The last days I’ve been updating several websites powered by the Joomla! CMS, a process I’ve been putting off way too long, mostly because this requires some modifications to the template (when updating from 1.0.x to 1.5.x and above), and may cause some installed third-party extensions to break. Why updating then? And what approach to take?Some generally heard reasons to update to the newest Joomla versions are to:
- fix security-issues;
- keep your website compatible with new extensions;
- simplify updating to the newest release;
- reduce maintenance costs on the long term;
- have the newest Joomla features available or be ready to update to the newest version as soon as it is released;
- have the great satisfaction of feeling up-to-date.
If you do decide to update to the newest version, you should consider at least the following:
- whether to migrate to a fresh Joomla installation or update the current installation. This may save you lots of time.
- extension compatibility. Make a list of the currently used extensions and their compatibility. Check if they are compatible with the newest release of Joomla, and (if they can be updated) whether to update them before or after updating the Joomla installation
- template compatibility. When updating from Joomla 1.0.x to 1.5.x and above the template needs to be modified. This is a great simple tutorial if you need one.
- server requirements. Check if your server is up to the task (disk space, database size).
Now, if you’re ready, move on to actually updating the installation. I will not go into details here, but hopefully you’ll be using this approach:
- backup
- update/modify
- test
- deploy
Using Version Control software like Subversion is seldom a bad idea for these kind of tasks.
Good luck!
