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By papy dan on
HI,
I am running a Drupal 11 site on a production server where using “Composer” commands in the site’s root directory via SSH is not possible.
What is the best way to upgrade the site from one version to another in this situation?
Can I copy all folders and files from a newer version except for "modules", "sites", and "themes", and then run the database update using "/update.php" in the browser?
Are there additional steps or precautions I should take to ensure a smooth upgrade?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Daniel
Comments
Don't try. Using composer is
Don't try. Using composer is required. There are dependencies between and among modules, themes, core and programs in the vendor directory that can only be managed by Composer.
A few years ago hosts had the excuse/rationale that Composer was too resource intensive. That excuse is gone. Users objected to the learning curve. That won't cut it any more either.
There is still a learning curve. I'd recommend practicing on a local site.
In this case you can develop
In this case you can develop locally (look into DDev), and run your composer commands locally. Then you create a deployment package that includes the vendor directory and deploy that to your server.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Thank you, fkelly and Jaypan
Thank you, fkelly and Jaypan for your responsiveness and your answer. It is truly a pleasure to see the help provided and the sharing of your skills with beginners. The website's hosting provider does not allow running the Composer command at the root of the project via SSH but seems to allow executing a script. Can we code a Composer command in a script and execute it? if so, how to do it? Thank you for your help. Daniel
Again, you would run your
Again, you would run your composer commands on your local computer, then create a package you deploy.
If you're trying to find a way to work with Drupal without Composer, that doesn't exist. This is why you will have to do all your building locally (your computer) and deploy the complete package to the server.
https://www.morpht.com/blog/drupal-and-composer-part-2-managing-drupal-8...
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Just to supplement (not
Just to supplement (not contradict) what Jaypan said ...
I use a large hosting provider, InMotionHosting. They work well for me but I'm not endorsing any particular hosting here. Five or six years ago they hesitated to provide Composer. Then their hesistancy evaporated, possibly because the Composer folks improved the efficiency of the program. InMotionHosting, like many hosting providers uses a set of programs called Cpanel. And Cpanel provides "terminal". Basically terminal works the way the command prompt does on Windows. No ssh needed. You just bring up terminal after you sign in to Cpanel, change into the public_html directory make sure you are using the latest Composer version and do "composer outdated 'drupal/*'. Then proceed with your updates. There are plenty of instructions on Drupal.org for doing this. I usually update a local (Wampserver) copy of my site first just to see if there are any problems.
Google or otherwise search "cpanel terminal" to see what it has to say. Your situation may be unique in some way I can't imagine, but otherwise I'd only use a hosting service that provides a terminal session and allows composer. In most situations it is a few minutes task to update a site through Composer.
Many hosting providers offer SSH and Composer
Many shared hosting providers -- also very inexpensive ones at around $3 per month -- provide secure remote access via SSH, so that you can use the command line for easier site administration.
Command line access to run Composer and Drush commands is more or less required for Drupal by now ...
See these articles, for some of these cheap web hotels, offering SSH access:
I would steer clear in 2025 of web hotels without SSH and Composer, and see it as a red flag.