View topic - New Version available

[Wayzgoose]

OK, so what is the thing to do when the admin states "New Version Available v1.3.9". I'm a relatively new user to Zen Cart and never had the joy of an update being available.

Takes me back to my Serif WebPlus days and the nightmare of updated versions. Just when you thought you knew how it all worked along they come. Import your website and then have six months of hassle getting it to work.

At least in those days I could eventually get it to work but if problems occur with new versions of Zen Cart I'd be lost - and Setter would probably be a very busy man

So, to the older hands, what's the procedure when a new version comes out?

Alan.

[eemarket]

I am going to wait for version 1.3.9b before I change any of my sites over

Don't fix what ain't broke.

At first glance I couldn't see an upgrade, just a new install, if anyone knows different let me know.

[shazam]

Info at: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153088


fair few bug fixes

[Baa]

fair few bug fixes

Like 1.3.8 was but then they had to release 1.3.8a fairly shortly afterwards which caused a lot of people unnecessary work.

Like Eemarket, I'm giving this a bit of time to see what need ironing out.

[kubio]

I am going to wait for version 1.3.9b before I change any of my sites over

Don't fix what ain't broke.

At first glance I couldn't see an upgrade, just a new install, if anyone knows different let me know.

just to let you know, 1.3.9b is already fact

[Baa]

just to let you know, 1.3.9b is already fact

Seen it and have it downloaded Can't see a difference myself.

[eemarket]

Has anyone actually updated a working 1.3.8 website to 1.3.9 yet ?

[Baa]

Yes I had a number of issues most fairly quickly resolved but on one I just cannot get the template showing properly. I don't understand why, I've compared the changed files and nothing seems amiss.

Had MySQL problems with another site, had to remove the entire site and install, now progressing by uploading the add ons and templates as and when I've the time, it's horribly frustrating.

[Wayzgoose]

Hmm, think I might leave it one, maybe two . . . . . . . . years

Alan.

[eemarket]

I read on the Zen forum that one hosting company will start to demand that all Zen sites are ugraded to the latest version.
The MySQL problem was also mentioned as well as the task of re-installing and re-configuring any add-on modules that were on the original site.
A right pain when you have a lot of Zen sites, each with many add-ons and customised templates.
Why can't they make the upgrade more user friendly?

[Baa]

Why can't they make the upgrade more user friendly?

Because they are programmers, they couldn't give a toss about the people who use it as a tool, all the carts are the same.

[kubio]

...
A right pain when you have a lot of Zen sites, each with many add-ons and customised templates.
Why can't they make the upgrade more user friendly?

coz is F-R-E-E!

[Baa]

coz is F-R-E-E!

Free doesn't mean ball ache. The previous upgrades weren't like this.

[Bhuna]

Im still going to wait for a while I think - after all they have just released 1.3.9c, so I expect theres one or two more yet to correct problems with 1.3.9

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155307

[eemarket]

1.3.9c Already ???? That's only a couple of hours after I was checking on the progress of 1.3.9b.
This is pretty poor for Zencart, have they had a change of developers I wonder?.
I am not going to alter any of my sites until things have settled down for at least a week.

[bill7096]

I'm still going to wait for 2.0.

1.3.8a works fine.


Bill

[eemarket]

I am putting a new site together.....
I downloaded a fresh vcopy of 1.3.9c at about 1.00am.
I uninstalled it all at 3.00am.
I've just spent 2 hours trying to get a new install of 1.3.9c to work, referenced all instructions, read the forum, a complete waste of my time.
I am very experienced in Zen, but this one has me beaten.

At 3.15a.m I installed Joomla CMS, then the Virtuemart component followed by 3 template installs. Site ready for products to be listed at 3.30. am.
All updates are easy installs via the inbuilt installer, non of the faffing around with Zen.

If only there was the equivalent of Zen Easy Populate for Virtuemart then I would be a happy man.

P.S. I am not brave enough to try and update any of my 1.3.8 sites to 1.3.9.

[laggardlady]

I installed a zen site couple of days ago through installatron not realising that it was the 1.3.9b version. Discovered that Nochex was not offered for payments so had to install the Nochex mode.

