Problems upgrading from Joomla! 2.5.1 to 3.9

[premiumpages]

These are the errors when updating joomla! from 2.5.1 to 3.9.

Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/filter/input.php on line 652

Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/filter/input.php on line 654

Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/filter/input.php:652) in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/session/session.php on line 492

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.internal_encoding is deprecated in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/string/string.php on line 28

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.input_encoding is deprecated in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/string/string.php on line 29

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.output_encoding is deprecated in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/string/string.php on line 30

Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/premiur8/public_html/plugins/system/nnframework/nnframework.php on line 18

Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/premiur8/public_html/plugins/system/nnframework/nnframework.php on line 21

Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/premiur8/public_html/plugins/system/nnframework/nnframework.php on line 47

Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/premiur8/public_html/plugins/system/modulesanywhere/modulesanywhere.php on line 47

Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/premiur8/public_html/plugins/system/modulesanywhere/modulesanywhere.php on line 50

Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/filter/input.php on line 652

Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/joomla/filter/input.php on line 654

Could anyone help?
Very desperate, thanks a lot!!

[Per Yngve Berg]

Mod. Note: Relocated the topic from Installation to the Upgrade forum.

1) Update 2.5 to latest version 2.5.28 before upgrading to 3.x.

Unclear what you have done so far, but something is not compatible with the php version running on the server.

[premiumpages]

Receiving this error message when trying to login now after upgrading:

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/cms/application/cms.php on line 382

Tried to amend the cms.php file but the login page disappeared.
Also, the login page is very strange and basic.

Please help! very desperate as my website has disappeared.

[premiumpages]

Thank you! I tried upgrading to 2.5.28 and then to 3.0 and now once i tried 3.2 the whole site is dead...

It is showing this error...

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/premiur8/public_html/libraries/cms/application/cms.php on line 382

[sozzled]

Receiving this error message when trying to login now after upgrading:

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in ../libraries/cms/application/cms.php on line 382

This error may occur if you have updated your version of PHP to PHP 7.2 (or higher); see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/519 ... ount-error

This specific problem has been discussed here: https://issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/23588. The file /libraries/cms/application/cms.php doesn't exist in that directory anymore since Joomla 3.8.0. So, when you wrote that you got the error "after upgrading", what did you upgrade? What version of J! are you using now?

[premiumpages]

Thank you for your help!
I tried to upgrade to 3.2.3 from 3.0.0 and hence got this error...

Receiving this error message when trying to login now after upgrading:

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in ../libraries/cms/application/cms.php on line 382

This error may occur if you have updated your version of PHP to PHP 7.2 (or higher); see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/519 ... ount-error

This specific problem has been discussed here: https://issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/23588. The file /libraries/cms/application/cms.php doesn't exist in that directory anymore since Joomla 3.8.0. So, when you wrote that you got the error "after upgrading", what did you upgrade? What version of J! are you using now?

[sozzled]

You cannot use PHP 7 with J! 3.2. It's that simple. See https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements.

[sozzled]

Cross-posting: see viewtopic.php?f=706&t=982733

[premiumpages]

I'm using PHP 7.4

You cannot use PHP 7 with J! 3.2. It's that simple. See https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements.

[sozzled]

What part of "you cannot use PHP 7 with J! 3.2" do you not understand? Please see the technical requirements at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

[premiumpages]

First of all, it says that the recommended version of PHP is 7.3+ which means 7.4 is more than compatible.
Secondly, the requirement is at 5.3.10. Hence, any version of 7 is acceptable.

What part of "you cannot use PHP 7 with J! 3.2" do you not understand? Please see the technical requirements at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

[sozzled]

First of all, the technical requirements document says (very clearly)—read the footnote:

PHP 5.3.1 is required for versions 3.0 through 3.2. At 3.3, the minimum is raised to PHP 5.3.10. Joomla! versions 3.5 and later are compatible with PHP 7.

Don't worry too much about the references to PHP 5.3 (even I cannot find a way to use PHP 5.3); the documentation is not very well written (but I can't change that, sorry). You should be able to use PHP 5.6.

Therefore, you need to find (or create) a PHP 5 environment, progress your way through the updating to J! 3.5—even better, go through to J!3.9.22—and then switch to PHP 7. OK?

[premiumpages]

Thank you! Got my login back.

First of all, the technical requirements document says (very clearly)—read the footnote:

PHP 5.3.1 is required for versions 3.0 through 3.2. At 3.3, the minimum is raised to PHP 5.3.10. Joomla! versions 3.5 and later are compatible with PHP 7.

