XF 2.2 How do you install add-ons that you're not sure if they'll cause problems in XF2.2?

[gogo]

Some add-ons will make the XF collapse. So before upgrading to XF2.2, I disabled all add-ons and then enable one by one.

But if that's an incompatible one, it will trash the whole XF.. then I'll need to restore the back.

It's very inefficient to make backups before every add-on is enabled.

Do you have any better way?

 

[Lee]

You can disable event listeners in the config file whilst you disable the offending addon.

 

[ge66]

And you should really test everything on your (local) test server before doing it on your live site.

 

[bzcomputers]

Regaining control panel access​

If you find that an add-on is preventing you from accessing the control panel or from disabling add-ons, you can temporarily add the following line to the end of your src/config.php file:

$config['enableListeners'] = false;

Additional info and details can be found in the manual...

Add-ons | Manual | XenForo

End-user documentation for XenForo

xenforo.com

 

[Sim]

Don't do a major version upgrade (eg XF2.1 => XF2.2) until you are sure that all of your addons are compatible.

Do a test upgrade first on a copy of your forum set up on another server or locally.

 

[gogo]

Nice one!

 

[gogo]

And you should really test everything on your (local) test server before doing it on your live site.

Don't do a major version upgrade (eg XF2.1 => XF2.2) until you are sure that all of your addons are compatible.

Do a test upgrade first on a copy of your forum set up on another server or locally.

Thanks. I'm working on a test server now.

 

[Paul B]

If you want a localhost test installation, you can use this guide.

XF on localhost

🎶 Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want So tell me what you want, what you really, really want I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really, really, really wanna localhost installation which works over https, has push...

xenforo.com

 

[gogo]

If you want a localhost test installation, you can use this guide.

XF on localhost

🎶 Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want So tell me what you want, what you really, really want I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really, really, really wanna localhost installation which works over https, has push...

xenforo.com

Thanks! I'm actually running my test server live on a VPS behind a firewall.

 

[Paul B]

In that case, this guide may help.

How to duplicate a live site to use as a test site

These instructions explain how to create a test installation which is an exact duplicate of your live installation. On Your Server Create a new test database with a different database name, user name and password to your live installation...

xenforo.com

 

[gogo]

In that case, this guide may help.

How to duplicate a live site to use as a test site

These instructions explain how to create a test installation which is an exact duplicate of your live installation. On Your Server Create a new test database with a different database name, user name and password to your live installation...

xenforo.com

My plan is to make a snapshot of the production server any time I would like to do a developing test. Then restore the snapshot to a new VPS instant (with different IP address and different domain name, like mydomain-test.com). Change the mydomain.ssl.conf and update the domain crt, key, etc. So I'll have an independent test server mydomain-test.com with exactly the same data as the live server. After the test, I do the exact same changes in live server (after I shutdown the forum to public at midnight for example)

The downside is the test server can never keep up to date with the live server. Next time I need a test run, I'll have to do all the above things again.

Question: is the information given by you above a better solution for my case?

 

[Paul B]

It sounds like you know what you're doing so you won't need the guide I linked to.

 

[gogo]

But it's still quite a tedious job every time I have to make a new test server all over again from a snapshot. I wonder how people usually do for the test->live process. I'm not really an experienced web admin.

 

[Max Taxable]

But it's still quite a tedious job every time I have to make a new test server all over again from a snapshot. I wonder how people usually do for the test->live process. I'm not really an experienced web admin.

What I do is hold off on updates of xf until the dev community catches up with any breaking changes. What's the hurry to upgrade? Let others be the guinea pigs. Let others step in feces. Watch what's going on and how it relates to you and wait until the dust settles. Really saves a ton of headaches.

 

[webbouk]

^^ I was wondering when someone was going to say what I was thinking - why the rush, let the devs do their work, let the add-on creators update their add-ons, wait until the bugs are sorted, then migrate to the new version.

 

[Paul B]

Regardless of how long you wait, you still need to test the upgrade before trying it on your production site.

So you will still need a test installation somewhere - whether that's on localhost, your current server, or a separate server.