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#27756 Joomla 3.7 and Admin Tools update?

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
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PHP version
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Admin Tools version
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Latest post by on Thursday, 15 June 2017 17:17 CDT

Monday, 15 May 2017 19:57 CDT

PTWD
I'm hearing about so many problems with Joomla 3.7.0 that I'm concerned about updating it just yet. And I'm not sure if I should update Admin Tools now or later. My client's live site is still using Joomla 3.6.5 and Admin Tools 4.1.1. The developers of the site's template say there are still a lot of problems with it running on 3.7, and they are therefore recommending that users do not update Joomla until they get the template problems fixed.

Meanwhile, I had already updated my off-site development version of the site (on WAMP). I did all the updates that Joomla told me were available: Joomla, extensions, including Akeeba and Admin Tools, and part of the template. So far so good (fingers crossed), but I'm wary of trying to do that on the live site just yet. My primary concern in the meantime is the security of the live site until I can get everything updated.

So, my question is: Is it advisable to update Admin Tools to 4.1.3 as soon as possible, or should I wait until I update Joomla to 3.7? I know this is the Admin Tools forum, but could you also say what is recommended for Akeeba backup in this situation?

Many thanks.

Monday, 15 May 2017 22:08 CDT

dlb
We too have experienced problems with the Joomla! 3.7.0 update. We have plans to do some major rewrites to minimize our exposure to problems in future Joomla! updates. That is a long term goal, several months away. We believe we have patched all the side effects that Joomla! 3.7.0 had on our software in the most recent releases. You can safely upgrade to these releases, both Admin Tools and Akeeba Backup are backwards compatible with Joomla! 3.6.5.

Since you have not yet upgraded your live site to Joomla! 3.7.0, it might be wise to wait for the 3.7.1 update.


Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist


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Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!


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Monday, 15 May 2017 22:35 CDT

PTWD
Thanks very much, Dale. That's good to know, both that it's safe to update Admin Tools and Akeeba Backup now, and your suggestion to wait to update Joomla when it releases 3.7.1.

I can't help but wonder how this nightmare got away from the Joomla development team. Seems so many development houses are scrambling with a big pile of catch-up work on their plates.

Good luck to the Akeeba team! And many thanks for all you do. :-)

Tuesday, 16 May 2017 01:32 CDT

nicholas
Joomla has announced that they are going to release a security release fixing a high priority security issue on Wednesday. Unfortunately, this will only be available for Joomla! 3.7.1. This is not goo, since Joomla! 3.7.0 was broken. Now they are giving users the choice between a broken site and a vulnerable (therefore soon to be hacked) site.

We have already stacked up with coffee, food and water to reverse engineer the issue being fixed by analyzing the fix as soon as it is released. We are going to publish a new version of Admin Tools late on Wednesday or early on Thursday which addresses that issue even on Joomla! 3.6 (assuming it's affected). As a result I would recommend holding off upgrading Admin Tools until we release the new version.

As to how Joomla! 3.7 got out, their current system of code quality assurance (code is merged after two successful tests by any two random people) seems to be flawed. Whether these two people actually tested it, whether they have the experience to properly test it or understand its implications in third party software is anybody's guess. At a bare minimum API changes, i.e. anything not touching exclusively view templates, should be code reviewed. I understand the challenge of that (you need experienced reviewers and it's a full time job) but unless it's addressed I am afraid these major issues will keep happening.

In any case we write software because it makes our users' lives easier. We treat major incidents as learning experiences and an opportunity to improve our processes and safeguards. First, we are trying to catch issues in new Joomla! versions with automated testing. We already had that in Admin Tools and Akeeba Ticket System, now we're doing the same with Akeeba Backup - and extending automated testing to CLI scripts and legacy front-end backup methods, too. Moreover we are abstracting all calls to core Joomla! APIs in our code to make them go through a common platform abstraction layer. This will let work around broken Joomla! APIs in less time and with much less headache for you and for us.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Tuesday, 16 May 2017 10:52 CDT

PTWD
Thanks very much for your update about this, Nicholas. I saw last night that there's a 3.7.1 security patch coming and wondered if 3.6.x might be vulnerable as well as 3.7.0. I'm really glad you guys on on top of this and will check this out. I have learned that the template I'm using apparently has been updated for 3.7.0 after all, which explains why my development site didn't explode when I updated to 3.7.0. ;-) However I will hold off on further updates of Admin Tools and Backup until your patch is released.

Thanks for the explanation of why this mess came about. One person in a forum I use suggested it's the extension developers' fault for not being on top of Joomla version changes, which really doesn't make sense to me. I've never seen a Joomla version update cause such widespread problems, and with major development houses not just small software shops. This feels different.

Again, thank you for all you guys are doing. :-)

Thursday, 15 June 2017 17:17 CDT

System Task
system
This ticket has been automatically closed. All tickets which have been inactive for a long time are automatically closed. If you believe that this ticket was closed in error, please contact us.
Edited by on 2017-06-15 17:17 CDT

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