To be frank with you, it's impossible for us to maintain the code for older version of EasySocial when we released new major version such as 2.1.

What I can think of is you should make your customisation work with ES 2.1 (or any future release) but remember do not upgrade into your live site straight away since you have heavy customisation in previously.

So that, when we release any patches (e.g. patches to address new Joomla compatibility issues), you will able to upgrade to latest version.

hi, hi

Not sure what you guys think of something like this:

https://openclassrooms.com/courses/manage-your-code-with-git-and-github

but it is something that I am looking at as of now

best

Paul

We do use revision controls but we actually changed / tweaked / refactored / optimized a lot of codes and queries. When I mean "a lot", I am talking about a range of 10, 000 - 20, 000 lines of codes.

For us to be able to update patches for prior releases are just going to be too tedious and time consuming

I have no idea what hacks or tweaks has been made on the site but ideally, I would suggest that you adapt to the codes on 2.1. It's faster, cleaner and optimized so that you don't have to apply too much hacks in the future.

EasySocial 2.1 incorporates a lot of re-usable html elements without redefining them over and over again (something which we have done wrong since version 1.0 up to 2.0). With 2.1, majority of these elements are originating from a single source file and this ensures that:

* You only need to override a single file (if you are going to override something generic)

* You only need to use simple css selectors (which gets applied automatically because the HTML codes are now standardized)

If you hacked the core files, then this is going to be tricky because we never recommend anyone from hacking the core files. Too risky for an upgrade.

If there was something that you think could be moved to the theme file, let us know and we'll push it into the core so that it makes your life much easier.

I am talking about a range of 10, 000 - 20, 000 lines of codes.

I can count the number of really important hacks that I have on one hand. Almost

- The legal menu down at the bottom right.
- The custom coloured links through out the site.
- The custom colour buttons (being addressed in 2.1 Thank You)
- Being able to post Vimeo video “only” on my site
- Using the ES Login & Register form when coming from the Hika Shop Page*
- My connect with Fast Spring Plugin (plugin/not even a hack).*
- My put purchaser of a product a Hika Product in an ES Group (plugin/not even a hack)*

*I got a developer to help me with these last 3 items.

My educated guess is excluding the plugins that is some thing like 10 lines of mission critical code.

I have tracked all of these in my own very simple way.
With folders on my finder level.
With instructions in each folder. Aka what files were changed and where.
I think that the chances that none of these will be effected by an update are pretty high!
But after breaking so many things in the past I believe that it is better to be safe than sorry.

And I guess that this is what I will be doing with Git Hub.
I had a friend help me set things up with help of the Terminal.
I have my current site in Git Hub Desktop and will be advancing with caution.
And really making sure that I understand the whole push/pull and branch thing.
https://desktop.github.com/

A recent case in point where a branch would have been cool was updating to Joomla 3.8.1
And SP Page Builder messing up admin menus!
Not to mention a major Joomla 4.x update some time in the not toooo distant future!!!
They are always so NOT fun.

There is so much goodness in 2.1!!!
I will be a little late for the party but I will make it.
I give it 3 weeks and I will be on 2.1 and loving it.

Most importantly I will have the peace of mind that I can always go back/forwards in time if I need to fix something.

Yeah, I guess if you have only a handful of hacks, it should be fairly simple. Personally if you need to hack the core, then something is not right. If there is a way we can improve the code by ensuring that you don't need to hack the codes, let us know

Thanks Mark greatly appreciated as always
best
Paul

No problem

Appreciate your detailed answer and time taken to explain the things. Overrides are fine but in case of a major update most overrides will be useless probably when the structure basically is changing. I just tried to find a way to make sure to be safe in this case by keeping up to date with Joomla but having more time.

@Paul

I am sorry but I can not follow you how a git is better than casual backup and restore. To be honest for me a git just means additionally things to fiddle around with instead of doing it the basic and easy way.

No problem

By the way, I am moving this to a non supported category since this is beyond the scope of our support and it shouldn't be affecting the support flow.