The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

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Rhet-or-Ric
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The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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I'm a little bit daunted by the pace of change of the versions of the phpBB package.

I mean, is it a foregone conclusion that we are always going to need to upgrade a couple, or few times a year?

Is there never going to be a period of settling down to where we can have just one version for longer than even a year?

Is it the nature of this Net/computer business that we have to have these version updates in all things Net related?

I may be wondering a bit with this line of questioning, but it just seems that every time I log on the Net somebody is asking me to upgrade this or that and so on and so forth. This is never going to stop, right?

Doesn't all this upgrading of all these things we use ever get to you?

EDIT: In fact, not meaning to be impolite, but I was just trying to find another board that was updated to the latest 3.0.10 version and I am now wondering why this board only shows the copyright year as 2007? Surely this board is up to 2012, yes? I run another board I don't own that is upgraded to 3.0.8 and it shows the copyright year as 2010, so I assume the copyright year is an indication of version, no?

Sorry, long edit, but I don't want to run afoul of that 6-hour bump thingy rule.

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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by nuckfan15 »

Any decent software releases updates to fix bugs and security issues. Would you rather them not release updates?
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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The vocabulary of update suggests something different to me than upgrade, as in a version/program upgrade. And that might be an interesting thought -- can updates be done in this kind of software?

Maybe in this system there is no difference between the two -- update and upgrade.

But my primary question is the frequency of the "upgrades" and if the frequency might ever slow down?

I also see that there is work on a package designated 3.1.X and what got me started on all this thinking was whether I might just wait until a stable release of that 3.1.X comes out and then upgrade to that?

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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by callumacrae »

3.0.x releases just fix bugs, and it's definitely worth updating. 3.1 is a while off yet, don't worry - and I believe that the 3.0.x will remain maintained for a while afterwards.

We actually keep having threads asking why we have so long between releases, this is the first I've seen asking why they are so far apart :-)
Last edited by callumacrae on Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Noxwizard »

Just to clarify terminology a bit, updating is within the same major version while upgrading is not. Going from 3.0.9 to 3.0.10 is an update, while going from 2.0.23 to 3.0.10 is an upgrade. Updates do not cause major functionality changes that will generally not break MODs that you have installed. Upgrades tend to have drastic changes (though 3.1 is trying to remain as backwards compatible as possible with 3.0).

3.0 is currently in maintenance mode, so update releases aren't very often (the last two were 6 and 8 months apart) and contain bug or security fixes.
Rhet-or-Ric wrote:But my primary question is the frequency of the "upgrades" and if the frequency might ever slow down?
The web is constantly evolving, so we typically see requests for more frequent updates. They really want more updates providing more cool features to play with. If you're concerned about updates that occur twice a year, then you'll be hard pressed to find an active web script that isn't updated at least that frequently.

You aren't forced to update your board, but it's recommended to keep it at the latest version to receive support here. When an upgrade is released, the previous version will be maintained and supported for awhile. Support for phpBB 2.0.x was dropped 1 year after phpBB 3.0.0 was released.
Rhet-or-Ric wrote:EDIT: In fact, not meaning to be impolite, but I was just trying to find another board that was updated to the latest 3.0.10 version and I am now wondering why this board only shows the copyright year as 2007? Surely this board is up to 2012, yes? I run another board I don't own that is upgraded to 3.0.8 and it shows the copyright year as 2010, so I assume the copyright year is an indication of version, no?
That is not how copyright years work. The version number of the board is not visible on the board anywhere except for the ACP.
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by /a3 »

Unless there is a security fix (security is extremely important), or you are affected by a bug, you should not feel obliged to update, unless you plan on installing new styles or MODs that might cause compatibility issues.

From looking at the changelog, it appears that there haven't been any security updates since 3.0.7-PL1 (correct me if I'm wrong).
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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Appreciate the clarification, Noxwizard, but that kind of begs the question of when the use of version will be changed in our notices in the ACP. Sorry, that's a bit nitpickin', ins't it?

