Mar 30

Joomla! 1.5.10 and updating your Joomla! instance

Category: joomla

Being a Joomla! person, I keep up with the updates for Joomla! and I even have my own tool for doing this. The Update Manager I wrote for Joomla! 1.0 (and the version I wrote for 1.0 still works though we haven’t had any upgrades!) was upgraded to support 1.5 and is now a part of my Advanced Tools package.

The first step is to install the Advanced Tools package. Advanced Tools, as its name suggests, is a bit more advanced than your average extension and it installs files into a few different places. For the purposes of this post we don’t care about these extra features however it might be useful to use them later on.

The location in question is the installer adapter directory. This is located in /libraries/joomla/installer/adapters and stores the adapters that Joomla! uses to install new packages. This hooks directly into the universal installer so when you install a new package the right type is selected. The Advanced Tools package has adapters for the Table Editor (you can install new tables using this), the package manager (used to install half of the advanced tools) and the library manager (used for stuff like my JAuthTools libraries). This part is pretty simple, just make sure that your Apache user can write to the /libraries/joomla/installer/adapters folder in your site (it should be the same permissions as your components, modules, plugins or template directory) and you should be fine to install it.

Advanced Tools is available on my Pasamio Project’s FRS site. The latest version is always available there and at the time of writing the latest version was available was 1.5, and you can grab it here: http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsrelease/6797/22390/com_advancedtools.tgz – keep in mind with 1.5 you can directly install from URL’s in the install manager.

picture-3

Once you’ve got Advanced Tools installed, you should have a new “Advanced” menu item at the end of the top menu bar (look for it after help). This menu has a few useful tools in it, such as the Package Manager, Library Manager and Table Editor – in addition to the Update Manager:

Advanced Menu

So if we select the update manager we get taken to the update manager first screen:

Update Manager first screen

So there are some quick notes about what its going to do, these a mostly self explanatory, so we’ll click the download the update file to get a list of available updates:

Update Manager - Step 1

Ok, so its found two updates. One is a full package and another is the patch package. Most of the time the patch package is the best bet, and very rarely (if ever) should you grab the full package. So lets download the package package by selecting it.

Step Two of Update Manager

So its told us that we’ve grabbed the package from JoomlaCode and asks us if we’d like to install. We can also copy the link provided to see where it goes as well. So all we need to do is continue.

Update Manager Step 3

And there we go, we’re all finished. At this point it’ll still say your current version in the top right, however when you navigate to another page you should see this updated appropriately!

49 comments

49 Comments so far

  1. Martin Tan March 30th, 2009 1:19 pm

    Oh wow!Your advanced tool worked a charm! I am not a very tech savvy guy and was hesitating to upgrade my Joomla installation as the instructions were very confusing. Thanks a whole lot! You are a real life saver…

  2. Publipoint March 30th, 2009 6:27 pm

    Took me many trials to get it installed. It fails the Upfdate manager process.
    “Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found(42)”

  3. sim March 30th, 2009 9:56 pm

    But if i want to install a localized update? Can you give the chance to select a localized package?

  4. deepak March 30th, 2009 10:33 pm

    when ever i try to use update manager ,
    i get a message
    “Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: failed to open stream: Permission denied(42)”
    plz help
    thanks

  5. pasamio March 30th, 2009 10:46 pm

    @Publipoint: I’m not sure why there is no wrapper for http, what version of PHP are you using? There should be a http stream wrapper.

    @sim: I source straight from JoomlaCode, even now a lot of full localised install packages don’t exist. This system is more proof of concept and research for the work that is going together for 1.6’s release. In 1.6 we should be able to provide localised update packages.

    @deepak: Are you sure you don’t have any limitations on your server such as safe mode or limitations on what fopen can do? If you can’t connect to external servers (a common security addition) then this will not work properly.

  6. icartwork May 8th, 2009 11:04 pm

    Works like a charm. Upgraded from 1.5.8 to 1.5.10 in seconds !

  7. pasamio May 9th, 2009 8:25 am

    Great news!

  8. bob June 5th, 2009 10:04 pm

    getting huge error
    help plz
    Installing /home/funboonc/public_html/administrator/components/com_advancedtools/packages/com_jpackageman.tgz
    Installing /home/funboonc/public_html/administrator/components/com_advancedtools/packages/pkg_advtools.tgz

    Warning: require_once(/home/funboonc/public_html/libraries/joomla/installer/adapters/package.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/funboonc/public_html/libraries/joomla/installer/installer.php on line 216

    Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required ‘/home/funboonc/public_html/libraries/joomla/installer/adapters/package.php’ (include_path=’.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /home/funboonc/public_html/libraries/joomla/installer/installer.php on line 216

  9. pasamio June 5th, 2009 10:07 pm

    Can you make sure the /libraries/joomla/installer/adapters directory is write-able like your normal component directories and try to reinstall. Without that directory set the system can’t install the installation adapters it uses to install itself.

