WHMCS Chris Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 There are no template updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Oh man......I'm a one man band, and I'm about to take a much needed fortnights holiday and this comes up. What to do....upgrade or stay? In all honesty, I think I'll leave the upgrade and let everyone else sort out the issues over the next 2 - 3 weeks. Then I'll come in and upgrade from my 5.2.5 (which took ages to get working correctly). WHMCS upgrade processes in the past 18 months = 100% probability of breaking your install Chances of being hacked = minimal (as WHMCS state, they don't believe the vulnerability is publicly known). You do the maths. Sorry Chris - I love WHMCS, but my confidence is shot in the upgrade process. This is my only logical conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Oh man......I'm a one man band, and I'm about to take a much needed fortnights holiday and this comes up. What to do....upgrade or stay? In all honesty, I think I'll leave the upgrade and let everyone else sort out the issues over the next 2 - 3 weeks. Then I'll come in and upgrade from my 5.2.5 (which took ages to get working correctly). WHMCS upgrade processes in the past 18 months = 100% probability of breaking your install Chances of being hacked = minimal (as WHMCS state, they don't believe the vulnerability is publicly known). You do the maths. Sorry Chris - I love WHMCS, but my confidence is shot in the upgrade process. This is my only logical conclusion. This is why security fixes/patches should be incremental when possible. There's a HUGE difference between an upgrade, and a security patch/fix. The two should NOT be combined unless the security issue is so great that it warrants a FULL upgrade. Chris, approx how many files were affected by the security issue that was found? If it's only a few, maybe WHMCS could implement a patch for us who have heavily modified installs? Edited July 24, 2013 by RPS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS Chris Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Hello, As earlier stated, we've touched nearly the entire code base during this change. Additionally, encoded files should not be modified unless done by the WHMCS staff - in which case you can submit a ticket for assistance with those based on this TSR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basic Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Seems pretty much everyone commenting here has the same issues with the WHMCS upgrades in the past 12 months or so, and we also! Too many upgrades that take *us* far too much work. If one has a default install, then it may still be more or less okay, but it all gets more problematic if you have any sort of customizations done. You then need to check everything, and even then there maybe late bad surprises. I'd also say that I would much more like to see upgrades just to come out once a year, and otherwise just the absolutely neccessary patches (e.g. for security issues or if e.g. there are changes at a domain registry that need to be taken care of). Other than that... this is a BILLING platform, and playing around with this every two months is nothing we find all too desirable at all! John Edited July 24, 2013 by basic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Hello, As earlier stated, we've touched nearly the entire code base during this change. Additionally, encoded files should not be modified unless done by the WHMCS staff - in which case you can submit a ticket for assistance with those based on this TSR. Thanks Chris. This really would have avoided a lot of confusion if that was more clear, as well as the version number not listed as an incremental build. When WHMCS has released incremental builds, the last number is the one that changes. Alternatively, when WHMCS releases full builds, the 1st or 2nd number changes. So people here expected a patch, rather than a full blown upgrade. So I installed 5.2.6, once the install was complete, it showed up as version 5.3.0, but it says I'm not running the latest version now. Edited July 24, 2013 by RPS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyhosting Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Strange, I updated and both Your Version and Latest Version state 5.2.6. I upgraded without upgrading the templates folders as these were not touched as all sees to be working fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Strange, I updated and both Your Version and Latest Version state 5.2.6. I upgraded without upgrading the templates folders as these were not touched as all sees to be working fine Have you tested all mods, crons etc? ie, can you confirm you've FULLY tested and that things like this aren't happening to you? http://forum.whmcs.com/showthread.php?76339-Support-tickets-bug-version-5-2-6 Edited July 24, 2013 by Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS Chris Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Thanks Chris. This really would have avoided a lot of confusion if that was more clear, as well as the version number not listed as an incremental build. When WHMCS has released incremental builds, the last number is the one that changes. Alternatively, when WHMCS releases full builds, the 1st or 2nd number changes. So people here expected a patch, rather than a full blown upgrade. So I installed 5.2.6, once the install was complete, it showed up as version 5.3.0, but it says I'm not running the latest version now. Hey RPS, Thanks for your feedback. Versions numbers supplied by WHMCS take a four numbering format, ex: 1.2.3.4 1. This indicates a major release version. Major releases indicate a core code or functionality change. 