Bit about the "cool features" and evolving web platforms -- have noticed -- but I get this feeling this constant quest for "cool" stuff is almost as bad as the FI battle for the next better level of technology and it'll all get out of control. Maybe I'm just wondering when enough is going to be enough. Probably the answer is never. Kind of like the cost of living index, it's always going up. Someday we'll all be millionaires.

callumacrae, you meant too frequent between, yes? The only thing for me is I wonder how long the board will have to be down and this fear something won't go right. Especially as my research thus far seems to indicate I'm not going to be able to jump straight to the latest version.

EDIT: Rats, I can't seem to nail down your color code, callumacrae. Sorry.
Last edited by Rhet-or-Ric on Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:32 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by callumacrae »

On my own board, it goes down for a couple minutes. On a couple larger boards I maintain, I update it somewhere else and there is zero downtime.

My colour code should be in the HTML :-)
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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This is like taking that first flight physical, though. I've got the whole code but I just couldn't pin it down. Ran out of time.

As for the taking a few minutes idea, I have a slightly broken board and that's the problem. May take me more than a few minutes. Have to do some studying or just get one of those folks that do this stuff for a living.

Anyway, I'm just an old man that wonders about this constant need to feed the constant demand for new and cute, newer and cuter, and on and on and on. Seems the days when one was congratulated for keeping the fridge and car running for twenty years are long over. I still keep Trash80s around to remind me of when it was so much simpler. Yes, and slower. Much slower.

And I know that somebody will say the newer fridge uses less electricity and the newer car less gas and all that, but still ... Some folks still fly biplanes.

Anyway, appreciate the participation in this weird thread.

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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by RMcGirr83 »

His color code is #0099CC :)
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by HGN »

Rhet-or-Ric wrote:As for the taking a few minutes idea, I have a slightly broken board and that's the problem. May take me more than a few minutes. Have to do some studying or just get one of those folks that do this stuff for a living.
I noticed you realy are some versions behind. In that case it might take twice a couple of minutes.
Most important question is whether you have MOD's (modifications) installed on your board.
You should best start a topic in the 3.0.x Support Forum to ask what the best path is to update your board.
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Noxwizard »

Rhet-or-Ric wrote:Appreciate the clarification, Noxwizard, but that kind of begs the question of when the use of version will be changed in our notices in the ACP. Sorry, that's a bit nitpickin', ins't it?
What?
Your phpBB installation is not up to date.
Re-Check version · More information »
Your phpBB installation is not up to date.
Below is a link to the release announcement, which contains more information as well as instructions on updating. - Re-Check version

Current version
3.0.7-PL1
Latest version
3.0.10
Release announcement
Please read the release announcement for the latest version before you continue your update process, it may contain useful information. It also contains full download links as well as the change log.


How to update your installation with the Automatic Update Package
The recommended way of updating your installation listed here is only valid for the automatic update package. You are also able to update your installation using the methods listed within the INSTALL.html document. The steps for updating phpBB3 automatically are:

Go to the phpBB.com downloads page and download the "Automatic Update Package" archive.

Unpack the archive.

Upload the complete uncompressed install folder to your phpBB root directory (where your config.php file is).

Once uploaded your board will be offline for normal users due to the install directory you uploaded now present.

Now start the update process by pointing your browser to the install folder.

You will then be guided through the update process. You will be notified once the update is complete.
What's wrong with its use of the word "version"?
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Rhet-or-Ric
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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Well, I was going by this:
..., updating is within the same major version while upgrading is not.
But I did miss that you had used the modifier "major".

No sweat, though, I got the idea. The 1 and 2 up to 10 are essentially updates, right?

Problem is, if one doesn't do them in a timely manner, then it becomes more like an upgrade than an update. From what I've read to get from .0 to .10 takes three significant steps. And if one has many MODs it gets even more complicated, right? Luckily, I've only got the one MOD.

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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Noxwizard »

Yes, 1 through 10 are updates. If you let the updates pile up, it will be quite time consuming if you have MODs and run into code conflicts. If you don't though, updating only requires dropping the new files in place and running the database updater.
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Re: The Pace of Change of the phpBB Package

Post by Rhet-or-Ric »

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Yep, you nailed it with that "code conflicts" pair of words. Two little words that can cause loss of sleep, hair, weight — like serious frustration.

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