Support

FOF v2.4.3 is part of Joomla. You cannot and must not try to uninstall it.

The FOF30 library extension (e.g. version v3.3.7) is the old version of FOF 3. It was delivered as a "library" extension type.

The "file_fof30" file extension is the new version of FOF 3. It is now delivered as a "file" extension type.

Both of the latter point to the same directory on your site, `libraries/fof30`. If you try to remove either you'll break your site. There is no easy solution to remove the no longer used FOF30 library extension.

If you're wondering why this happens, it has to do with Joomla being very inconsistent in the way it handles extension updates. Developers are supposed to use the "library" extension type for frameworks such as FOF. However, Joomla does two stupid things with "library" extensions:

1. It completely deletes the entire library extension's folder before it tries to copy over the new files. This means that if it fails to copy over the new files your site is broken, you see an error that wrongly points the finger to our framework and you get angry with us for "breaking your site" when, in fact, it's Joomla that did.
2. Unlike literally every other package type it does not support pre- and post-installation scripts before Joomla 3.9. This means that we cannot safely prevent you from uninstalling the framework when other extensions depend on it and we can't prevent you from downgrading it. In both cases your site breaks and, like before, the error message wrongly points to the finger to our framework.

Quite comically, the "files" extension type does not have either of these problems. I say "comically" because the "files" extension type was only ever meant to install language files, i.e. non-executable files. These are the kind of packages that wouldn't break your site if they removed files before update or if they accidentally allowed you to uninstall or downgrade them. Yet, the way Joomla is written makes the "files" extension type more useful for libraries than the "library" extension type.

After having replied to countless emails and support requests from people who accidentally broke their sites – some of them using rather strong language – we decided to switch our framework to the wrong package type, "files", which actually let us work around those Joomla issues. The only downside is that since the extension type changed Joomla had to change the extension ID as well, leaving behind a reference to the old "library" package. We can't remove it because the "library" package points to the folder being used by our framework, therefore it'd uninstall the files if you uninstall the package. We can't prevent the uninstallation because, as I said, that was one of the problems with using a "library" extension type in the first place.

In so many words, please do nothing. It's just a reminder that Joomla sometimes makes no sense but it's still better than the competition for creating complex sites with great performance.