Discuss Joomla! 4.2.0

[PhilTaylor-Prazgod]

Joomla 4.2.0 had "issues" so the Joomla Project removed it from the update paths, although the problems were not serious enough to remove the whole release.

Joomla 4.2.1 has been released as a Release Candidate for people to test - but not many will

If testing is ok, then Joomla 4.2.1 will be released next week, and then the update paths will show it as available.

For now it's safe to upgrade to Joomla 4.5.1 if you are not already on that version, this is the only official upgrade path presented by the Joomla project at the moment.

https://docs.joomla.org/J4.x:Serializat ... ot_allowed

https://docs.joomla.org/Special:MyLangu ... _not_found

[trogladyte]

4.2.0 has been pulled for various issues - read in the thread above.

[AMurray]

Please read the entire thread here. Yes, there is a known issue, mentioned several times above and detailed here: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/issues/38474.

Your sites won't alert you to the 4.2.0 update currently as it has been pulled from the update server.

[sozzled]

... when I read the announcement that starts with the words, "The Joomla! Project is thrilled to announce the feature-packed and timely release of Joomla 4.2 ..."—only to find less than six hours later that J! 4.2.0 has mysteriously vanished as an automated option with the Joomla! Update component—this latest setback is unsettling. Adding to further confusion, these words about the release of J! 4.2.0 have not been officially disendorsed: for the past [several] days I have searched GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Google and this forum (of course) to find something that (officially) says, "oops" ...

There has still been no official announcement about J! 4.2.0.

There are, however, known defects and workarounds for those who have installed J! 4.2.0 and may be having problems: see https://docs.joomla.org/Category:Version_4.2.0_FAQ

As I wrote earlier in this discussion,

Reading between the lines, looking at the fragments of information (e.g. the announcement that J! 4.2.1 RC is "available" for testing with a likely release date set for next week) we have to conclude that J! 4.2.0 is unsuitable and should not be used on production websites.

These things underscore the problems with testing RC versions and to provide feedback to the general community about what they discover. Not everyone is able to use GitHub: most people rely on this forum for information. I hope the forum moderators consider these matters in future when announcing "RC versions" available for testing purposes.

[formfranska]

Yes, this all sounds very sensible to me

[sozzled]

I see there's been an updated announcement about J! 4.2.1 RC that is "ready for testing". As I wrote earlier in this topic:

I am disappointed that when there's a new "release candidate" version announced, there's no opportunity to provide community feedback here on this forum. I've written about that before (viewtopic.php?t=986726). I feel that both the general community and the developers can benefit by gauging public reaction, comment, praise and criticism about RC versions before a "stable" version is released. It is therefore disconcerting that these announcements about RC versions continue to be made on the forum but there is no means for people to engage with the forum community to provide feedback.

I hope that the forum moderators may use the Announcement Discussions forum to let the general community (and the J! development team) provide feedback about how the testing of RC versions is happening in future, please.

While I acknowledge the great work done by the volunteers who continue to develop and test new releases of J!, most people are unfamiliar with the workings of GitHub and look to the forum for information and advice. Unless the general community of J! users feels comfortable with GitHub—and I submit that most people are not—we may find ourselves in similar circumstances in future when pre-stable releases of J! are not properly tested or commented upon leading to possible further embarrassment. I accept that the developers prefer to use GitHub (and that's quite reasonable, too) and even though it may lead to "double handling" in discussing what happens "behind the scenes", this forum remains the primary source of information sought by J! users everywhere.

[alan-donny]

I feel for those that have put so much effort into Joomla 4.2 be it developers, marketing etc. It would be nice if after updates are announced there was a way to somehow relay issues to the admin dashboard to save users the time (and sometimes worry). It's what we expect with products and services these days.

The current lines of communication are mostly geared towards getting things working and problem solving.

Joomla needs to be seen as a platform worthy of adoption by the people that sites are handed over to. For those people, much of the techy heavy detail often discussed is meaningless.

Some people will argue that an upgrade should be left to those in the know but, as a native feature, it is reasonable to expect a non developer site administrator should be able to do this along with the backups etc.

One of the inherent problems I experience is that many sites install extensions and use a range of hosting options, compounding issues when a fault is discovered on the site and with no easy access to solutions for the site admins. Often these site admins are the greatest ambassadors for Joomla but are the ones left frustrated - and if anyone is to help grow the adoption of Joomla, these are often the ones that speak the loudest.

I've found that despite how good Joomla 4 has become, the niggles and problems with extension and hosting compatibility have been very frustrating compared to the Joomla 3 experience. No matter if it be core, extension, hosting or anything else, the project needs to find a way to acknowledge and engage with end users - and sometimes, the silence can be deafening.

Regarding the use of Github for reporting issues, my experience has been that despite thinking raising an issue is in the best interest of the project it usually results in the cold shoulder as it's not deemed a "core" issue. Following a sense of "that was a waste of their time, and mine", I wouldn't feel as disappointed if I knew it was pushed on somewhere else where they look at "user issues". Maybe they do for all I know.

Looking forward to seeing Joomla 4.2 though!

[esarrat]

Hello,
It puzzles me that the Home dashboard of my 4.1.5 site displays that my version of Joomla is up to date, while I see on Joomla official sites that the current / available / downloadable / stable version of Joomla is 4.2
Does some one know why I am not prompted to upgrade on my site ? Any piece of advice ?

[sozzled]

@esarrat: mentioned before in this discussion on several occasions, J! 4.2.0 is not regarded as a reliable version for running J! 4.x.