For those of you who wish to do the same thing ...and have web2py running under apache2 with ubuntu ( in my case it is ubuntu 12.04 LTS )
While the upgrade action is not possible or a bit buggy from 1.99.7 to 2.02+, this thread is about installing the latest web2py in parallel ( or next to ) your previous installation under the defined location --> /home/www-data/ [web2py_folder] ! It is pretty straight forward ! 1) make a duplicate of the file /etc/apache2/site-available/default #in my case the default was the web2py 1.99.7 and I renamed it web2py.loc 2) change the original default you just renamed to whatever it was before, for example, make it point to the default /var/www/ folder for other local sites you may have like html/php sites etc ... 3) in the web2py.loc file created, change the lines from NameVirtualHost *:80 NameVirtualHost *:443 to NameVirtualHost web2py.loc:80 NameVirtualHost web2py.loc:443 by replacing the "*" with the name you want to use locally for that web2py version installation ! 4) save ! then do sudo a2ensite web2py.loc # ( use the same name you have chosen in step 1 & 3 .. off course ) 5) restart apache server with ( sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart ) Then ... check to see on your browser if your same web2py install works under the new name chosen install the new web2py 2.02+ in the same directory ( /home/www-data/ [web2py2] ) # I chose that name .. you could choose another one ... whatever ! .. ) make sure all files are owned by www-data with all related permissions ! Repeat the same steps above but by using the new file copied ( in the example above the file copied is web2py.loc .. duplicate it and rename ) so now I have web2py2.loc go to step 3 above and change the web2py.loc with your new name ( in this case web2py2.loc ) in addition to that ... all reference to the /home/www-data/ [web2py] .. should be changed to /home/www-data/ [the_new_name] like /home/www-data/web2py2 all reference to web2py should be changed to the name of the new directory created like in : <VirtualHost web2py.loc:80> WSGIDaemonProcess web2py user=www-data group=www-data WSGIProcessGroup web2py WSGIScriptAlias / /home/www-data/web2py/wsgihandler.py ( bla bla bla .. ) you would change it to <VirtualHost web2py2.loc:80> WSGIDaemonProcess web2py2 user=www-data group=www-data WSGIProcessGroup web2py2 WSGIScriptAlias / /home/www-data/web2py2/wsgihandler.py ( bla bla bla .. ) then do step 4 ( with a sudo a2ensite web2py2.loc ) restart apache2 and because it is a new install of web2py ( the latest version .. ) cd into this new directory before testing it : --> cd /home/www-data/web2py2 PS. DO NOT FORGET TO HAVE THAT NEW DIRECTORY and all its contents BE OWNED BY www-data ! and do these 2 additional steps otherwise you will not be able to login the admin of 2.02+: 1) sudo -u www-data python -c "from gluon.widget import console; console();" 2) sudo -u www-data python -c "from gluon.main import save_password; save_password(raw_input('admin password: '),443)" and you are done ! .. happy coding with the new ! without breaking your old web2py install ! --