5.2.1 feedback

[Dreamz]

I think lessons can be learnt from this release for both sides of the fence.

 

From WHMCS side, more testing pre-release with a proper structured beta testing process. Several beta releases allowing for fixed bugs to be tested between releases and any new issued that have cropped up to be reported and fixed.

 

Once all reported issued have been resolved push an RC release for testing, again repeat the cycle if needed fix any issues that are reported and push another RC for further testing.

 

Assuming all is ok following that push for stable release.

 

If bugs are still discovered after release (everyone’s environment differs) then issue a bug fix release and bump the version number rather than as has happened in the past and the version has been silently patched.

 

From our side, don’t put a stable release into a live environment WHMCS will provide a development licence so you can test before putting live… use it! We've never jumped on a stable release on the day of release and let is loose on our live environment without having tested it in our development environment to make sure all is working as it should for a few weeks following the original release.

 

Obviously this logic is flawed. Look at the beta testing WHMCS did... Here we are today with more issues than Windows Vista.

[DigitalEnigma]

Obviously this logic is flawed. Look at the beta testing WHMCS did... Here we are today with more issues than Windows Vista.

 

The logic isn't flawed, I'm saying this is what should be happening moving forward from the mess that was the 5.2.1 release.

[brianr]

If you're thinking about bailing, do yourself a favor and just stick around. This is the first major release since the merger and while it was a cluster f@#$%, and recent major released have seen similair issues, WHMCS is really the only "open book" webhost management companies that talk to customers via forums and take feedback.. they are also the only one's that i've even seen hiring folks to improve themselves..

 

I agree in principal with most of what you said, but.... This isn't the first cluster@#$ release. When 5.1 rolled out it was just as bad, and 5.0 wasn't that much better IIRC. (Part of why I'm still on 4.5)

 

As far as other systems being antiquated, you could say the same about 4.5, but it works.

 

My simple point is this: Customers will stick around and tolerate "upgrades" that break their systems only so many times before a) they stop upgrading, or b) switch to a competitor. And for a second imagine if the WHMCS install base becomes fractured because people stop updating, or even worse, stop applying security patches because they break more than they fix.... Imagine the sea of bad PR a trove of hacked WHMCS installs would bring.

 

Personally, I think most (of not all) could have been prevented by 1) closing/fixing the bugs reported in 5.2.0 beta, and 2) having the only change between 5.2.0 beta and 5.2.1 release be this: s/5.2.0/5.2.1/g

 

And that, is a @#$-damn Greek tragedy.

[chrismfz]

Personally, I think most (of not all) could have been prevented by 1) closing/fixing the bugs reported in 5.2.0 beta, and 2) having the only change between 5.2.0 beta and 5.2.1 release be this: s/5.2.0/5.2.1/g

 

And that, is a @#$-damn Greek tragedy.

 

Indeed. Let's assume Matt did what he did for security reasons / future improvements etc.

 

None of the beta testers realized in 45 days of beta testing that half of functionality gone for a walk ?

None seen domainsync doesn't work ?

Any third party modules template pages having errors or not displaying at all ?

 

That's worse from a Greek tragedy (heh )

[Bubka3]

None of the beta testers realized in 45 days of beta testing that half of functionality gone for a walk ?

None seen domainsync doesn't work ?

Any third party modules template pages having errors or not displaying at all ?

Us testers were not given the build that is public now. They decided to do a bunch of internal testing.

We only got a half 5.2 build.

[ssmmdd]

Obviously this logic is flawed. Look at the beta testing WHMCS did... Here we are today with more issues than Windows Vista.

Going a bit far there - Windows Vista was a joke bug/problem/crash wise. The only thing worse than Vista is the hush-hush Windows ME...

[Alex - Arvixe]

Obviously this logic is flawed. Look at the beta testing WHMCS did... Here we are today with more issues than Windows Vista.

 

5.2 contained quite a lot of new features / changes. As with any software no matter how much you test it chances are there is going to be some bugs will go unnoticed during the beta period.

 

With 5.2.2 soon to be released I think I'll wait for that before upgrading a test install and play with it then.

[SealIsland]

The WHMCS Cron Job Activity report has changed for the worst.

Firstly it no longer give the updated exchange rates, this I think was the only historical record of exchange rates in the system.

 

Secondly the new report has lots of lines like

Starting Updating Currency Exchange Rates

- Done

 

Which give no extra information and make the report more difficult to read.

[asturmas]

5.2.2 is fine to update or have many bugs?

[ninak]

I must be one of the lucky ones. Upgraded to 5.2.2 two days ago and all the problems I had before are now gone.

