Is there an upgrade path directly from v8.11 (CE) to the latest version (12.9)?
We’re on a back-levelled version and I’m wondering if I have to do multiple stepped upgrades to get to v12 or if I can somehow fastpath straight through to v12.9?
You have to step through (at least) every major version.
Some minor versions along the path might include major migrations, even though it technically should be supported to upgrade (more or less) freely within a major version, it might be good to through (some of) those, a complete path with all of those looks like (if I got every version correct):
8.11.x -> 8.11.11 -> 8.12.13 -> 8.13.12 -> 8.14.10 -> 8.15.8 -> 8.16.9 -> 8.17.8
8.17.8 -> 9.0.13 -> 9.1.10 -> 9.2.10 -> 9.3.11 -> 9.4.7 -> 9.5.10
9.5.10 -> 10.0.7 -> 10.1.7 -> 10.2.8 -> 10.3.9 -> 10.4.7-> 10.5.8 -> 10.6.6 -10.7.7 -> 10.8.7
10.8.7 -> 11.0.6 -> 11.1.8 -> 11.2.8 -> 11.3.14 -> 11.4.14 -> 11.5.11 -> 11.6.11 -> 11.7.12 -> 11.8.10 -> 11.9.12 -> 11.10.8 -> 11.11.8
11.11.8 -> 12.0.12 -> 12.1.17 -> 12.2.12 -> 12.3.9 -> 12.4.8 -> 12.5.10 -> 12.6.8 -> 12.7.9 -> 12.8.9 -> 12.9.4 -> 12.10.1
(I don’t see any reason to stop at an old version, so I’ve included 12.10 in the path.)
You should at least go through the first version on each line (which is also listed at the last version on the line before). I believe I’ve seen a GitLab employee recommend going through the x.0 versions too, which would be the first step on each line.
As you’re quite far behind, I see the attraction of finding a faster path, but the slower you go, the more people will have tried each step before, and less things happens at each step, which might make it easier to find help.