  10. Kevin June 16th, 2009 8:48 am

    I’ve installed the ppackage ok, but when I click on ‘you can proceed with the install>>>’ in Step 2, I end up with a blank page in my browser.

    I’ve tried downloading the tgz file and installing it from my pc and I’ve even tried installing it via the url. But I still getting the same result.

    What’s going wrong/how do I fix it.

    I am trying to upgrade joomla from 1.5.8 to 1.5.11 & I have tried using both the patch file and the full version file.

  11. pasamio June 16th, 2009 9:17 am

    White page would typically indicate a PHP error somewhere, try increasing your error reporting level in Joomla! and rerun to see if you get an error.

  12. Kent July 3rd, 2009 5:23 am

    I used the Update Manager to update from 1.5.10 to 1.5.11 but it doesn’t work for 1.5.12. I get the message,

    “No updates were found.
    Please check again later or watch http://www.joomla.org

    I assume Update Manger is looking in the wrong place for the new update.

  13. pasamio July 5th, 2009 11:40 am

    No, there is an issue with the new update – in some situations it isn’t extracting the full update in enough time and this is causing PHP to raise an error potentially leaving the site in a precarious state. I’m currently looking into this and I don’t want any sites to be impacted.

  14. kharmer July 9th, 2009 10:06 pm

    Hi Pasamio, just out of curiousity (I havent looked at the code), but where does the Update component check to see if there is a new release?

    I assume from the post above it is from your own site and not that of Joomla, thus giving you the ability to prevent attempted updates like in the scenario above.

    Any chance you could post the URL that your component uses on here?

    Also, is the issue mentioned above to do with the upgrade patch or an issue with the component extracting it?

    Great component by the way, makes my life a lot easier when overseeing several client sites. Can even update a clients site when on my travels abroad1 ;o)

  15. pasamio July 10th, 2009 12:42 am

    The code checks here: http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml

    It is one of my own and whilst I could generate the XML on the fly against the actual server (all I run is a script to generate the XML file from the server automatically), I prefer to have a little bit of control since updating peoples sites is something I don’t want to break.

    The issue is that the native tar handler runs out of time extracting the update since its a bit bigger than the previous updates. I have a more optimised version of the tar library in Joomla! 1.6, so I might back port it as a custom library and go from there – so I’ll have to do a new release of the update manager to handle things better – more testing and development.

  16. Renea July 16th, 2009 12:20 am

    Fantastic tool. Works like a charm for me.

    When can we look forward to the 1.5.12 update? I saw in the update.xml file that it will only upgrade to 1.5.11

  17. pasamio July 16th, 2009 12:00 pm

    The new file will be the following:
    http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update2.xml

    I was working on an update last night. I’m going to add proxy support, support for using cURL, support for using locally cached updates (e.g. upload the XML and package file to the right place and it’ll use those for when you can’t get out via proxy or otherwise), the ability for the extension to update itself as required and not to execute updates it isn’t capable of adequately handling as well as better archive support with an updated copy of the now GPL PEAR tar and 1.6’s tar libraries. I completed the fopen proxy support last night, looking at doing cURL support tonight with local update caching support. In the following days I’ll aim for extension update and limitation support as well as the important archive support.

  18. Milos July 23rd, 2009 10:35 pm

    Hi Pasamio,
    Did you manged to check this issue with recent updates with Joomla, I like your component, donated and installed in on most of my Joomla installs, but now it’s problematic when it can’t see latest packages from the main Joomla site.
    Let us know will you be able to check that.
    Thank you
    Milos

  19. pasamio July 23rd, 2009 10:54 pm

    Hi Milos,

    I have a beta of the current version up attached to the first post. I’m going to add two more features: a custom message display and the ability to force upgrade (e.g. reapply a full update). Version 1.5.12 introduced a security vulnerability, 1.5.13 causes issues with the media manager and TinyMCE3 – so at the moment its a bit weird. There are fixes for 1.5.13 so it isn’t too bad. I hope to have a release out shortly.

    Cheers,

    Sam

  20. jmpeneda July 24th, 2009 12:19 am

    Hi Pasamio

    I installed our Advanced Tools package. I try to upgrade my Joomla from 1.5.11 to 1.5.12, but got:
    “Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found(42)”
    How can a layman make sure that the /libraries/joomla/installer/adapters directory is write-able like normal component directories or try to reinstall.
    Best regards,
    jmpeneda

  21. pasamio July 24th, 2009 8:07 am

    Hi jmpeneda, can you give the 1.5.1b2 release a try (see my first post) and change the params to use “curl” instead? You will need the curl php extension however and if that doesn’t work I’m not quite sure how I can help you. What version of PHP are you using?

