Upgrade from 1.3.6 to 1.5.1 fails due to max_allowed_packets configuration

[Darren James Harkness]

When attempting an upgrade of existing Mahara 1.3.6 install to 1.5.1, the upgrade script fails on my installation with the error below.

The problem seems to be in converting text blocks from within existing portfolio views into artefacts on their own. This happens in htdocs/artefact/internal/blocktype/textbox/db/upgrade.php:62-67

This is accompanied by mysql error 2006 (mysql server has gone away), which might be tied to Mysql's max_packet_size or execution time.

It's possible that this is due to the query being larger than the max_packet_size setting in MySQL (which is set to 1MB). I've verified this by setting max_allowed_packets to 4M on local server, which is a workaround for the issue.

Error is attached.

[Melissa Draper (melissa)]

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5688403/how-to-check-and-set-max-allowed-packet-mysql-variable

Might be a bit risky to assume we can override that setting. Better error handling at minimum would be worthwhile.

[Darren James Harkness (darren-athabascau)]

Agreed - at my institution, I wouldn't have privileges on the database server to make that kind of change programmatically.