread, lastthreadid, lasticonid, threadcount, replycount, lastpostid, lastprefixid

So I deleted everything, re-downloaded and re-installed version 3.6.8, everything is back up and running... re-downloaded version 3.8.7 Patch Level 3, re-patched it, and quess what? MySQL Error : Unknown column 'lastprefixid' in 'field list' again!

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong, or is it just that vBulletin is really an overpriced piece of crap, as I suspect? :upset:

(Before everyone jumps on me, I know it is the best forum software out there, industry standard, etc, etc, but it still feels like overpriced crap to me)!

 

[Eric_Lyon]

This may or may not help, but have you tried logging into your mysql admin and adding the field manually to see if it fixes it? If not it might not hurt to try since your forums not operational anyways. try to query the line of code below to create the field:

ALTER TABLE vb3forum ADD lastprefixid VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL DEFAULT ''

Hope it helps, if not, back to the drawing board of trouble shooting.

Eric Lyon

 

[Mr.Domains]

Thanks Eric, but I'm still coming from a place that somehow I must be missing a step...

To start manually altering my tables is to accept that vBulletin's patches don't work, and I think if that was the case, I'm sure there would be more people complaining than just me...

Maybe I have to install ALL the patches in subsequent order, from 3.6.8 through to 3.8.7, (although most of them say "includes [previous patch]")?

As in:

- Security patch: 3.6.8 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security patch: 3.6.10 PL4 (includes PL1-3)
- Security patch: 3.6.11 PL1
- Security patch: 3.6.12 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security patch: 3.7.1 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security patch: 3.7.2 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security patch: 3.7.3 PL1
- Security patch: 3.7.4 PL1
- Security patch: 3.7.5 PL1
- Security patch: 3.7.6 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security patch: 3.8.1 PL1
- Security patch for 3.8.3 (included in 3.8.4+)
- Security patch: 3.8.4 PL2 (includes PL1)
- Security site to patch: 3.8.6 PL1
- Security patch: 3.8.7 PL3 for MAPI
- Security patch: 3.8.7 PL3

Does anyone know if this is the case? Surely just just have to install the latest patch for your version, no?

 

[Mr.Domains]

Okay, I finally got to the bottom of this, (for the benefit of anyone else following, or facing a similar issue), and it's even more annoying than I thought...

Patches only patch that specific version, ie you cannot patch version 3.6.8 up to version 3.8.7, you need to download the full version of 3.8.7 and patch that.

And if you are stuck with version 3.6.8, (who's "ajax.php" file contains gaping holes that let people to upload malware infected files to your server), the only way to gain access to version 3.8.7 is, (get this), to upgrade your license to a vBulletin 4 for another $200!

Apparently the secure version of vBulletin 3 ISN'T INCLUDED with the vBulletin 3 license!

I rest my case, thieving b*stards...