  22. Marek July 25th, 2009 4:07 am

    In 1.5.11 and 1.5b2 i have eror:

    Parsing XML Document Failed!

    my tmp folder is chmoded to 777, what next?

  23. Marek July 25th, 2009 4:15 am

    OK got it! Wrong tmp patch…

    All is working now. Thanks for great tools!

  24. pasamio July 25th, 2009 3:06 pm

    Good to hear you got it sorted Marek!

  25. kharmer July 29th, 2009 12:30 am

    Check out the latest version here, it works perfectly.

    http://pasamio.com/2009/07/27/update-manager-151-final-released/comment-page-1/

  26. hkeyzer August 12th, 2009 2:36 pm

    Great component – but I am concerned there is no support forum.

    I installed component on 2 sites and other than having to use different configurations due to different server requirements it worked fine and updated the 2 sites.

    Then installed it on a third site – but when I click on updatemanger link, I simply get a blank screen. Checked folder/file permissions – no issue.

    Tried uninstalling and reinstalling – no change.
    Tried manual install – extract and ftp files to site – again no change. There is no error message – just a blank screen.

    How about a support forum for this great component.

  27. pasamio August 12th, 2009 2:40 pm

    What version of PHP are you running on that server? Also, in your Global Configuration under the Server or System tabs increase your error reporting to maximum and try again to see if there is an error reported.

    Yes, I need to get a forum up and running along with everything else. I also need an update to provide some helpful diagnostic for cases where the FTP configuration throws the tool slightly as well. Many things to do, very little time to do.

  28. hkeyzer August 13th, 2009 10:23 am

    Good call: PHP Version: 4.4.7
    That is the difference from the other servers.

    Since installed on 2 other servers and also fine.

    Little time – many things to do; understood too well, I appreciate however that you have brought out a great component that should have been in the core.

    Cheers

  29. pasamio August 13th, 2009 11:09 am

    On the same note of little time, I don’t have the time to do testing with PHP4 as it isn’t supported and lacks some of the features I want to start using. A tad unfortunate but such is life.

  30. hkeyzer August 14th, 2009 8:59 am

    Agree don’t wate time making it php4 compatiable. I’d rather the site owner upgraded their php.

    Otherwise working fine on all sites.
    Thanks

  31. Marcel September 11th, 2009 8:08 pm

    Hi,

    I have tried joomla! update manager and when trying to “download the updating file” I get the message:

    Download failed: Remote Server connection failed:fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found; Using Proxy: No(42).

    I don’t know if it is also related to it, but when I try to install the update package from 1.5.10 to 1.5.14 it tells that “XML setup file could not be found”.

    Is my 1.5.10 joomla corrupt or something? I cannot update it. Does anybody know how to solve it.

    I am new to joomla and any help would be like gold.

    Marcel

  32. pasamio September 11th, 2009 8:33 pm

    First, if you’re running PHP5, this isn’t supported. Second, if you’re on PHP5 go into params and switch over to curl and see if this works better.

  33. fmarvel October 20th, 2009 4:46 am
  34. Dale December 7th, 2009 3:00 am

    Hi, I’m a newbie to Joomla!, and all of this tech stuff, so this seemed perfect for me, but I’m unable to get it to work.

    I’ve tried both the fopen and curl options in parameters (not that I understand what they are) and get to different steps with each.

    With fopen selected I get this error at Step 1: Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found; Using Proxy: No(42)

    With curl selected, I see the files to select, but I also get this message: Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in /mnt/w0602/d21/s29/b02fc053/www/oldyalepenworks.ca/administrator/components/com_jupdateman/libraries/pasamio/downloader/adapters/curl.php on line 46

    If I try to select the patch package, in addition to the message above I also get this: Error: MD5 checksum does not match! Delete and redownload file.

    I will keep browsing forums to see what else I can come up with, but any suggestions that you might have would be appreciated. Thanks

  35. Dale December 7th, 2009 3:33 am

    By the way, I should have added that I have updated my site using the FTP method, but I would still like to figure out how to get Update Manager configured correctly. Thanks

  36. Michael December 23rd, 2009 9:37 pm

    Hi,

    I encountered the same error as someone else which was after I click install via the Joomla admin panel I get a white screen with the following 2 lines;

    Installing /hsphere/local/home/mygruber/robot-tutorials.com/administrator/components/com_advancedtools/packages/com_jpackageman.tgz
    Installing /hsphere/local/home/mygruber/robot-tutorials.com/administrator/components/com_advancedtools/packages/pkg_advtools.tgz

    However because I do not know how to activate error trapping on my server I will need to uninstall.

