Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Monday, 08 July 2013 08:38 CDT

user77148

Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: (2.5.11)
PHP version: (5.3.21)
MySQL version: (5.0.96)
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you)
Akeeba Backup version: (3.7.10)

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it. NO Need, Backup & Restore working fine

Description of my issue:
Great software and I subscribed to the Essentials Plan for Backup Pro and Admin Tools Pro. Backup works well, but one reason I bought the Pro version was for System Restore Points. I have seen where the change log says "fixes an issue where SRP does not run under Windows" (going from memory so not the exact wording). Well, it looks like it is still not fixed. I tried it from my Mac (OS X 10.8.4) and it worked the first time in Safari. So I thought, well I'll just use the Mac and Safari whenever I update extensions. However, yesterday when I updated ThemeXpert's Xpert Slider from 1.1 to 1.2, SRP did not work at all on the Mac/Safari. I was disappointed because I wasn't sure how my site would react to the update and was looking for the SRP fallback.

I'm not sure what else I can tell you to help you identify the problem, it sounds like you are aware of it, at least on Windows. Is there anything I can do to make it work consistently even if only on the Mac? Or do I need to await another fix?

Thanks very much, and thanks for the great software. I hope you will continue supporting it for a long time to come.

- Jim

Monday, 08 July 2013 08:52 CDT

nicholas

The changelog entry was referring to operating system of the server, not the operating system used to run the browser. The SQL feature does work as long as you have enabled the System - System Restore Points plugin and you perform the extension upgrade with one of the following ways:
- Using Akeeba Live Update, used in Akeeba products and some other third party developers' products (e.g. VirtueMart 2)
- Using the Manage Extensions page, by uploading a package, installing from a URL or installing from a directory

The SRP does not work when you are upgrading through Joomla!'s extensions updater. The reason is that Joomla! does not provide any "hooks" which would notify our plugin that an extension update is taking place.

In fact, the System - System Restore Points plugin is playing a little trick to provide SRP for updates performed by uploading a package or installing from a URL/directory. When you try to access the Manage Extensions page the System - System Restore Points plugin is actually redirecting you to a page inside the Akeeba Backup component itself. The page is a look-alike to Joomla!'s Manage Extensions page, but it's really not the same page. Everything is handled by Akeeba Backup, making the use of SRP possible. This is unfortunately not possible for the integrated Joomla! extensions updater page, therefore SRP is not possible for extensions being updated through it.

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!

Monday, 08 July 2013 09:32 CDT

user77148

Hello Nicholas,

I've been through all of that, but OK, made a mistake and misinterpreted the "Windows" issue. Of course the plugin is enabled as it did work for me ONCE in Safari, but not since. I am able to see my Restore Point in 'Manage Backups' and I've attached a screenshot. I completely understand how it works, extends Joomla's Extension Manager, etc. However, it is so far unreliable for me.

I am not running on Windows Server, it is a Linux Host.

So, what now? It is your latest version 3.7.10. Could it be related to directory permissions? Any other ideas? Do I need to try again and send you the log file?

I'm really hoping to get this part working as it was of particular importance to me.

- Jim

Monday, 08 July 2013 09:43 CDT

user77148

Nicholas,

I went ahead and tried again... I did not work, the backup before the extension install never started and no log file was created. The last srp log file is from Saturday when it ran one time successfully. Note also, that no changes were made on the system on Saturday between the failure on Windows and the successful run on Mac, the two were mere minutes apart.

I've attached a couple of screenshots.

- Jim

Monday, 08 July 2013 09:44 CDT

user77148

Second attachment... the "After" status...

What to do next?

- Jim

Edited by user77148 on 2013-07-08 09:45 CDT

Monday, 08 July 2013 10:15 CDT

nicholas

As I said, in order for a System Restore Point backup to be taken you MUST upgrade using the Manage Extensions page and so on. It cannot work when you first install an extension, as there is nothing to back up (the extension is not installed; you cannot back up something that's not there). It also CANNOT work if you upgrade an extension from the Joomla! extensions update page and I have explained exactly why. This is how Joomla! works. I am trying to bend it to do what I want it to do, but there's a limit to what can be done without having to modify core Joomla! files (which I'd never do, for obvious reasons).

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!

