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You may or may not have noticed that the site displayed several warnings at the top of the page and wouldn’t allow people to log in. Just so it’s written somewhere and so other people know, the high level technical details are that there’s software called php that generates all the webpages you see here. The version of php (currently 7.1) has to be compatible with the version of phpbb software we use (currently 3.2.1). If the versions are incompatible, one symptom is that you’ll see behaviors described above.
Somehow the php setting for the site got changed to a different version. Luckily our host allows us to change the version of php on the fly and even more luckily they allow us to set the version to older, outdated versions of php. I think the hosts may have automatically set all sites they host to some minimal php version and we got caught up in that.
What this means is that we’ll probably have to upgrade the phpbb software that’s the backbone for the site to a later version that is compatible with more recent versions of php. The latest version of phpbb is 3.3.5, so we’re behind. I haven’t found documentation on which version of php is required for phpbb 3.3.5.
Our hosts are pretty good at providing just about every version of php that’s out there so we may not be
requiredto upgrade. I only mention this because: If the errors and login problems happen again and I’m not around. Unfortunately you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it unless you have cpanel access, but at least you’d know what was happening.
- Updating is always a risk and I’ve never done it before, so it’s extra risky.
Status quo is easy, but it may not hurt to attempt an upgrade because you never know when people will cut off access to older stuff. I say that but our host still provides php versions going back to 5.4.
Thank you for keeping an eye on this Nibbler. Is there some new software that we can update to so we don’t have to worry about outdated software? I see that there’s now version 3.3.8 of the phpbb software that we could upgrade to. Full disclosure, the reasons I haven’t attempted it yet: I’ve never done it before.
- There’s some risk. I’d hate to try an upgrade and end up with something that doesn’t work at all.
- There were some plugins that were manually installed with the current version. Tapatalk and the plugin that both collects and displays the text people enter as justification to join the site when they register. I think we’d lose both in an upgrade.
I wanted to set up a server on a spare computer at home and install the current version of staylds, including the database, then perform an upgrade against that. Both to get in some practice and to potentially discover any issues that could occur during an upgrade on the real system. Life has kept and will keep me too busy for that plan.
I also wanted to get in some practice with restoring a backup in case the upgrade went really south. That’s another haven’t had the time thing and it’s also tricky to work out a plan on how to get in practice when a live system is all there is to get practice on.
To boil it down, it comes down to fear and time. Fear being the larger deterrent. I’ve told/convinced myself that if there isn’t a security issue with the current version of phpbb and if the service hosting this site isn’t compelling us to upgrade by cutting off older versions of php then the risks outweigh the rewards.
On the other hand, you don’t gain that confidence or experience until you take the risks and try, but that’s the status of it.
To keep everyone in the loop… I’m planning on creating a personal server (offline to the internet) that has the same software and software versions as the live server that runs this site.
I’d like to get the current version of staylds up and running on the offline server so I can use it as a test environment to practice and test the upgrade process. No idea how long that will take. It’s been over 15 years since I’ve fooled around with that sort of thing and a lot changes in the tech world in even just one year.
From everything I’ve read, phpbb is still considered one of, if not
thebest forum software. The forum update would move us to the latest version of phpbb. I’ve also read that there’s not much of a difference between our current version and the latest version, but it’s probably a good idea to update every few years just to keep pace. That way if something does come along it will be easier to update from later releases than it would be to update from a very back level version. Again, we’d likely lose the account justification stuff and tapatalk, since those are specific to our version of phpbb. Maybe those are things that could be added back in over time.
We’ll see how the personal server creation goes. That’s the first step.
It will be a process, since it has to be squeezed into my free time.
Hey y’all – I haven’t been back here for a long time. Mormon Heretic’s post on his interview with John Dehlin reminded me of its existence. Do we have enough of an active forum to keep going? I always felt like this was one of the better forums online for this type of discussion, less toxic than the alternatives, and a better size group to actually talk and feel like you know these anonymous people. I think there is enough of an active forum to keep going, even though it is significantly reduced from the peak. I suspect we might get an uptick as things “go back to normal” – if that happens. If another issue (like the Monkey Pox) happens, things might stay better as people stay away from church, but, if not, I would like to see how things go and keep having the conversation. Even if it ends, the archives will be a good resource for people who find this site one way or another.
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