First, let me start by saying that version 4.4.0 and 4.4.1 were pulled yesterday because there was a problem with the Amazon S3 integration. It's perfectly normal to stay with Akeeba Backup 4.3.1 until we release the next stable version. That said, let's look into your ticket...
Yesterday I tried to upgrade to version 4.4 of Akeeba Backup, which I have done numerous times before without incident. This time the update gave me an sql warning and when I opened the component it told me that it cannot discern the settings on the tmp folder and I had to set the FTP flag on my Joomla install.
There are no database changes between version 4.3 and 4.4. Therefore there is no SQL running. Without the exact error message I can't even speculate what may have gone wrong. Having updated our own site (and several test sites – and not having this issue reported by anyone else) I am pretty sure it doesn't come from Akeeba Backup.
Moreover, Akeeba Backup does not use the temporary directory and will NOT display any message regarding it. You may get a message about the media/com_akeeba directory. Most usually it means that the update failed and you need to reinstall the component. If the directory is there it tells you that you can EITHER enable the FTP layer OR change the folder's permissions yourself. That's very different to what you describe. The exact text is:
WARNING
Akeeba Backup could not determine the permissions of the <tt>media/com_akeeba</tt> directory.
Please do one of the following:
* Activate Joomla!'s FTP mode in Global Configuration
* Change the permissions of the <tt>media/com_akeeba</tt> directory and all of its subdirectories to 0755 and all of its files to 0644 using your FTP client.
Akeeba Backup <strong><u>will most likely not work at all</u></strong> if you do not perform these steps. Do not ask for support if you can see this message. All the information you need is already on this message.
Now, let's go to the other thing you wrote.
When I went to the main page of the website, there was a quick panel that opened up stating that Joomla could not find an xml file. The panel stayed on the screen for about 5 seconds and disappeared.
I'm a bit confused. Which site? Yours or ours?
There is actually nothing on our own site's front-page reading from XML files.
Also, Akeeba Backup is NOT running on YOUR site's front-end, let alone trying to read from an XML file and/or throw a message.
Most likely you're talking about something completely unrelated but without the exact message I cannot even begin to imagine what you saw. My suspicion that it's something unrelated is stronger since you say that the message disappears after 5 seconds. Joomla! error messages do not disappear, they stay on the page. So whatever you saw wasn't a standard Joomla! message. Unfortunately without an exact error message that's the extent of the help I can reasonably provide :(
Next time please try grabbing some screenshots. If there is a problem I want to know what it is so I can fix it. If it's not a problem with our component I can usually point out where it comes from (exact error messages usually contain enough hints).
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
Lead Developer and Director
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