Don't worry too much about the references to PHP 5.3 (even I cannot find a way to use PHP 5.3); the documentation is not very well written (but I can't change that, sorry). You should be able to use PHP 5.6.

Therefore, you need to find (or create) a PHP 5 environment, progress your way through the updating to J! 3.5—even better, go through to J!3.9.22—and then switch to PHP 7. OK?

Facing a new problem now...
Unknown column 'extra_query' in 'field list' SQL=SELECT DISTINCT update_site_id, type, location, last_check_timestamp, extra_query FROM jdb_update_sites WHERE enabled = 1

[sozzled]

As you are probably starting to discover, migrating from J! 2.5 to J! 3.x (and then applying updates through the different versions of J! 3.x to J! 3.9.22), this is a non-trivial exercise that could take you a few days. For the latest issue that you've encountered, see https://joomla.stackexchange.com/questi ... xtra-query. In other words, use the "database fix" feature. I hope that helps.

[premiumpages]

I would wish to use the database fix but when i go to that page, i face another error.

Table 'premiur8_jdb.jdb_content_types' doesn't exist SQL=SHOW COLUMNS IN `jdb_content_types` WHERE field = 'content_history_options'

I'm guessing this is all due to incompatibility between the two versions... too many errors everywhere

As you are probably starting to discover, migrating from J! 2.5 to J! 3.x (and then applying updates through the different versions of J! 3.x to J! 3.9.22), this is a non-trivial exercise that could take you a few days. For the latest issue that you've encountered, see https://joomla.stackexchange.com/questi ... xtra-query. In other words, use the "database fix" feature. I hope that helps.

[sozzled]

The easy way to address your [many] problems is to use Google and search the internet for some keywords contained in the error message.

Perhaps this discussion may help: viewtopic.php?t=826530

[premiumpages]

In fact I am trying to recreate the entire site from scratch.
Since there are so many errors, would you recommend i delete the entire site? Should i delete the database and reinstall?

The easy way to address your [many] problems is to use Google and search the internet for some keywords contained in the error message.

Perhaps this discussion may help: viewtopic.php?t=826530

[sozzled]

Yes. I would recommend starting again and forget about trying to migrate your J! 2.5.1 website to J! 3.9.22.

Sometimes it's easier to begin again; migrating—taking a website that was built at the beginning of 2012 and attempting to modernise it to today's standards—is not for everyone; that's why there are professionals who would be quite happy to take a few hundred dollars and do this job for you. Even for professionals, the migration task (including overhauling the template and any third-party extensions you're using) could take several days or a week or more.

Rebuilding a site from scratch may take you a few days; time well spent thinking about whether you really need some of the content that you created 12 or more years ago before people bought many of the new devices we take for granted these days.

There may be a few people who will say that @sozzled talks nonsense; that's OK—I can live with that. It's not my website; it's not my business and it's not my decision what you should do.

I would not recommend totally deleting everything you have with your old website. There may be some things you can salvage: some images, some articles, etc. You may be able to breathe new life into some of those things. Or you may decide that those things are not relevant to your business needs. That's for you to decide. Good luck.

[JAVesey]

First of all, it says that the recommended version of PHP is 7.3+ which means 7.4 is more than compatible.

Sorry but I think you're labouring under a misapprehension.

Firstly, and purely personally, I'd take "PHP7.3+" as meaning any version of PHP7.3 in that series. I would test my website on a local copy of my website before deploying PHP7.4.x - Indeed, I had issues with the early versions of PHP7.4 which have been resolved in the later PHP releases.

Secondly, and most importantly, the technical requirements are in respect of the Joomla core. It's up to you to make sure that each of your installed extensions are compatible with the version of PHP in use.

Do you have access to your database via phpMyAdmin (or similar)? If so, you might try disabling all the non-core extensions and getting the basic Joomla core working and then re-enabling the extensions one-by-one until you encounter a problem.

Secondly, the requirement is at 5.3.10. Hence, any version of 7 is acceptable.

This is not true and I'm not sure why you think it would be.

There are some very significant differences between the PHP 5.3.x and 7.x and you cannot assume that compatibility with PHP5.3.x confers compatibility with PHP7.x in respect of any extensions that you are using. Indeed, given that you are only now updating to J3 series its highly likely that you have have extensions which are not compatible with PHP7+