[wsa]

go to General setting then security and try to add a ip on your

Whitelisted IPs then try to remove it to see if work of you? it dont work of me

[ninak]

go to General setting then security and try to add a ip on your

Whitelisted IPs then try to remove it to see if work of you? it dont work of me

Works fine for me in 5.2.2

[WHMCS JamesX]

go to General setting then security and try to add a ip on your

Whitelisted IPs then try to remove it to see if work of you? it dont work of me

Works fine for me in 5.2.2

This was resolved with WHMCS v5.2.2

[wsa]

I try it not working

[WHMCS JamesX]

I try it not working

If this still is not working for you with v5.2.2, please submit a ticket. I have not been able to replicate it myself on a local installation.

[wsa]

Ticket sen dong time ago #HTY-813424

[WHMCS JamesX]

Ticket sen dong time ago #HTY-813424

I've responded to your ticket and resolved the issue.

[wsa]

thk maybe check the other ticket i tell you about

[R-n-R]

Policy #1 - Never Every be the first to upgrade to any version of any software. A policy that has worked well for some 25 years. Heck just upgraded to 5.1.3 a few months ago. Didn't have a problem one.

 

Hopefully these problems all get ironed out with 5.2.2

[malfunction]

Policy #1 - Never Every be the first to upgrade to any version of any software. A policy that has worked well for some 25 years. Heck just upgraded to 5.1.3 a few months ago.

Good advice and also my policy, BUT when they couple a new release with dire warnings of multiple security vulnerabilities in all versions people are pretty much forced into updating prematurely. And the incremental updates for 5.0 & 5.1 appear only slightly less broken than the new 5.2 branch.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[twhiting9275]

You will need to contact the developer who madw this module

It's just sad how WHMCS disrespects their customers here, and the people that, you know, actually support them. This is a classic case of "hey, we're just going to change what aint broken just to make more work for everyone else"

 

 

 

All of the addons I sell no longer work due to a change in the way hooks handle getting smarty variables.

It's not just hooks, it's everything at this point. After looking through the changes they made to custom pages and mods, I have to say that I'm thoroughly disgusted.

 

For the longest time, I recommended this stuff, because Matt, et all, showed a bit of care and concern for their customers. Now? I can't wait for the software to come in and do to them what they did to Modernbill, drive them to nothing.

 

Matt, you need to start showing a bit more respect to your customers, and to the people that actually develop stuff that works with your system. Talk about a complete and total joke at this point. I mean, seriously, forcing devs to rewrite things just because you want to? Yeah, that's as unprofessional as it gets.

[Alex - Arvixe]

It's just sad how WHMCS disrespects their customers here, and the people that, you know, actually support them. This is a classic case of "hey, we're just going to change what aint broken just to make more work for everyone else"

 

 

 

 

It's not just hooks, it's everything at this point. After looking through the changes they made to custom pages and mods, I have to say that I'm thoroughly disgusted.

 

For the longest time, I recommended this stuff, because Matt, et all, showed a bit of care and concern for their customers. Now? I can't wait for the software to come in and do to them what they did to Modernbill, drive them to nothing.

 

Matt, you need to start showing a bit more respect to your customers, and to the people that actually develop stuff that works with your system. Talk about a complete and total joke at this point. I mean, seriously, forcing devs to rewrite things just because you want to? Yeah, that's as unprofessional as it gets.

 

I don't think it would have been as simple as "lets do xyz so developers will have to do abc"

[twhiting9275]

I don't think it would have been as simple as "lets do xyz so developers will have to do abc"

Oh, believe me, by forcing variable changes like they have, it was just that simple.

 

This was certainly no minor upgrade, as the versioning suggested. No, no, it's a massive upgrade that disables custom pages and addons in a pretty drastic way. This shows nothing but contempt for people working with the system.

[Si]

Oh, believe me, by forcing variable changes like they have, it was just that simple.

 

This was certainly no minor upgrade, as the versioning suggested. No, no, it's a massive upgrade that disables custom pages and addons in a pretty drastic way. This shows nothing but contempt for people working with the system.

 

is this not old news? wasn't this addressed by Matt (fairly quickly if I remember) when 5.2.2 was brought out?

Or am I missing something?

[twhiting9275]

is this not old news? wasn't this addressed by Matt (fairly quickly if I remember) when 5.2.2 was brought out?

Or am I missing something?

This is still a major issue in 5.2.2.

He may have 'addressed' this, by giving 'instructions' on how to modify certain pages, but those instructions are lacking.

From what I can tell, the entire system has been changed as far as variables and custom pages go, for whatever reason. This makes WHMCS pretty much unusable, if you rely on these pages.