This procedure comes in handy if, like me, you have trouble using the one-click Joomla updater on some servers.

First, find out the web address of the upgrade or install package that you need straight from joomla.org. Make a note of the URL of the package. Next, shell into your server and cd to the root of your web documents folder or to the root of your Joomla install. Use the below command to copy the package directly to your server, plugging in the package URL after the wget command.

wget http://joomlacode.org/.../Joomla_Package.tar.bz2

Next, unpack the package in place. This will only update the core files and keep all of your extensions and non-Joomla files un-touched and in place.

tar xjvf Joomla_Package.tar.bz2
// alternate command for non-gnutar (not-linux) systems and gz files
// gunzip < package-file-name.gz | tar xvf -

Finally, clean up after yourself by removing the package after unpacking.

rm Joomla_Package.tar.bz2

If performing a fresh install, now you can access your site through the browser and follow the normal installation procedure. If you’re just doing an upgrade, after you’ve unpacked the files and removed the package, make sure to access your site’s backend and go to

Extensions > Extension Manager > Database

and choose fix. This will handle any schema changes necessary with the update.