[SOLVED] Forum integration | advice for plugin choice

schelly wrote: ... Joomla developers do make it sound as though jumping over to 1.7 is a fairly immediate imperative. So it's difficult to get advice from component developers saying not to go to J!1.7 yet, ...
J!1.7 makes more sense for this organization because none of them are tech-savvy enough to upgrade Joomla without having an "upgrade" button (an easy button? LOL)...

J!1.7
Totally agree with "krileon". I also mentioned some things in my PM yesterday.
Joomla itself might be stable and in a productive state. As far as you use the core installation and nothing else. That is what the J! core developers are saying. They do not speak for any extension you might want to use.

Same applies to the 1-button update process. No doubt, a very, very convenient way – as far as all other installed extensions still work after the upgrade!

Forum integration (Kunena 1.5.x)

As soon as I activate the typical params in Kunena config -> integration, I got a message to activate the integration plugin in CB. It seems to require the normal CB forum integration plugin. The one from incubator alone does not work for me.

One thing I read over there, though, I must say I agree with. Joomla developers do make it sound as though jumping over to 1.7 is a fairly immediate imperative. So it's difficult to get advice from component developers saying not to go to J!1.7 yet, even though I realize the truth of it and how well-meaning the advice is. Sometimes us "little folk" out here feel kind of stuck in the center without knowing exactly what way to go. In this case, I am giving up my consultancy firm and taking a full-time job and J!1.7 makes more sense for this organization because none of them are tech-savvy enough to upgrade Joomla without having an "upgrade" button (an easy button? LOL).

The main issue with the Joomla team is constant disregard for backwards compatibility. J1.6 broke J1.5 extensions, J1.7 broke J1.6 extensions. With a lifespan of 6 months and no backwards compatibility it's very hard to keep up. I see no reason why J1.6 extensions should stop functioning on J1.7 as there is primarily a security release and why a security release should break extensions in this manner is beyond my understanding.

Same applies to the 1-button update process. No doubt, a very, very convenient way – as far as all other installed extensions still work after the upgrade!

The 1 click is brilliant and am quite impressed with it, but frankly am terrified. For example the case of 1.6.5 to 1.7. In 1 click you've broken nearly all your installed extensions. Most users aren't aware of this and happily upgrade to find their install no longer works. However, users then perceive this as extension developers being at fault.. the pressure is then on for us to rush-fix everything we possible can. Luckily we started testing and fix during beta builds of 1.7 and were able to "jump the gun" for supporting 1.7. However, this doesn't excuse bugs as Stable often has last minute changes like we say with 1.6 that breaks extensions. With that said though 1.7 is much better then 1.6 in stability and I've moved my development platform from 1.5 to 1.7, which says a lot!

As soon as I activate the typical params in Kunena config -> integration, I got a message to activate the integration plugin in CB. It seems to require the normal CB forum integration plugin. The one from incubator alone does not work for me.

Kunenas checks only test against the official forum integration, you'll need both basically enabled, but the forum tab for Forum integration can be disabled.

Quite a conundrum, really, isn't it? I recall back in the J!1.0.X days when many of us were straining at the bit for greater ACL flexibility, one component I used provided a compiled upgrade that included the Joomla upgrade whenever it came out. The reason for this was that their component hacked Joomla core files, and I eventually gave up on trying to maintain sites using it - mostly because other/better options became available (see CB Subs).

But at the time I remember thinking that it was really the only way the developer could ensure his client base didn't upgrade Joomla and break his component. He advised you NOT to upgrade using Joomla core upgrade files, but rather wait for him to release his own combined upgrades.

Would something like that work for components that govern so much of a site's functionality, such as Community Builder? I really do feel for your position, but can't think of another way to simplify site maintenance with an "easy button" unless you made one of your own and advised CB users to use ONLY yours and not the in-built Joomla update button.

Anyway, regardless of how limited my ability to dream up a solution, I'm sure there is one if only people will work together to find one.

Would something like that work for components that govern so much of a site's functionality, such as Community Builder? I really do feel for your position, but can't think of another way to simplify site maintenance with an "easy button" unless you made one of your own and advised CB users to use ONLY yours and not the in-built Joomla update button.

1 click upgrading and even 1 click installing of plugins is something we're reviewing for a future release. It's definitely an idea on our plate for sure, but no idea when something like that would go live if at all really. For now we just try to raise awareness. A good rule of thumb regarding Joomla is never upgrade directly after it releases, give it a month or two for developers to catch up.

Anyway, regardless of how limited my ability to dream up a solution, I'm sure there is one if only people will work together to find one.

Unfortunately CB having its own upgrade system doesn't resolve the issue directly. The problem is uses are upgrading from 1.6.5 to 1.7 in 1 click and many extensions don't work on 1.7, but those extensions are already installed basically causing their entire installation to fail. At any rate we'll be fully supporting 1.7 with CB 1.7 Stable, which is currently in RC.