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SMF 2.0.14 Released

Started by Colin, May 14, 2017, 05:16:14 PM

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GravuTrad

Of course i'll be alone. ;) and the problem will be my opinion.... ;)

I have facts, i have to manage with my facts, so i'll do what i have to do. No problem. all is quite clear. ;)
On a toujours besoin d'un plus petit que soi! (Petit!Petit!)


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Arantor

Quote from: Steve on June 03, 2017, 07:57:09 PM
As you can see, a branch choice was not the way to go. If we can't change your opinion, so be it but the situations presented are quite clear. Besides, out of thousands (millions?) of users, you are the only one insisting on this. That alone should tell you something. ;)

Other than the small fact that it was totally possible to do this without breaking 5.3 compatibility. it was just perceived to be easier to grab 2.1's code and jam it in rather than taking the hour or so to change how Db-Subs-mysql.php worked.

MobileCS

I'm confused ... PHP 5.3 "end of life" was almost 3 years ago - why would any webhost still be offering it as an option?

Arantor

Precisely because people have software that won't necessarily work on newer versions.

GravuTrad

Quote from: Arantor on June 04, 2017, 12:03:16 PM
Precisely because people have software that won't necessarily work on newer versions.

;)
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青山 素子

Quote from: MobileCS on June 04, 2017, 12:01:28 PM
I'm confused ... PHP 5.3 "end of life" was almost 3 years ago - why would any webhost still be offering it as an option?

Older servers still host things. Some distributions offer long term support and still provide backported security fixes for PHP 5.3 (such as RHEL or CentOS 6, until 2020). Ideally, people should be on newer PHP and other software versions, but that isn't always an option. Any hosting company offering new systems that only support up to PHP 5.3 as a default is negligent.

Speaking personally, I'm very against pushing new minimum requirements on a bugfix. This shouldn't have been done unless it was the only way to provide a fix, which it wasn't in this case. Hopefully the forum development team will properly move compatibility back in the next hotfix to avoid stranding users. That, or drop support for the 2.0 series and state that they can't properly maintain it.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


GravuTrad

I hope and if it's the case, it must be patchable from 2.0.13 version...

I really hope php 5.3 will be still supported on the 2.0 branch. It could be upped for the 2.1 branch, but not sure it's an interesting option too. (but if it will be the case i can understand)
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Illori

Quote from: Colin on May 14, 2017, 05:16:14 PM
Please do not use this topic for support requests.
You will receive a much quicker and better response by posting in the 2.0.x Support Board.


NeedIt

Quote from: Illori on June 05, 2017, 09:10:50 AM
Quote from: Colin on May 14, 2017, 05:16:14 PM
Please do not use this topic for support requests.
You will receive a much quicker and better response by posting in the 2.0.x Support Board.


Sorry.  Removed my post and moved it over to the above.

CommonSensei

Quote from: CoreISP on June 03, 2017, 07:11:00 PM
You should upgrade PHP or ask your host to. PHP 5.3 is really old (EOL'ed quite a while ago), insecure and should generally not be used in production anymore.

Well, PHP himself may have EOL'd the 5.3, but some distros still do maintenance updates to PHP 5.3 (basically meaning, they patch the PHP 5.3 themselves for found security issues). Perhaps most noteworthy distro to do so is RHEL/CentOS 6.0 (maintenance EOL november 2020). RHEL/CentOS 7.0 has 5.4, so that should still run SMF (but how long, if support for older PHP's is not a consideration?). I'm sure there are other distros and operating systems that have PHP < 5.4 supported and maintenanced, but frankly I'm mostly familiar with CentOS.

And CentOS is really popular as it is free, really stable, and has a very long support. One of the reasons that it is stable, is that they provide support for their packages, and thus does not force to upgrade major PHP versions for example. This is a huge deal to admins who has to keep these servers running. For example every PHP version upgrade is a pain, since you need to ensure that every software running in these servers is compatible with a new major PHP version. And many times they aren't, and then you have to patch that software by hand if possible and maintain that patching it in the future.

