Support

Hello Jurgen,

please take a look at this ticket, it deals the same issue:
https://www.akeebabackup.com/support/akeeba-backup-3x/18544-invalid-controller-name-akeeba-,-format-2-2-2.html

You don't have to disable the server cache on your server, you just have to ask your host if they could clean it.
However, you can simply disable restore points, wait for a couple of days (cache expires and get's wiped out), and then you'll be able to enable them again.

There isn't any issue with the cache, the problem is that they are still caching an old version of our code, which contains a bug.
As I said, you could ask the host to clean the cache or wait a couple of days.

Ok, let me know if this get solved after cache cleaning.

Hello Jürgen,

I am Nicholas, the owner of the company and the lead developer.

1. About code caches and why we can't work around them

Code caching is something installed on your server by your host to speed up PHP execution. When a code cache is not installed, the web server has to read every .php file from the disk, parse it, convert it to something called "bytecode" and then execute the bytecode. The code cache stores the bytecode in memory and proceeds to executing it directly, skipping the read from disk, parse and conversion steps.

As you understand, code caches are meant for situations where the code on disk never changes. This is simply not the case with a CMS like Joomla!. Ever time you update Joomla!, or one of its extensions, save its Global Configuration or install a new extension (module, plugin, component, template, library, package, language etc) the code (.php files) on disk change. Unless you reset the code cache, your server executes the old code.

2. About your issue

The main advice we give to our users is to disable the "System - System Restore Points " plugin. If you do that and then click again on Extensions, Extension Manager you will no longer see the info box about Akeeba Backup at the top of the page*. If this plugin is disabled you can no longer have the issue you are reporting. So this is what you have to do.

* Speaking of the info box, it does tell you to disable the "System - System Restore Points " plugin should you have any problems.

3. About closing the support ticket system

You have to understand that we are humans. Humans need some rest. I am sure that you cannot work 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Neither can we. We have to take time off during weekends and public holidays. I hope you can respect that.

As to why you can't file new tickets or replies on weekends and public holidays it has to do with volume and the quality of support. We have tried leaving the ticket system turned on during the weekends. The end result was dozens of tickets and replies being filed that required two days to be replied to. At the same time more new tickets and replies would come in. Quite obviously I can't force my staff to work on weekends, so the extra load had to be absorbed by me. I had to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep up with development and support. At this point I had to choose between offering a bad quality of support or take some reasonable steps to regain sanity.

Many developers think that bad service is an acceptable alternative. I do not. On weekdays there are three of us working, two in Europe and one in the USA, allowing us to provide round the clock support. On weekends and bank holidays I chose to close the support ticket system and regain some sanity in my life, allowing me to be more productive. After all, the main reason you are paying me is for me to do all the R&D for new features in my products and Joomla!. If what you are looking for is canned replies in the spirit of "we are investigating your issue and we'll get back to you as soon as possible", only to receive a reply a week or a month later in the lines of "we could not reproduce this issue, ticket closed" there are plenty of developers offering it out there. I prefer our company to make a difference and offer real support. The only condition is that we get some time off to allow us to continue offering this level of service.

In the first reply of the ticket you were pointed at, Dale writes:

"You are on the right track, disabling the System - System Restore Points plugin is the correct answer. For some reason, you are not successfully disabling the plugin.

Go to Extensions, Plug-in Manager, type "restore" in the filter field and Search. Only one plugin should be listed. Click on the green check mark in the Status column and it should turn into a red circle. That should do it."

I understood that you didn't get it, probably because of English being a second language to you, so in my previous reply, point #2, I wrote:

"The main advice we give to our users is to disable the "System - System Restore Points " plugin. If you do that and then click again on Extensions, Extension Manager you will no longer see the info box about Akeeba Backup at the top of the page*. If this plugin is disabled you can no longer have the issue you are reporting. So this is what you have to do."

Please follow our advice which has nothing to do with code cache.

For what is worth, Davide was misled into believing that you did disable the plugin, that's why he even mentioned the code cache. As for me, in point #1 of my previous reply I explained what the code cache is because you insinuated that we don't know how to write software if it doesn't work on systems with a code cache which is simply as far away from the truth as it could possibly be.

Regarding the issue and your conjecture that the proposed solution is unacceptable, this solution was only meant as a temporary measure. The issue you spotted is a known bug in Akeeba Backup 3.9.0 and 3.9.1. It was fixed in our code on December 8th, 2013 with commit fcd3c4469427995dcadae6413b3a73f2e84c2d1a authored by yours truly. Proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a6sq874kpj9ijhl/Screenshot%202013-12-23%2014.17.43.png A new release was not published because, as you said yourself, the system restore points feature is of a low priority. Should you like to test the fix yourself we do have installable dev releases. I didn't offer this option to you as I saw that you became frustrated and didn't want you to accuse us of making you an unwitting beta tester. Other clients were told to use said dev release and we have ultimately confirmed its validity. The new, fixed version will be released over Christmas.

I did explain why the support ticket system remains closed in certain occasions, in a professional and courteous manner. I don't appreciate being told off in return so I'm going to refrain from any further interaction with you about it.

Sorry, I completely missed the part about you disabling the restore point plugin. I apologise for this.

I agree, trying to communicate in a language other than our native language is always a source of miscommunication. On top of that, it's different social norms in different countries. I have seen that too many times in the past and that's why I have put the "Please keep in mind our timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies" in our signatures.

The funny thing with smilies are that some people like the way they convey emotion, others consider them unprofessional. Go figure :)

Also thank you for the clarification of what you meant in the last paragraph of your previous reply. You misunderstood me. I didn't tell you to go somewhere else if you don't like our approach. What I meant is this: there are many companies out there, each one with different core values and approaches to the same problem. We offer a specific approach. If you are looking for the opposite approach I am not willing to do that. I chose to put support quality over reply speed in this company. The core value I cherish is "quality". I guess my phrasing was rather inadequate to convey that message. Sorry about it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!