X-Cart forums

[shan]

Originally Posted by ManFromDet

I'm going live with ver 4.0.9 as soon as Qualteam upgrades and transfers my DB over from the old server to the new one. As soon as I submitted the request and paid the invoice, ver 4.0.10 was released. After looking through the change log, there were only 3 or 4 items that affected me - and all of them were minor. If I found something major, I would abandon 4.0.9 and start with ver 4.0.10. Or forget 4.X alltogether and use 3.5.12.

Ver 4.0.9 will be my 3rd X-cart installation in about 18 months, give or take. The only way I can see using X-cart successfully is to pick a version and stick with it, at least until a significant upgrade has been provided. Constant upgrades and patches - every couple of weeks - would have me spending more time administering my shopping cart, rather than concentrating on my business.

X-cart's new commitment to stability is encouraging, but I doubt highly that new versions being released every 3 to 5 weeks will ever stop.

it will take them 10 mins extra to upgrade you to latest version v4.0.10

[ManFromDet]

Originally Posted by shan

it will take them 10 mins extra to upgrade you to latest version v4.0.10

I'm "decent" with HTML, and I've understood X-cart's template system well enough to modify it for my needs, but beyond that, my technical knowledge is limited.

This is what X-Cart provided when I asked about upgrading from 4.0.9 to 4.0.10:

Also we can offer you our upgrade servise.
As for future upgrade since X-Cart is open source software, each customer can customize it according to his needs. This condition sometimes makes the upgrade a very sophisticated task. If a lot of code (templates) was changed by the customer (developer) it may conflict with the new changes and the upgrade script may fail. In this case you should explore conflict places manually and incorporate changes by hand, or hire our professional to do it for you.
Since the amount of work is unpredictable we offer our customers the following upgrade scenario. You purchase Pre-upgrade consulting service ($25), then our specialists will estimate the final cost of the upgrade and set an invoice for you (if no conflicts are found, no additional payment will be required). If you accept the price and pay the invoice we will start upgrade for you.

I've read numorous posts in various threads regarding the difficulty in upgrading and patching from one version to the next over the past year or so. Many of the problems reported were:

1) What was fixed in the next version breaks something that used to work in the previous version

2) Much of what would be upgraded "automatically" must be done manually due to problems with the script associated with the updating, or more often, due to customized templates and code that would be disrupted if NOT done manually.

3) I'm not gonna pay X-cart $25 to $50 (or more) every 3 to 5 weeks to bring me to the next latest and greatest release.

Upgrading is a simple task for you because you are better prepared than I am for such a task. Your technical skill and knowledge of X-cart far exceeds mine. (And it's been appreciated in these forums, you have answered many questions for me.)

Technical support and maintenance should be limited to fixing something when / if it breaks, and the occassional upgrade, as needed. All I wanna do is sell stuff with my cart, not work on it every 3 to 5 weeks.

[shan]

all i meant was that if your having them upgrade you to 4.0.9 then you may as well tell them to update you to the latest version when they do get round to doing your job as its no extra hassle to go all the way

[ManFromDet]

Originally Posted by shan

all i meant was that if your having them upgrade you to 4.0.9 then you may as well tell them to update you to the latest version when they do get round to doing your job as its no extra hassle to go all the way

I understand.

Based upon the response I received when I asked Qualiteam about an upgrade ($25.00 pre-consultation, and all that other verbiage, etc.), in addition to the fact that most of the updates in 4.0.10 had little affect on my installation, I'll just stick to 4.0.9.

Most of the bug fixes in 4.0.10 were for X-cart features, modules, and payment gateways I don't use nor plan to ever use. Any other things that do affect my installation were minor - I can live with them. (Such as the paypal enhancement or Gift Cert bug fix. That's no big deal for me.)

Thanks.

[Alltribes]

Originally Posted by ManFromDet

Most of the bug fixes in 4.0.10 were for X-cart features, modules, and payment gateways I don't use nor plan to ever use. Any other things that do affect my installation were minor - I can live with them. (Such as the paypal enhancement or Gift Cert bug fix. That's no big deal for me.)

Thanks.

But when 4.0.11 or 4.0.12 comes along and it has a bug fix in there,you do need,you're going to have to pay even more to have it upgraded.

I'd have to agree you should update to the latest version if you are going to upgrade at all,unless the latest version breaks something you need. It should save some money down the road if that big "must have" update comes along.

The less that needs patched the better.

Personaly I'm upgrading to 4.0.10 for the Meta tag changes alone. Well, that and the Froogle fix. I have 5000 products. Sending just 100 to Froogle isn't an option for me.

[ManFromDet]

Originally Posted by Alltribes

But when 4.0.11 or 4.0.12 comes along and it has a bug fix in there,you do need,you're going to have to pay even more to have it upgraded.

I'd have to agree you should update to the latest version if you are going to upgrade at all,unless the latest version breaks something you need. It should save some money down the road if that big "must have" update comes along.
The less that needs patched the better.

Personaly I'm upgrading to 4.0.10 for the Meta tag changes alone. Well, that and the Froogle fix. I have 5000 products. Sending just 100 to Froogle isn't an option for me.

I understand your logic, and that makes sense. But the key thing here - for me specifically - is distingushing between a bug fix or enhancement that is NEEDED vs. an enhancement or fix that I just WANT.

I've got 4.0.9 installed, tested, and ready to go live (just waiting for the DB transfer). I don't really NEED anything. 4.0.9 should work fine for me for at least 6 to 12 months, unless or until some new X-cart innovation comes along. Heck, I've been running ver 3.5.4 since April, 2004 and it worked fine for me until now. I really liked the new features in 4.x, so I decided a switch was in order.

The next time I decide to upgrade (which won't be for a quite a while), I will just get a new server and IP, load the new version, and move my DB. This has been my strategy since the beginning and this is my 3rd X-cart (version) in 18 months.

[kevinrm]

Wondering if anyone here has successfully upgraded from 4.0.9-4.0.10 PRO verson? My system hanges when it goes through the test phase at "provider/cart.php". It's not that file that is the problem because if you take it out, it just hangs at the next one. Seems like it is reaching some kind of limit and won't go any further. This is on that page where it runs a check on the files. It's not permissions....

[cherie]

I'm also seeing the 4.0.9-4.0.10 patch hang during test. This is with Gold and stops around import.php. It seems to be some limit of how much data can be sent. No problems on one server, but this hang on another.

Oh, and I really appreciate the constant updates. Each one seems to address many issues. I'd rather have this than one update every 6 months. I also agree that you shouldn't fix what's not broken by updating just because there's a new version (security aside).

[kevinrm]

Mine seems to go just a few more files than yours does. Must be some kind of server setting, but have no idea what it could be. Running dedicated server here.

[kevinrm]

Fixed that. See my reply in Upgrading section. Whew!