My cre loaded site was moved to the zen cart via the module for this. Everything went brilliantly and the site is now up and running. I haven't noticed anything else dodgy yet so hopefully it will go well but if I do another one I'll use a 1.3.8 manual install to do it.

Installatron gives me the option to upgrade zen on all my sites but I'm not willing to chance that yet.

Glad I did it before the 1.3.9c came out.

[eemarket]

It's probably something simple that I've overlooked, but I am not alone according to other Zen forums.
I got the shop up, but could not access the admin.
It seems that when you have it working you need to rename the admin file and then check the security recommendations too. This is an upgrade? Seems like a step backwards to me.
My hosts are waiting for a stable version before putting it on their cpanel along with a renamed admin and the security already done for you.

[scotserve]

A lot depends on the PHP version being run on the host, we just upgraded a server to PHP 5.3 and broke nearly every bloody zencart on the server so had to revert to 5.2.

I have been informed that the newest version of Zencart NEEDS PHP 5.3 to run properly ( there is a huge difference between 5.2 and 5.3) so before upgrading to the newest Zencart make sure your host is running 5.3. if still running 5.2 then you will have problems.
I am looking at a way to patch and upgrade all old installations of zen first before upgrading again

Welcome to the world of opensource.

[Baa]

I have 1.3.9c running on php 5.2 just fine, same with using my own server. The 1.3.9b was causing me grief but I upgraded and a lot of niggles resolved.

[scotserve]

I have 1.3.9c running on php 5.2 just fine, same with using my own server. The 1.3.9b was causing me grief but I upgraded and a lot of niggles resolved.

Well not tried it myself but I have been told that newer versions are needing 5.3 or maybe it is add ons that need it - whatever I dont trust Zencart to give the correct information, need break of versions 1.3.8 was not documented. The information actually came from paulc after i broke a lot of sites last week.

We are though left with a catch 22 as if I upgrade to 5.3 I break a lot of sites so these need to be patched first but Zencart only advise patching if running 5.3 so we have a dilemma no matter what version i stick on it has the propensity of breaking and when hosting over 100 zencart stores thats a lot of version checking and upgrading to organise within a short space of time to ensure compatibility.

But of course it is the hosts fault.

[eemarket]

I am using php 5.2.12

The point being, why should we need to do all of this problem solving just to run an 'upgrade' of a product that worked well (1.3.8...) ?
I know it's free and I probably expect to much for that price, but other carts are free and have less hassle to upgrade.
I have been using both Joomla/Virtuemart and Zencart sites alongside each other for over 18 months, apart from being hacked, I've had zero problems with J/V compared to Zen.
I prefer using Zen, but every now and then they do something at their end that causes problems for end users.
I want to concentrate on making/improving websites and running my business, not faffing around with back-end problems.
If someone could develop the equivalent of EasyPopulate for Virtuemart (paulC?) then they would be on to a good earner, their CSV import is a 3rd party mod and awkward to use.

[Baa]

Well not tried it myself but I have been told that newer versions are needing 5.3 or maybe it is add ons that need it - whatever I dont trust Zencart to give the correct information, need break of versions 1.3.8 was not documented. The information actually came from paulc after i broke a lot of sites last week.

As you know I'm by no means anything more than a 'user' on ZC, from my reading I gather 1.3.9 works with 5.3 rather than requires it whereas 1.3.8 (as you've found) would need a patch.

I agree though, I don't trust the info I'm getting at the moment either. It's all a bit of a bummer.

[scotserve]

Well not tried it myself but I have been told that newer versions are needing 5.3 or maybe it is add ons that need it - whatever I dont trust Zencart to give the correct information, need break of versions 1.3.8 was not documented. The information actually came from paulc after i broke a lot of sites last week.

As you know I'm by no means anything more than a 'user' on ZC, from my reading I gather 1.3.9 works with 5.3 rather than requires it whereas 1.3.8 (as you've found) would need a patch.

I agree though, I don't trust the info I'm getting at the moment either. It's all a bit of a bummer.

The other thing you need to consider is PHP is a compiled resource so one servers PHP 5.3 may well be different from another's - I do recall seeing something about "magic_quotes" as well - Zen just need to be upfront and confirm what versions will work ( this is on the site) and what issues are expected with different versions along with what needs to be compiled into PHP