How to upgrade your laravel application?

Hi @donpuerto

Full instructions on keeping up with the changes between versions are given here: http://laravel.com/docs/5.1/upgrade

If you are going from Laravel 5.0 -> 5.1 then start at: http://laravel.com/docs/5.1/upgrade#upgrade-5.0.16 , then follow the instructions in that heading, scroll up to the next heading, follow instructions, scroll up to the next heading, etc etc.

Hope it helps!

It's (mostly) a case of updating your composer.json and running composer update but, always make sure you read the release notes and upgrade guide before performing the upgrades, taking note of any special requirements or breaking changes.

Generally speaking, there's not much to do - particularly with dot-releases - but from time to time, you might need to make code changes.

Always make sure you're doing this in dev/staging and testing before you push the upgraded code out to production.

@CImrie yeah its nice to have step by step procedure but its nicer to have let say php artisan update to 5.1.11, one line of code then it updates everything..

@deringer I think it is a general practice now a days to update your code when there is new version coming.

@donpuerto not necessarily. Those on 5.1.x may not update at all until the next LTS release comes out, except for critical security issues.

A one line update isn't trivial, either, particularly if underlying code structure changes or methods are removed.

End of the day, you need to check release notes and run tests to make sure everything works as expected.

@deringer thanks for the guide mate really helpful...

For future readers, I created Laravel Shift to help Laravel developers upgrade their applications. It effectively automates the changes in the Laravel Upgrade Guide as well as other updates and submits a pull request with all the changes for you to review.