# Database Migrations
-This page describes database migrations necessary to update existing databases
-to newer versions of Nominatim.
+Since version 3.7.0 Nominatim offers automatic migrations. Please follow
+the following steps:
-SQL statements should be executed from the PostgreSQL commandline. Execute
-`psql nominatim` to enter command line mode.
+* stop any updates that are potentially running
+* update Nominatim to the newer version
+* go to your project directory and run `nominatim admin --migrate`
+* (optionally) restart updates
-## 3.6.0 -> master
+Below you find additional migrations and hints about other structural and
+breaking changes. **Please read them before running the migration.**
-### Status table contains now time zone information
+!!! note
+ If you are migrating from a version <3.6, then you still have to follow
+ the manual migration steps up to 3.6.
-The `import_status` table has been changed to include timezone information
-with the time stamp. You need to alter an existing table before running
-any replication functions with:
+## 4.0.0 -> 4.1.0
-```sql
-ALTER TABLE import_status ALTER COLUMN lastimportdate TYPE timestamp with time zone;
-```
+### ICU tokenizer is the new default
+
+Nominatim now installs the [ICU tokenizer](../customize/Tokenizers.md#icu-tokenizer)
+by default. This only has an effect on newly installed databases. When
+updating older databases, it keeps its installed tokenizer. If you still
+run with the legacy tokenizer, make sure to compile Nominatim with the
+PostgreSQL module, see [Installation](Installation.md#building-nominatim).
+
+### geocodejson output changed
+
+The `type` field of the geocodejson output has changed. It now contains
+the address class of the object instead of the value of the OSM tag. If
+your client has used the `type` field, switch them to read `osm_value`
+instead.
+
+## 3.7.0 -> 4.0.0
+
+### NOMINATIM_PHRASE_CONFIG removed
+
+Custom blacklist configurations for special phrases now need to be handed
+with the `--config` parameter to `nominatim special-phrases`. Alternatively
+you can put your custom configuration in the project directory in a file
+named `phrase-settings.json`.
+
+Version 3.8 also removes the automatic converter for the php format of
+the configuration in older versions. If you are updating from Nominatim < 3.7
+and still work with a custom `phrase-settings.php`, you need to manually
+convert it into a json format.
+
+### PHP utils removed
+
+The old PHP utils have now been removed completely. You need to switch to
+the appropriate functions of the nominatim command line tool. See
+[Introducing `nominatim` command line tool](#introducing-nominatim-command-line-tool)
+below.
+
+## 3.6.0 -> 3.7.0
+
+### New format and name of configuration file
+
+The configuration for an import is now saved in a `.env` file in the project
+directory. This file follows the dotenv format. For more information, see
+the [installation chapter](Import.md#configuration-setup-in-env).
+
+To migrate to the new system, create a new project directory, add the `.env`
+file and port your custom configuration from `settings/local.php`. Most
+settings are named similar and only have received a `NOMINATIM_` prefix.
+Use the default settings in `settings/env.defaults` as a reference.
### New location for data files
`./utils/query.php` no longer exists in its old form. `nominatim search`
provides a replacement but returns different output.
+### Switch to normalized house numbers
+
+The housenumber column in the placex table uses now normalized version.
+The automatic migration step will convert the column but this may take a
+very long time. It is advisable to take the machine offline while doing that.
+
## 3.5.0 -> 3.6.0
### Change of layout of search_name_* tables
The debugging UI is no longer directly provided with Nominatim. Instead we
now provide a simple Javascript application. Please refer to
-[Setting up the Nominatim UI](../Setup-Nominatim-UI) for details on how to
+[Setting up the Nominatim UI](Setup-Nominatim-UI.md) for details on how to
set up the UI.
The icons served together with the API responses have been moved to the
./utils/setup.php --setup-website
```
+### Update SQL code
+
+To update the SQL code to the leatest version run:
+
+```
+./utils/setup.php --create-functions --enable-diff-updates --create-partition-functions
+```
+
## 3.4.0 -> 3.5.0
### New Wikipedia/Wikidata importance tables