Are OpenEMR Version upgrades smooth?

mdsupport wrote on Wednesday, August 04, 2010:

We are looking at getting started with OpenEMR.  Since version 4.0 is not available for production, it appears that we have no choice but to start with version 3.2 and upgrade when 4.0 is available.

Since version 4.0 has major and mandatory features, we would appreciate any feedback about previous version upgrade experiences.  Are there more horror stories or minor problems?

If you were in our position, would you just defer the implementation and start with 4.0 instead?

bradymiller wrote on Thursday, August 05, 2010:

Yes,

Upgrades are generally very smooth. Here are the upgrade instructions from 3.1 to 3.2 to give you an idea:
http://www.openmedsoftware.org/wiki/Linux_Upgrade_3.1.0_to_3.2.0
If you’re using the ubuntu package then it’s extremely easy:
http://www.openmedsoftware.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Package_Upgrade_to_3.2.0

Generally, the upgrades that have problems are the ones that start from a non-production release. So, the decision to implement with the development version of 4.0 depends on how much you need it now vs the risk of potential problems with future upgrades down the road and the expertise of your openemr instance maintainer.

-brady