Textpattern CMS demo site

Bloke · 2019-12-25 22:45:10

:) I’ve had a go in this commit but it needs testing because I think this situation only occurs on automated installs (and I don’t quite know why). Certainly in my tests on a regular installation, $dbupdatetime was always set to some decent value every time I logged into the admin side.

gaekwad · 2019-12-30 13:12:26

Heads up: I’m fiddling with some demo server settings today. There should be zero downtime, if I do my job correctly.

If all goes well I’ll have another demo site for you to poke and prod today. More info on that later, if I do my job correctly…

gaekwad · 2019-12-30 17:17:29

File this under “running with scissors”.

There’s a new demo site for you to ~~break~~ investigate. This is not going to be publicised from the demo server front page just yet.

First, some background information. There are multiple versions of PHP that are actively supported and/or maintained. The most recent production version of PHP is version 7.4.1, released December 2019. There are people who work on making 7.4.* better, and there are people that are working on the upcoming major version of PHP. This is known currently as PHP version 8. Assuming there’s no skipping of versions (ahem, PHP version 6), we should expect PHP 8.0.0 to arrive in 2021.

The nature of PHP development is such that it’s possible to use a pre-release, in-progress, development build of PHP version 8. And so, over the weekend, I decided to combine in-development Textpattern with in-development PHP, using the latest source code of each.

Textpattern 4.8.0-dev runs mostly OK on PHP 8.0.0-dev. There are some errors thrown, and there’s some debugging to do to find out why, but here’s a screenshot of the Diagnostics from Textpattern 4.8.0-dev on PHP 8.0.0-dev and MySQL (Percona-flavoured) 8.0:

The errors relate to optional-but-missing JSON files, along with some more generic errors elsewhere.

We have at least 18 months before PHP 8.0.0 is released, I figured it would be useful for people living on the ragged edge to have a peek.

Here you go:

>> php-src-dev-demo.textpattern.co/ <<

Login credentials for the other demo sites work with this site. No change there.

This demo site will refresh every 3 hours on the same schedule as the other demo sites, and when I have fresh eyes I’ll set the PHP to auto-build from source once a day.

In due course, we’ll have a method of keeping track of issues relating to upcoming PHP releases. The nature of PHP development means that changes may be introduced, Textpattern makes changes to keep up, and PHP changes something else, and Textpattern undoes something, and PHP changes something, and so on. The main benefit is better visibility, and as release versions are firmed up we can make sure there’s appropriate compatibility.

Please leave a note if something is broken, and I’ll investigate.

Edits: I’ve changed the original screenshot used it as it was confusing.

Last edited by gaekwad (2019-12-30 18:08:09)

gaekwad · 2019-12-30 17:22:03

Maintenance Monday, expect minor turbulence.

Done: demo sites have migrated back to Amsterdam from Frankfurt, DNS changes will roll out over the next 48 hours.

Last edited by gaekwad (2019-12-30 17:53:08)

colak · 2019-12-30 17:46:00

gaekwad wrote #320763:

Textpattern 4.8.0-dev runs mostly OK on PHP 8.0.0-dev. There are some errors thrown, and there’s some debugging to do to find out why, but here’s a screenshot of the Diagnostics from Textpattern 4.8.0-dev on PHP 8.0.0-dev and MySQL (Percona-flavoured) 8.0: …

Hi Pete,
The errors seem to be appearing only because of the folder permissions. Are you sure they have the right ones?

gaekwad · 2019-12-30 17:56:36

colak wrote #320765:

The errors seem to be appearing only because of the folder permissions. Are you sure they have the right ones?

These are different errors, not the red errors shown in the screenshot. I should have been more specific, sorry about that. The permissions errors are deliberate, I don’t open up write access on the demo sites, too much of a risk.

There are some errors thrown relating to optional-but-missing JSON files on the admin theme, and a couple of more generic errors elsewhere. Current PHP handles the missing JSON without an error, ~~new~~ upcoming 2021-era PHP doesn’t handle things quite so gracefully…and I am not sure why.

Last edited by gaekwad (2019-12-30 18:00:26)

gaekwad · 2019-12-30 18:06:58

colak wrote #320765:

The errors seem to be appearing only because of the folder permissions. Are you sure they have the right ones?

I’ve changed the screenshot — far too confusing! Thanks for the second brain, Yiannis.

gaekwad · 2020-01-18 17:20:56

gaekwad wrote #320763:

Here you go:

>> php-src-dev-demo.textpattern.co/ <<

[…]

This demo site will refresh every 3 hours on the same schedule as the other demo sites, and when I have fresh eyes I’ll set the PHP to auto-build from source once a day.

This is now done, pending a scheduled run tomorrow: every day at 4:04am UTC, PHP will build from source. This takes about 20-25 minutes and pegs the CPU at 100% (run it red, get the job done), so if you’re accessing the site between 4:04am UTC and about 04:30 UTC, it might feel a bit slower than usual.

gaekwad · 2020-01-20 17:34:42

gaekwad wrote #321220:

This is now done, pending a scheduled run tomorrow: every day at 4:04am UTC, PHP will build from source.

Daily automatic PHP rebuild schedule ran like clockwork, finished at 04:20 am:

$ php-src -v
PHP 8.0.0-dev (cli) (built: Jan 20 2020 04:20:50) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.0.0-dev, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

gaekwad · 2020-01-21 12:14:40

Updated: now running PHP 7.4.2 and PHP 7.3.14 on demo sites.

Demo server tech stack (current as of post timestamp):

Site	HTTP	Database	PHP
Release Demo	Nginx 1.17.7	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.3.14 (using PHP-FPM)
Beta Demo	Nginx 1.17.7	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.4.2 (using PHP-FPM)
Dev Demo	Nginx 1.17.7	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.4.2 (using PHP-FPM)

gaekwad · 2020-01-21 14:43:23

Updated: now running Nginx 1.17.8 on demo sites.

Demo server tech stack (current as of post timestamp):

Site	HTTP	Database	PHP
Release Demo	Nginx 1.17.8	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.3.14 (using PHP-FPM)
Beta Demo	Nginx 1.17.8	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.4.2 (using PHP-FPM)
Dev Demo	Nginx 1.17.8	Percona Server 8.0	PHP 7.4.2 (using PHP-FPM)

gaekwad · 2020-01-22 16:17:11

I think I’ve resolved an annoyingly sporadic and, until today, persistent error where the demo sites bomb out on checking for updates with a vague info notice (“There was a problem connecting to the Textpattern update server”).

In the interests of completeness, and so you learn how to perhaps avoid this if you roll your own servers, here’s what was happening: PHP was supposed to use a certificate bundle to enable checking for updates over TLS. The php.ini file provided a path to a non-existent .pem file…and when it doesn’t exist, it’s not going to work properly.

Fixing the typo has, I think, fixed the problem.

Edit: clarity.

Last edited by gaekwad (2020-01-22 20:09:41)

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#157 2019-12-25 22:45:10

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#158 2019-12-30 13:12:26

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#159 2019-12-30 17:17:29

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#160 2019-12-30 17:22:03

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#161 2019-12-30 17:46:00

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

gaekwad wrote #320763:

#162 2019-12-30 17:56:36

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

colak wrote #320765:

#163 2019-12-30 18:06:58

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

colak wrote #320765:

#164 2020-01-18 17:20:56

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

gaekwad wrote #320763:

#165 2020-01-20 17:34:42

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

gaekwad wrote #321220:

#166 2020-01-21 12:14:40

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#167 2020-01-21 14:43:23

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

#168 2020-01-22 16:17:11

Re: Textpattern CMS demo site

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