SUMMARY
In some cases, you may need to convert a project that you worked on in an older version of Mari to a newer version of Mari. If the gap between the two versions of Mari is too large, Mari may crash when trying to convert, or when trying to open the converted project. Alternatively, you may be able to open the converted project, but some data is missing. Both scenarios indicate that the project has become corrupted during the large version conversion. The following article describes the best approach to convert projects between Mari versions, so that corruption may be avoided.
MORE INFORMATION
Mari has the ability to convert old projects to newer versions of Mari. This conversion tool works automatically, and is designed to work best when it is converting between two versions of Mari that immediately follow each other. This means that migrating a project can cause issues if the gap between the two Mari versions is too large. For instance, migrating a project directly from Mari 4.1 to Mari 7.1 will most likely cause project corruption.
In order to safely migrate your project between versions of Mari, it is recommended to make smaller incremental jumps between Mari versions.
Mari versions are organised into major versions, minor versions, and maintenance releases:
- Major versions are, for example, Mari 3, Mari 4, and Mari 5.
- Minor versions exist within the Major versions; so for example, in the major version of Mari 4, there are the 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 minor versions.
- Within each minor version exist a number of maintenance releases. For example, in Mari 4.0, there is 4.0v1, 4.0v2, 4.0v3, and 4.0v4.
The number after the 'v' indicates the version of that maintenance release. Thus, Mari 4.0v4 can be considered the latest version of Mari 4.0. This same logic persists through all Mari versions.
For the best chance of success, we recommend converting through every Minor version’s latest maintenance release. This is because the latest maintenance release can generally be considered the most stable build of that version of Mari. For example, if you want to migrate a project from Mari 4.1 to Mari 7.1, we recommend executing the following migration steps:
Mari 4.1 > 4.2v2 > 4.5v2 > 4.6v4 > 4.7v7 > 4.8v4 > 5.0v4 > 6.0v3 > 7.0v2 > 7.1v2
In the following page, you can download all versions of Mari you need. You can also use this article to check which versions of Mari are the latest maintenance releases.
Previous Mari Releases
NOTE: If you're passing through Mari 4.5 or 4.6, please note that in these versions, the Node Graph and other palettes may appear empty. This is simply a display issue caused by the fixed bug ID 370320. You can ignore this and move on to Mari 4.7, where the palettes will be populated again.
MIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS
As there is the chance of issues occurring when migrating a project, we recommend that you first create an Archive of the project in the version of Mari the project was created in, before attempting the conversion process, just in case any issues or corruption occurs. Instructions on how to Archive a project can be found here:
In order to migrate your project across versions of Mari, please follow the instructions below:
- Launch the Mari maintenance release that you want to migrate your project through.
- Open the project that you wish to convert via the projects tab.
- Accept the convert dialog. Note here that the dialog also gives you the option to Duplicate or Archive your project. If you've already created an Archive of your project as recommended earlier, just select Yes.
Image 1: Mari's Project Conversion dialog.
- Once the conversion finishes and the project opens, you may want to check if any issues have occurred during the conversion process. If you everything looks good, close your project and Mari.
- Repeat this process in the next Mari maintenance release that you want to migrate your project through, until you reach the desired Mari version you would like to work in.
FURTHER HELP
If you are experiencing difficulties please create a support ticket and provide us with the information requested in this article:
Q100090: Information to send Support when reporting a Mari issue
For more information on how to open a Support ticket, please refer to this article:
Q100064: How to raise a support ticket
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