Forum Upgrade?

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:06 pm

We are currently running phpBB v2.0.4.

The phpBB developers continue to release patches for the 2.0 product line and it is currently up to 2.0.10. The 6 patches we have missed include a lot of security fixes and session management fixes.

There is also a whole new version in development -- v2.2 -- which has no set release date but I imagine it will be somewhere near Christmas this year based on their existing progress.

We could upgrade to v2.0.10 but due to the amount of mods and styling that have been changed here, we would lose all the customisation (quick reply etc.) and have to start again from scratch. I simply don't have the time to find a way of getting the upgrade to work and keeping all the existing changes. The forums would default back to the subSilver theme as the only option, though we could add new themes if people have the time and inclination. One benefit of upgrading to 2.0.10 is that it will be a clean install which would make it easier to add some of the mods that users are requesting, such as better management of the New/Read/Unread icons.

Or we could not bother upgrading at all and simply wait for the next major version which adds, for example, the ability to post attachments, better styling, better admin, etc.

Please share your thoughts -- the poll is open for two weeks.

EDIT: I didn't make it clear that things like the quick reply could easily be added back to a 2.0.10 upgrade -- it's all the visual customisations and little tweaks I made that would be lost.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:02 pm

I say wait until 2.2 as I like the features and can live with the hassles for now.

So how are you managing to post on the forums just now? What's different between your home set up and the currnt one that's lettign you on?

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:14 pm

You have a habit of going OT very quickly, you know that?

Dunno, nothing's changed here -- I'm posting from home, it just started working again. *shrug*

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:19 pm

topic to off topic in 0.3 seconds
i'm trying to cut down : )

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 9:04 pm

I'd say wait untill 2.2.. the thing is here that you obviously can not put in the time that you used to with two jobs going and I with about 10 things on the go constantly couldn't either (let alone the fact I'd need to learn how to in the first place) so.. the lost of those things we currently enjoy would likley not outweigh the things that we gain in this new version.. I mean what really do we *need* from this new version? Anything dazzling?

moo

andyboy_uk · Post by **andyboy_uk** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:30 pm

I said wait for the 2.2 release as my vote.

Post by **Lunever** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:46 pm

Gambit, I think in the end it will be your decision to decide this, because you are the one who successfully has been investing a major part of admin work here recently. If you'd say "I will upgrade to the current patch now and take holidays in my new job or stop sleeping if I don't get holidays and work upon it until I got all features reenabled", I wouldn't stop you, but since you probably won't say this, I agree with the rest that I like the features and that waiting would be ok, although of course I'd like to see as much of improvement as possible as soon as possible (but without having to do the work myself of course)

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:39 pm

I have decided to upgrade to the latest point release of phpBB when I return from holidays next week. This because of a new worm that JCG brought to my attention (thanks!) -- it infects phpBB installations prior to 2.0.11. I really don't want to lose stuff, so will be implementing this sometime next week (unless anyone else has time to do it sooner?).

The downside is that we will lose all custom skins until such time as I get an opportunity (and inclination) to rebuild them. So you'll all be stuck with Subsilver for a while and we'll lose the quick reply feature, etc...

See here:

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=244451

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:38 pm

noooooooooooooooo! i like chrionicles and quick replies!
ah well, can't be helped

JCG · Post by **JCG** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:41 pm

Last minute info : we may have temporary relief.
Google is now blocking requests from this particular worm ( Santy.A issues Google requests to propagate ). However the vulnerability still exists.

http://news.com.com/Google+squashes+San ... ?tag=st_lh
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/av ... santy.html

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:16 pm

I will still go ahead and install the latest phpBB next week if no-one has any objections. Discussions I've monitoring also suggest it's a problem with older versions of PHP... we may need to request that the provider look into that too...

Florent · Post by **Florent** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 12:16 pm

Just go to your web host's main page and look for their PHPinfo page, version should be 4.3.10 or higher.

Sera · Post by **Sera** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 2:04 pm

im voting to wait for 2.2

Florent · Post by **Florent** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 2:07 pm

2.2 was dropped, the wait will be longer until 3.0. In the meantime, current version is 2.0.13. But it has a hole, apparently phpbb-fr.com (French phpBB support community) has been hacked !

Post by **Gambit37** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:49 am

Although it was unanimous to wait for the new full version of phpBB, there are too many exploits in our current version and I will be upgrading the forum software this weekend.

I'm not sure when -- probably Monday -- but maybe before that. So the forums will be offlne for a while. We'll probably lose some stuff like skins and other minor mods that I made.

This will also allow me to later add the Flash chat application.

Please be patient if you see that the forums have gone AWOL.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:11 am

Woohoo! And lol, nice timing...I will be away all weekend anyway and won't suffer withdrawl symptoms *twitch*!

Shame about the skins...I switched back to IE quickly to check a forum link, and because I didn't have my log in saved anymore, saw the old default skin...I really like dark chronicles so *waves* by old friend! 'Til we meet again!

Will also miss the quick reply : ) It's so quick!

Pre-emptive many thanks then!

Sera · Post by **Sera** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:00 pm

=P ill be busy aswell this weekend, so maybe then ill return to something new, cant wait ^^

Post by **Gambit37** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:52 pm

???? It's a security update -- you won't notice anything new! Unless I get time to add the Flashchat also...

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:44 pm

I've finally upgraded the forum software to the latest more stable and secure version of phpBB.

I haven't tested everything yet, but basic stuff seems to work. Templates and other minor enhancements remain intact (although soem stuff has vanished from subSilver). Quick Reply has vanished too -- I'll re-integrate that shortly.

Please report anything weird you might experience over the next day or so and I'll try and fix it!

FlashChat addon coming soon!

Post by **Zyx** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:44 pm

Thank you!

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 8:05 pm

Thanks for the hard work Gambit!

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:09 pm

wow! thank you for the upgrade.. I didn't even notice the down time.. though I've been out a lot this weekend.

Good job!!

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:19 pm

The work itself was pretty quick. But downloading the forum and then updating my local copy for testing is what took the time!

I'm looking at a new Quick Reply facility at the moment -- but it's not really 'quick' -- it mainly brings the whole reply page onto the same page that your viewing, but with all the smilies panel, preview button, etc. Is that overkill? Are people happy with the old simple text field?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:27 pm

I was happy with the simple text box...if I need to do anything more I would click reply : )

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:30 pm

Done -- added the full version of Super Quick Reply to all templates.

There is now a new option in your User Profile that allows you to show and hide the quick reply panel, and also switch between the basic and advanced versions. You can also specify if you want it on every page or just the last page of a thread.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:13 pm

Wow, after all the worries you have integrated it all seemlessly and added a few tweaks!

Woohoo!

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:15 pm

Yup, I also added Separation of Stickies/Announcements which helps tidy things up a lot -- and I'm just moving a bunch of forum specific threads to a new 'Maintenance' forum as there are quite a few of them and I don't like how they're messing up our OT stuff...

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:17 pm

They are OTing the OT stuff? That's obscene! : )

Des · Post by **Des** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:37 pm

I've been getting the error
Template->make_filename(): Error - file viewtopic_quickreply.tpl does not exist
on some topics but not others.

Des · Post by **Des** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:46 pm

Ahhh, fixed it - CTRL / F5 is my friend! Looks like it was a cache thingy.

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