    To ensure I have a clean uninstall could you please advise all the areas that are modified during the install please (files, folders, DB tables etc) as the uninstall process advises me there are some areas it cannot undo.

    Regards
    Michael

  37. pasamio January 2nd, 2010 10:53 pm

    You can enable error reporting in the Site -> Global Configuration -> Server -> Error Reporting and then set it to maximum. Strange that it dies there, it shouldn’t be doing anything special unless there is a strange permission error somewhere.

    It doesn’t touch tables except for jos_components and jos_modules. On the file system it touches /libraries/joomla/installer/adapters to add the package.php and library.php files, the relevant component directories and a module. The names should match the contents of the package if you extract out the top level component and then the underlying package.

  38. vanityasart January 27th, 2010 2:29 am

    I’ve seen a few people having this same problem. I’ve updated several sites using this tool (worked wonderfully) until this site. This is my error message.

    Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found; Using Proxy: No(42)

    It would be nice if we could get a solutions rather than a lot of “I don’t know why it’s doing that.”

  39. Devin April 1st, 2010 12:57 am

    My client is using GoDaddy. I have never had so many troubles with their hosting process with any other hosting provider as it is so different. However, their interface is lovely in presentation. My trouble is that PHP5 is installed, yet I still get the same error as vanitysart and all the others. Is there some type of script I must install? If so, how would I do that using the hosting manager for GoDaddy?

  40. U'r Computer Ade June 18th, 2010 10:50 pm

    vanityasart, Im having the same problem and cannot find an answer to it. Wish someone would shed some light on the subject

  41. Chez June 27th, 2010 5:54 am

    Hi vanityasart, I came across the same problem,

    Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found; Using Proxy: No(42)

    I contacted my server provider after successfully upgrading another site running the same template etc on another server with them. I asked if they could pinpoint the differences – they did. I asked what the problem was and they said,

    “I have enabled allow_include_url for your account”

    Whilst this doesn’t mean very much to myself I hope you can solve your problem from it.

    Kind regards

  42. Hazel July 16th, 2010 6:00 pm

    hello. i am updating my joomla from version 1.5.18 to 1.5.19 but the update manager says “no updates were found”. is there any problem with my site or the component needs an update too?

  43. pasamio July 16th, 2010 9:44 pm

    There is always a delay between when a release is done and before I update my systems. I do some quick tests with everything prior to putting it public which sometimes has to be fit into my work arrangements. Should be all good now 🙂

  44. Hazel July 19th, 2010 5:29 pm

    I already updated my websites. Thank you very much.

  45. Andy December 23rd, 2010 6:24 am

    Hi I am having the following error when I click on download the update file
    Download Failed: Remote Server connection failed: fopen(http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found; Using Proxy: No(42)
    It seems that I have to put “allow_url_fopen = On ;” in the php.ini file but I am not sure where to put the php.ini file in order for it to work. I have searched everywhere for an answer but no joy, hope anyone can help.

  46. Andy December 23rd, 2010 6:56 am

    It seems that the update address http://jsitepoint.com/update/packages/joomla/update.xml
    takes you to a blank webpage with just the following text: http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/pasamioprojects/frs/
    Is this an error? shouldn’t it point to the update.xml file?
    This is really frustrating trying to get this to work

  47. Ian July 28th, 2011 2:24 am

    Hi, i have just come across your excellent plugin but am having a bit of a problem, the site i manage is hosted on 1and1 and is running on php5 and joomla 1.5.12, i have successfully installed the update component, changed from fopen to curl as it was throwing a wobbly! But now i have the problem, the plugin is successfully loading the update file 1.5.12 to 1.5.23 update but on clicking to step 3 i am getting a Error 500 – Internal server error. any ideas?
    very new to Joomla and have only just discovered how to update php in the 1and1 control panel! 🙂
    cheers for any help you can offer a newbie!
    Ian .

  48. pasamio July 28th, 2011 7:02 am

    Sounds like it is hitting a timeout error for some reason, I’d suggest that you will have to manually upgrade if this continually happens.

  49. ixiel November 7th, 2011 3:41 am

    Just want to say thank you for this excellent plugin.

    I managed by passed the MD5 checksum error by using the Cache method. Uploaded the joomla tar.gz upgrade file via the link given to my /tmp folder and the extraction went well and my joomla now upgraded from 1.5.11 to 1.5.24.

    1.5.11 got issues with my dedicated hosting using php 5.3.8 and with 1.5.24 there is no more probs.

    Thank you very much.

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