[EP-tech] enlarging of text field fails?

[th.lauke at arcor.de]

CAUTION: This e-mail originated outside the University of Southampton.

Hi David,

> The problem you have is that there are too many VARCHAR columns in the eprint table.
many thanks for your immediate response, although I would expecting this information from an "epadmin update" call ... :)

> ... or to convert VARCHAR columns (particularly any VARCHAR(255)) to LONGTEXT fields.
okay, no problem to manipulate the database in general, but ...

> Both of these require manually running "ALTER TABLE" MySQL commands.
... I am more familiar with the MySQL commands than the database scheme.
Please list in brief
- which tables are typically involved
- which commands do you recommend in which order

> you should also change the field in the EPrints configuration to type => 'longtext'.
for sure, this should be done simultaneously ...!

> Feel free to ask for more details about how to modify the columns for the eprint table in MySQL.
Maybe _we_ should add these instructions to the wiki?!

> However, my first piece of advice is make sure you backup the database before making any changes.
fortunately we have a daily backup and a separate server for tests :)

Thanks in advance
Thomas