2. This indicates a minor release version. Minor releases introduce features. 3. This indicates a maintenance, or taget release version. Maintenance & Target releases contain bug fixes, or security updates. 4. This is the build number. The build number is the amount of times WHMCS was packaged for production and passed through QA testing. The final number is the final pass build. In regards to the templates, this was published on the 5.2.6 release notes: http://docs.whmcs.com/Version_5.2_Release_Notes#Template_Changes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Hey RPS, Thanks for your feedback. Versions numbers supplied by WHMCS take a four numbering format, ex: 1.2.3.4 3. This indicates a maintenance, or taget release version. Maintenance & Target releases contain bug fixes, or security updates. In regards to the templates, this was published on the 5.2.6 release notes: http://docs.whmcs.com/Version_5.2_Release_Notes#Template_Changes - That's exactly my point, and why everyone here is so confused. We understand the formatting for the builds/releases. The core code has been changed, because it's affected so many files. We're used to seeing this released as a full version #, rather than the incremental updates that WHMCS normally does for security patches/fixes, hence all the confusion here. Any idea why the "Your Version" / "Current Version" is wrong in my screenshot? I installed 5.2.6 and it shows up as 5.3. Even the WHMCS install itself expected it to be a FULL release, rather than a patch. - it wants to be called 5.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS Chris Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Hello, There have been core changes, however the functionality and design itself hasn't changed. And as it is a targeted security release, it becomes a maintenance release/targeted release. If you need assistance with your install, please submit a ticket. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanael Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 The problem is not that each whmcs release have bugs, the problem is they aren't obscure bugs, they are big ones that can be reproduced in a simple QA test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyhosting Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Have you tested all mods, crons etc? ie, can you confirm you've FULLY tested and that things like this aren't happening to you? http://forum.whmcs.com/showthread.php?76339-Support-tickets-bug-version-5-2-6 yes fully tested and no issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhx Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 can you guys add "Add new Addons" to services? I cant after upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slim Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Sounds to me like they did the core changes to get around some nasty security problem. I think they are kind of saying this but not in those words. i.e it was necessary to modify all those files to work around the security issue. If it wasnt, then the release should have a patch with only the files modified to fix the security issue. There mustnt have been any other changes as there is nothing in the release notes to indicate that anything else was fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsiedsma Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 If the changes to WHMCS are strictly to patch a security issue regardless of the number of files touched, it is technically a patch since it doesn't introduce new features. By releasing a patch version, you make the upgrade easier. We don't have to guess if Template files changed, we don't have to remember to exclude the crons/config.php file or * or includes/additionaldomainfields.php or whatever. We know that only crucial changed files are being updated / replaced. I am in agreement with everyone else that has said it. I'm not going to be one of the first to perform this upgrade or recommend that anyone does until it has been tested. 5.2.5 and 5.2.5b have broken enough simple things that have yet to be fixed, that there is no way in hell I'm doing another patch. I'm tempted, with all of these issues and the lack of priority to fix newly broken items, to get my hands on a decoded copy and just maintain the software myself and not rely on hack job patches and new versions from WHMCS. Quality has gone to "** They censored sh-it ** LOL" since Matt took a backseat to development or whatever happened when cPanel got involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeqution Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Also agreed, I know tsiedsma has been here for a long time -- same as myself and my developer. We have been here for a very long time (since the days Matt started developing WHMCS), when Matt was running the show, everything was smooth. Over the last 24 months, things have just been slowly declining. The last release that came out, broke our WHMCS, lost us big new orders and failed payments (which we still haven't been able to recoup) and wasted a lot of our time. The responses I got from the support agents were an absolute joke, giving them access to my WHMCS was the biggest mistake, not only did they remove code and delete files without our permission, they didn't even let us know. I am glad everyone is actually seeing the true light of