Monday, 08 July 2013 17:32 CDT

user77148

Hello Nicholas, I hate that we have to keep going back and forth over this, but I need your help. I am sure that you do get a lot of bogus questions from people that won't read the instructions or watch the video about SRP, I assure you that is not the case here. Please, will you take the time to read what I'm telling and showing you and don't simply say it works and I must be doing something wrong. It doesn't help. I tried your core product, liked it, researched it thoroughly and wanted the professional features and decided it was worth the money. I believe it's very good software and am still happy to have purchased it. But when there is a problem, who else do I turn to?

Please, I will summarize everything I have already said:

- I have read the documentation...
- I have watched the video, now twice...
- I have read and reread your reply posts, thinking maybe I'm really missing something...
- I have successfully enabled the plugin as is clear in one of the screenshots I sent you...
- In the screenshot, it clearly (and I circled it) says "Extensions installation enhanced by Akeeba Backup"...
- I have already created a System Restore Point as clearly shown in another screenshot
- That successful SRP was after a failed attempt of another extension, and yes, it was already installed before.
- then, was able to create a SRP on Saturday, again see the screenshot.
- On Sunday, an update to an extension I already had installed was released. I already had version 1.1 installed. The update was to 1.2.
- Extensions manager reported it as 1.1
- I performed the update with "Extensions installation enhanced by Akeeba Backup", however it DID NOT run a backup of the previous version and DID NOT create a SRP.
- As shown in the 3rd screenshot I posted here, the upgrade was successful
- Extension Manager reported the version now at 1.2

Nicholas, If I was already able to create one SRP, I must have been doing something right, would you not say? And between the successful SRP and the failed update, nothing on the system was changed.

So, please help me out, please don't just keep telling me how it works and how to achieve it. I am clearly doing that if you will please look at what I'm saying and look at the screenshots, I don't think you can say that I am not. There is obviously something else wrong other than the very basics you keep "explaining" to me.

Please, I need your support. Are there other things to look at on my end?

- Jim

Edited by user77148 on 2013-07-08 17:33 CDT

Tuesday, 09 July 2013 02:02 CDT

nicholas

There is one case where installing an extension update through the Extensions, Manage Extensions will lead to no SRP being taken. Extensions can be one of the following types: component, plugin, module, template, library, file, package. Akeeba Backup is only able to take an SRP when installing one of the former four types.

The latter three (library, file and package) do not have a standard prescribed location for the files they install and it's also unclear if they create database tables. As a result, unless their installation file comes with a special section to instruct Akeeba Backup to take an SRP (and what to back up!) taking an SRP upon their installation is technically infeasible.

As a result, if you have an extension utilising the "package" extension type (usually denoted by the file name starting with pkg_) you are most likely unable to take System Restore Points when you upgrade them. This is a limitation of the way Joomla! extensions installation works. We are aware of that, but there's nothing we can do on our end – at least nothing without replacing core Joomla! files which is something I'd never allow anyone to do, let alone sign off on a feature of our software doing it. As I said, we're trying to bend Joomla! to do something it's not supposed to do, with varying degrees of success.

Perhaps if you could ask the developer of the extension that doesn't work with SRP if they're using the "package" extension type we could further clarify this matter.

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, 09 July 2013 06:57 CDT

user77148

Nicholas, thank you for the response. I can appreciate it must be impossible to accommodate all of the possible scenarios presented by various extensions and their developers.

The extension updates that failed to produce a System Restore Point do, in fact, also install / update a Library extension inside the package, such as in the case of updating a template I'm using from 1.1 to 1.2. The developer's library (Expose) is also updated within the template extension, as well. So I think that explains why no SRP was taken and I can understand why. I know it's not he fault of Akeeba Backup and I'm fine now with the explanation.

I hope someday Joomla will enforce some specific installation standards for all extensions that would enable reliable restore points, but we're not there yet, so I do understand your challenges here. I'll take the protection I can get on extensions that can be managed for now.

Thanks again!

- Jim

Tuesday, 09 July 2013 07:01 CDT

nicholas

There is work underway by some very fine people to bring the extensions installer to higher standards. It's progressing slow because it's a complicated task and the current code is... um... not quite crystal clear (actually, the opposite). Hopefully in the next couple of years Joomla! will have a modern extensions installation system that I can use to provide better SRP support.

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!

Support