Problems Upgrading Older Versions of Semiologic Pro

First of all, let me stress that the problem of upgrading older versions of Semiologic Pro does not reflect on the integrity of Semiologic, but is rather a problem with the WordPress functionality which is integrated into Semiologic Pro.  My encounter with the upgrade problem began when I contracted to upgrade and move eight websites from a host using a modified version of Semiologic combined with WordPress 2.0.10, the legacy fork when WordPress 2.0.9 became 2.0.10 and the other fork, 2.1.3 

I uploaded the database onto the new host and uploaded Semiologic 5.0.2 to the new server.  When all sites were transferred, I asked my client to change the DNS pointers, thinking it would take only minutes per site to have them fully operational.  First mistake.  The upgrade wiped out all of the posts and pages from the database and the site was essentially trashed.

After some research, I found that this problem was relatively well known in the WordPress community.  WordPress 2.3.3 was wiping posts and pages from older WordPress databases during upgrade.  I then deleted and recreated the databases on the new server again and uploaded Semiologic Pro 4.3.3  This version of Semiologic has a bundled copy of WordPress 2.1.3 included which as discussed is similar to the legacy 2.0.10.  

I was a little surprised when I logged into the administration area that I was told I needed to upgrade my database.  I reluctantly clicked OK, and then anxiously checked to see that my posts and pages were still intact.  Thankfully, they were.  So far, so good.

Knowing that it worked, I made a similar installation on my test site, and then attempted an additional upgrade to Semiologic Pro 5.0.2.  It worked.  Again, all posts and pages were intact; everything was working just as it had on the old host.

Now the task shifted to upgrading the sites on the new host from Semiologic 4.3.3 to Semiologic 5.0.2.  The first site I tried had some server side issues with wp-cache which are being investigated at the present time, but that story will be told at a later time.

In summary, I believe that the problem can be circumvented and a successful upgrade accomplished by by making an intermediate upgrade of all Semiologic sites older than version 4.3.3 to 4.3.3 and then making an upgrade to 5.0.2