XenForo 1.5: PHP 7.3 EOL in Dec 6, 2021

[xf15lover]

Hello guys,

As you know, many forum owners are still on XenForo 1.5. Personally, I do not see the point on upgrading to XenForo 2: nothing innovate, nothing new - they are just trying to push their Cloud solution and XF 2.3 seems like an abandoned project (IMHO). As you know, XenForo 1.5 is only compatible with PHP 7.3, which is going to be EOL in less than 30 days: Dec 6, 2021 to be specific: https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php

I believe that they (the XF team) have an excellent opportunity to make a XF 1.5 patch in order to make it compatible with at least PHP 7.4 so we can have another year of safety. I think, however, that they are not going to do so (even when they could collect a lot of money with license renewals to get such patch).

What are our alternatives as forum owners? Do you know if a reliable developer like Digitalpoint or Bob would be interested in upgrading XF 1.5 to make it PHP 7.4 compatible?

Thanks.

 

[Chris D]

More of our customers are already running on XF2 than XF1. I’d say this is about 75% in total and actually that seems to be echoed in the Digitalpoint cookie search stats.

Unfortunately you’re very much in the minority in terms of XF version and that minority is shrinking all the time. You won’t find a developer who would find it worth their while to upgrade XF1 - particularly those you have mentioned whom are already heavily invested in XF2 - when XF2 is clearly a much more superior product and under continuous development and still supported.

You’re entitled to an opinion but as I just mentioned to you in another thread, you couldn’t be more wrong. XF 2.3 has been in continuous development alongside our Cloud efforts which only needs a bit more development time before it is ready to be launched to all (mostly surrounding toolsets and services related to migration from existing XF sites and other software).

Frankly, your alternatives are to upgrade to XF2 or leave the platform entirely for something better suited to your tastes and requirements.

 

[Pete]

This is true whatever platform you’re on, you need to keep in line unless you can maintain it adequately yourself.

I would be surprised if any of the big names would be particularly interested in maintaining older versions of XF because it’s actually hard work for little reward. And then you’ll have to go and do it again year after year with going to PHP 8, then 8.1 etc.

 

[xf15lover]

Hello, thanks for your input. It is not that "hard work" as you said, it would be around two full days according to Digitalpoint: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/php-7-4-0-is-already-available.172883/page-2#post-1388582

He also said that it would be a good idea, however as Chris pointed out, I got basically no viable option but to upgrade to XF2, which I will don't do until XF 2.3 is released.

I guess I will have to cross my fingers for at least one year hoping no critical security bugs are discovered in PHP 7.3. Nevermind.

 

[Chris D]

What are you hoping for in XF 2.3 that would suddenly change your mind? There are improvements over XF 1.5 in XF 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 yet, for some reason, they haven't been enough to make it viable, but somehow XF 2.3 will?

"Upgrading XF 1.5 to XF 2.2? Nah I'd rather spend time, money and effort on custom development to make it compatible with newer versions of PHP".

"Upgrading XF 1.5 to XF 2.3 which I have no clue as to what improvements or changes it will bring? Yeah that negates all my current feelings and I'll do that".

Doesn't seem very logical IMHO.

 

[xf15lover]

My XF 1.5 installation is heavily customized and many well known developers who were in the 1.x era are not anymore on the 2.x era. Why? Well, let's don't make this thread loss its focus.

XF 2.2 does not have certain features that my XF 1.5 does have. I just will wait for XF 2.3 to see what new features it brings and from then decide whether to stay on XF or move out.

Please stop putting words on my behalf. You have to be respectful and agree to disagree. Have a nice day.

 

[Pete]

As someone who has spent a lot of time wading through the upgrade journey (I maintain a platform originally written for PHP 4, currently nearing full 8.1 support), I think I have to disagree on the “couple of days” angle.

The actual dev work, maybe, but there’s a raft of testing and what you might call “certifying” to do and unless there is a full suite of test tools available to test all the functionality automatically, this alone will take a couple of days.

 

[Chris]

We really need giphy enabled on here.

 

[KimmiKat]

The big thing about having your mboard heavily customised. I remember those days on one board that was modded and when I updated it, a few things got broken.

 

[Pete]

The big thing about having your mboard heavily customised. I remember those days on one board that was modded and when I updated it, a few things got broken.

For certain, shall we say... lesser platforms, this can happen even without mods.

 

[Bionic Rooster]

We really need giphy enabled on here.

 

[Bionic Rooster]

Just a little lovin, goes a long way. GIPHY you want, GIPHY you have

 

[Curator]

Are you still driving a horse and wagon?
Today's automobiles don't offer anything significant over the older method of transportation.

In all seriousness, your post makes you sound like <removed>
Somebody had to say it.

 

[Paul M]

Somebody had to say it.

No, they didnt, and in future dont go around firing random insults at other members.

 

[rhody401]

There are hundreds of improvements since the 1.x days, and it is a better and more secure product. You'll also have access to a much larger base of third party add-ons that are still supported, with a current version. You can run PHP 8 with it, also. The upgrade is similar to upgrading from vbulletin to Xenforo.

I see no reason to stick with something so outdated, personally, but respect your decision. Don't expect a lot to agree, though, IMO

 

[Johno1942]

The upgrade is similar to upgrading from vbulletin to Xenforo.

This is of course why there are people who have put off changing. I would not want to go through that process with a large board again - ever.

 

[Chris D]

Not quite sure I totally understand the comparison.

The upgrade in essence is the same as any other XF upgrade. Upload the new files, run the installer. It shouldn't even take that long, certainly not to the same extent as a full on data migration from one platform into XF.

Due to the changes between XF1 and XF2, you'll need to install a new style and upgrade any add-ons that you use or source alternatives, but I don't think the vBulletin to XF comparison is fair.

 

[rhody401]

Not quite sure I totally understand the comparison.

Due to the changes between XF1 and XF2, you'll need to install a new style and upgrade any add-ons that you use or source alternatives, but I don't think the vBulletin to XF comparison is fair.

I meant no disrespect. I meant that it is like going from something that looks a bit dated/featurewise, to something modern.

The upgrade between them for me was a fairly simple process. The conversion program did all the heavy lifting. The way the current XF handles version upgrades and add-ons is fantastic, IMO.

 

[Chris D]

I didn't see it as disrespectful I just assumed you had a bad experience or something but I understand what you mean now

 

[koraldon]

So running a non supported software (PHP 7.3) is bad, but running another non supported software (XF 1.5) is great?

I’m confused here…