phpBB 3.3.0-b1 released

[warmweer]

That will be the one that will catch the users out and break boards. It might be an idea to recommend (yes I know that most will not take notice) that all extensions are disabled before upgrading to 3.3

Wouldn't the logical method be to have the update process disable all extensions when updating/upgrading?

[v12mike]

I've found one extension, Individual posts per page isn't compatible (not unexpected)

There are a few extensions that needs to be updated with those "quote marks". Board3 portal is lots of work

There are also a few extensions that have routing.yml files with syntax like:

Code: Select all

        pattern: /xyz/{..}

That needs to be changed to:

Code: Select all

        path: /xyz/{...}

[P_I]

Thanks Matt

I don't think that I have many, if any, issues with my extensions.

unless you still are not quoting strings in your .yml files

That will be the one that will catch the users out and break boards. It might be an idea to recommend (yes I know that most will not take notice) that all extensions are disabled before upgrading to 3.3

Rather than having the user community test and report on what extensions will not work without changes for phpBB 3.3, would it be possible for the phpBB development team to automate a scan of those extensions that have been validated and released in the Customisation Database to re-validate if they will be compatible with phpBB 3.3 based on their .yml files syntax?

[david63]

would it be possible for the phpBB development team to automate a scan of those extensions that have been validated and released in the Customisation Database to re-validate if they will be compatible with phpBB 3.3 based on their .yml files syntax?

Two points there:

1. An automatic update of an extension may throw up other problems which could mean that the extension would not work. Any such changes would necessitate re testing/validating and building that into the update routine would be a major project in its own right.

Also I think that you will find that at least 95% of extension in the CDB will not have the problem.

2. The bigger problem is with extensions that are not in the CDB, particularly if they have not been maintained/updated for some time

[3Di]

Rather than having the user community test and report on what extensions will not work without changes for phpBB 3.3, would it be possible for the phpBB development team to automate a scan of those extensions that have been validated and released in the Customisation Database to re-validate if they will be compatible with phpBB 3.3 based on their .yml files syntax?

Do you realize your request?
As if when 3.2 was released it took such a job about 3.1 extensions for another reason.
When 3.3 is released the authors will submit their work again, if they wish or can.

[P_I]

would it be possible for the phpBB development team to automate a scan of those extensions that have been validated and released in the Customisation Database to re-validate if they will be compatible with phpBB 3.3 based on their .yml files syntax?

Two points there:

1. An automatic update of an extension may throw up other problems which could mean that the extension would not work. Any such changes would necessitate re testing/validating and building that into the update routine would be a major project in its own right.

Also I think that you will find that at least 95% of extension in the CDB will not have the problem.

As a data point, in the limited subset that are in use on my boards, I've found two that have the problem.

I'm not suggesting any automated changes/updates to extensions, just a re-check or re-validation of .yml file syntax against the phpBB 3.3 requirement with the goal to flag a known potential problem. I was making an educated guess that source code validation to phpBB coding standards might be part of the extension submission process for validation and release into the CDB.

I was asking because I thought it might be relatively simple for the phpBB team to perform a syntax check across the currently validated and released extension in CDB. Otherwise the user community is going to have to undertake the effort to discover which extensions will break their board. In my mind this results in significant duplication of effort and lots and lots of support posts on the phpBB forums.

2. The bigger problem is with extensions that are not in the CDB, particularly if they have not been maintained/updated for some time

True, but I'd argue that extensions that are not in the CDB aren't validated and approved by the phpBB team so those cases are "user-beware".

Personally for the boards I operate we've taken the position that we've only install validated extensions/styles that come through the phpBB.com ecosystem.

Do you realize your request?
As if when 3.2 was released it took such a job about 3.1 extensions for another reason.
When 3.3 is released the authors will submit their work again, if they wish or can.

Yes. See my comments above. I absolutely reason that phpBB 3.3 might require additional effort by extension authors and some extensions may not be updated/supported any longer. That's the nature of the open-source model.

[DavidIQ]

If we did that then what would be the next step?

[P_I]

If we did that then what would be the next step?

Good question. Not knowing the design and internals of the phpBB ecosystem the only thing that I can suggest is perhaps a mechanism on the CDB page for the extension indicating non-compatibility with phpBB 3.3. I don't know where there is any mechanism to notify the extension author(s).

But that wouldn't solve the problem for someone updating their forum to phpBB 3.3.x and then seeing messages in ACP indicating problems with extension(s) like I posted here. That is one reason I try and make sure I download betas, test them against my localhost replica forum and report issues back here.

At the end of the day it becomes the standard catch-22 of doing updates and how much backwards compatibility can be provided to existing extensions that work fine with the current version. As we've repeatedly seen the phpBB development team often faces this issue when new PHP versions are released and get deployed on hosting sites.

[david63]

I feel an extension coming and/or a script on

[MattF]

All of my personal and official phpBB extensions work in phpBB 3.3 without needing any changes. This will be true for most. As mentioned mainly those using invalid YML files circa phpBB 3.1 will be at risk.

These are the only things I've been upgrading (and it's purely related to Travis-CI Unit Testing): https://github.com/VSEphpbb/similartopi ... 93bb39c4c7

Upgrade info for developers will be coming to our Documentation soon.