So yes, as a sysadmin it is a sad day to see SMF pumping up the requirements, hope it is for a good cause. Basically this means that SMF will not be hosted on these servers that use distro that has PHP 5.3 or older, or sysadmin has to start compiling and patching the PHP himself (sure there are 3rd party repos with newer PHP versions, but their maintenance is often shaky, and how much do you want to trust 3rd party repos?).

So as a sysadmin you want to keep things flowing from the distro's own reporitories, as it is the easiest and most safe way to keep your server secure and in working condition. And often this means that you may not have the most fresh versions, but as I explained, it makes sense and there is nothing wrong to it.

Often times I've found that easiest solution for me is to patch the software that requires a new major version of PHP for example to still support the older version. Couple of time I've found myself very baffled that why developers have sacrified the PHP 5.3 support for usage of array shorthand syntax in couple of lines of code  :o

I hope SMF will reconsider it's pumped up requirements for the project.

Arantor

It wasn't even shorthand syntax as such, it's actually the result of array dereferencing support for variable function calls being introduced and literally no one testing it on 5.3.

That said, just because CentOS supports old versions doesn't negate hosts being able to offer newer versions as well, such as being able to offer 7 support which will mean you can give users a performance improvement that is really worth having.

Also, WordPress is looking st raising their minimum requirements, and they're already talking about promoting 7 as recommended rather than their current recommendation of 5.6.

MobileCS

Quote from: Arantor on June 06, 2017, 11:01:06 AM
Also, WordPress is looking st raising their minimum requirements, and they're already talking about promoting 7 as recommended rather than their current recommendation of 5.6.

I'm not surprised, the performance increase PHP 7 offers over 5.6 is night and day. All my forum pages load instantly now.

I'll never get tired of seeing this at bottom : Page created in 0.008 seconds with 16 queries.


CommonSensei

Quote from: Arantor on June 06, 2017, 11:01:06 AM
It wasn't even shorthand syntax as such, it's actually the result of array dereferencing support for variable function calls being introduced and literally no one testing it on 5.3.

....

Yes, not saying it was in this case, was talking about different software.

However, I'm now moving SMF to different server, and there with 2.1.4 update notes using updater in admin panel states following about the patch:

Quote
This release requires at least PHP 5.3 to function. Most hosts should have it or something newer. You can check which version of PHP that you are running by visiting the "Support and Credits" section of the Administration Center.

Is this incorrect information, or was testing/modifying done to support 5.3? In original post it says 5.4 is required.

vbgamer45

2.0.14 requires 5.4 at this time.
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Illori

the patch has not been updated to change the version stated.

anishsah

Sounds Good!! Congrats and all the best!

anpaza

Logged in to report that 2.0.14 crashes on PHP 5.3, but after reading last pages... well...
You guys are awesome... best of awesome... awesomest of the best... :-P
I would at least put a big hairy warning in the upgrade notice.

For those who're looking for a quick fix: http://cs.ozerki.net/zap/Subs-Db-mysql.diff [nofollow]
So far this worked for me.

Gwenwyfar

Wouldn't a better warning about PHP 5.3 be reasonable for a change in the current 2.0.14 patch, till 2.0.15 comes? Just put a warning in big red letters so it's harder to miss. That wouldn't affect the code, only the readme. Could save a few people the trouble.
"It is impossible to communicate with one that does not wish to communicate"

Arantor

At this point I'd suggest 1) fixing the big upgrade package so it says minimum 5.4 instead of 5.3 (may have been done but some recent topics suggest not) and 2) including an actual file which runs first in the installer in a <code> entry and checks, and fails to install if insufficient version found.

As long as no other changes or fixes were introduced, i.e. this is otherwise identical to install, I see no harm in changing the package this way.

chyg

Hello! Has purchased the kit, showing the version is not compatible! Is there a technical support or a paid installation? (SMF1.0.14)

Quote from: vbgamer45 on May 14, 2017, 06:17:38 PM
Thanks for this release time to update my final servers to php 7!
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