how WHMCS now works. Not happy at all, I have sat back the past 24 hours as I had no doubt in my mind that things were going top break with the upgrade. - Updates being released not fully tested. Chris, If your telling us that your Quality Assurance team thoroughly tested the code before it was released then may I suggest firing the whole team, otherwise you might aswell just call us all monkeys for believing that. - You publicly stated that a release was to be made on the 7th of June 2013 which would address several fixes... I guess that never happened? it's been almost 2 months since that statement was made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostEONS Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Hey Duncan, I understand your concerns, believe me. However my concern is your comments on 'blindly update with no period of testing', as well as 'broken releases...to not test the software'. This release has gone through a large series of testing which I was personally involved with along with our new Quality Assurance team member to ensure these releases have ability to maintain their previous versions functionality. As this is a targeted release, bugs found in 5.2.5 and earlier are not introduced into the code base. Something that 5.3.0 which we've began working on, and will continue to work on before a beta release is available will address. The end desire & result is to exponentially increase our amount of test code coverage, and functional (human testing) before each release is marked as stable. That being said, each release will go through a series of iterations prior to being marked as stable. Are you sure about testing? Please check Ticket #HFK-480871 Even this time now i've a completely broken whmcs installation, cannot accept new orders anymore on my website just shows a blank white page on checkout and view orders shows no invoice due, sometimes multiple invoices are being generated i've installed the latest build just before 1-2 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVCode Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 +1, The most important part of any release is the QA.... sadly this has gone to absolute s**t. With a properly defined QA and acceptance criteria these things should be easy to iron out, i.e fixing them before you feel the wrath of the community and thus damaging your reputation further, it pains me to see the same things cropping up time and time again. I love the concept of the product, but the QA needs sorting...and sharpish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrip Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 For feedback, I would also like to add that I find the upgrade version process very confusing. In particular, I note we've now gone to build releases which are not specified in our installations of WHMCS. The latest update post in the forum states "5.2.6 build 4" how on earth do we know which build number we have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian! Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 thankfully i've learned not to install any WHMCS update on the day of release - and i've only been here a few months! latest build is 5.2.6.4, and even that has bugs - so we're now waiting on build 5, or god forbid they just save it as build 4 and tell no-one it's been updated. I simply can't believe that the security implications were so great that this couldn't have gone to the beta testers for a couple of days - what's the point of having that sat there waiting to help, if they aren't going to be used to test releases? fair enough if this had been thoroughly tested internally, but we can all see how that went! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyhosting Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Strange a lot are having issues. I installed this on my dev licence without any issues and after testing i installed on production and still no issues as all seems to be working fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsiedsma Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) Strange a lot are having issues. I installed this on my dev licence without any issues and after testing i installed on production and still no issues as all seems to be working fine They probably fixed their mistakes and just uploaded a new zip file without telling everyone or changing the version number like they did last time. WHMCS's deployments, patches and support are a joke! Edit: LOL /sarcasm... Edited July 25, 2013 by tsiedsma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostEONS Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 They probably fixed their mistakes and just uploaded a new zip file without telling everyone or changing the version number like they did last time. WHMCS's deployments, patches and support are a joke! When was the changed file uploaded? as i downloaded the upgraded version just like 6 hours ago and it is full of bugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS Chris Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 They probably fixed their mistakes and just uploaded a new zip file without telling everyone or changing the version number like they did last time. WHMCS's deployments, patches and support are a joke! Hello, That is not the case. We did make an update to the build, and published that information on our blog. Please feel free to verify here: http://blog.whmcs.com/?t=76327 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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