(bug 38110) provide a way to separate out schema changes

Allows update.php to be run when $wgAllowSchemaUpdates = false.

This is useful for non-WMF environments where strict DB permissions
allow database updates (which update.php performs), but no schema
changes (such as adding or dropping tables or indices which update.php
also performs).

It does this by adding the --schema and --noschema flags. Without
either of these flags, update.php will perform exactly as before.

With --noschema, all changes to the table structure or table additions
are skipped. Only data changes are made.

With --schema is used, no schema changes are made to the database, but
the schema changes are saved to a separate SQL file that can be run.

Change-Id: I96b4cfd4c02e9cbf46cc6a0499b87fb3b89020a0

1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/UPGRADE b/UPGRADE
index 46f5e65aa54c..3e3cb1383b61 100644
--- a/UPGRADE
+++ b/UPGRADE
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ deleted file archives, and any custom skins.
 
 === Perform the database upgrade ===
 
+As of 1.21, it is possible to separate schema changes (i.e. adding,
+dropping, or changing tables, fields, or indices) from all other
+database changes (e.g. populating fields).  If you need this
+capability, see "From the command line" below.
+
 ==== From the web ====
 
 If you browse to the web-based installation script (usually at
@@ -64,6 +69,12 @@ update.php script to check and update the schema. This will insert missing
 tables, update existing tables, and move data around as needed. In most cases,
 this is successful and nothing further needs to be done.
 
+If you need to separate out the schema changes so they can be run
+by someone with more privileges, then you can use the --schema option
+to produce a text file with the necessary commands.  You can use
+--schema, --noschema, $wgAllowSchemaUpdates as well as proper database
+permissions to enforce this separation.
+
 === Check configuration settings ===
 
 The names of configuration variables, and their default values and purposes,