Joomla upgrade 3.7 to 3.8 kills website

[websroger]

Sozzled: I have since made all the php versions to 7.0. The error reported in my first post refers to core code folders that are not in the existing working version, which has had mixed php versions 5.6 and 7.0. I read that J3.8.x is supposed to be compatible with php versions as old as 5.4, I recall.
I am inquiring of my server help desk about changing the Session Path (with which option I am quite unfamiliar).
Please have patience with my relative ignorance. Thanks.

[frostmakk]

Several instances of the file version.php indicates mixed file structure from at least two versions of Joomla.
Most common cause is extracting a full install file-set on top of existing older version.

[sozzled]

No problems about being patient; it's not my website. I am pleased that we're back on track and you're engaging with this matter.

I agree with @frostmakk's assessment above.

Some webhosting providers disable Session Path Enabled and some don't; the better webhosting providers (understanding the critical need for people to be able to maintain/update their J! websites) have Session Path Enabled = Yes or (as a minimum) allow their customers to set this themselves, particularly if customers have purchased "self-managed" (e.g. VPS) webhosting products.

Other webhosting providers—obviously, the ones that people should probably stay clear of—have little understanding of how to assist their customers who want to run Joomla on their platforms.

Yes, the textbook narrative states that J! 3.x (all versions) should be compatible with PHP 5.3.10 as a minimum. This does not mean that J! 3.8 will work seamlessly with versions of PHP that reached their end-of-life [EOL] 4 years ago, either. FYI, PHP 7.0 is also old and will reach its EOL on 3 December this year.

My overall conclusion (guess) is that many of the issues you're confronting arise from how you've gone about creating your J! websites over time and the hosting platform upon which everything is constructed. Ultimately, a bit of pain now will provide better gains in the long-term. Cheers.

[websroger]

Sozzled: I searched my files and found only one instance of a file version.php now, so I suppose the upgrade (now replaced by the backup) puts another in a different place. Can you tell me where it should reside? Thanks.

[sozzled]

@websroger: I have no idea, sorry. It would require someone to have intimate knowledge of how your site was assembled. To be candid, I would suggest that each website have its own filesystem and database, separate from one another (in other words, no two websites sharing the same database and not having a Joomla website's filesystem as a subsidiary/sub-folder of anothe J! website's filesystem. I'm not sure if that's what you've done but, if it is, I wouldn't do it that way.

Looks like you were able to update to J! 3.8.13 anyway. This topic is probably resolved.

[websroger]

Sozzled: No, I was not able to update to a working website. Don't know what you saw that made you think I had been successful. I will be trying again, and will remove the old version.php file whichis apparently not removed by the upgrade (one would think that the upgrade procedure would handle that....)

[sozzled]

Don't know what you saw that made you think I had been successful.

Your FPA report shows that your website (or the website where you placed the file fpa-en.php) is now at J! 3.8.13, that's why. As I've written before in this topic (and elsewhere on the forum), people create handicaps for themselves when they have one J! website "embedded" within another (I hope that makes sense).

Keep your J! websites separate from one another: one website per file system.

I don't know anything about SiteGround's "auto-update" mechanism. I don't use it; I just use the Joomla Update component. That's what we recommend; that's what's supported. I don't like to leave things to chance; I like to control how, when, where and how often I update things. Other people can choose different approaches to website maintenance.

[websroger]

sozzled: You misunderstand - Yes, my website was using J3.8.13 when the FPA was run. But it wasn't working, as I've said. Why run the FPA for the j3.7.5 which does work? I do NOT have one website embedded in another. I am trying to upgrade to j3.8.13, and when it fails to work, I return the the j3.7 which has been backed up. In this process, apparently, the upgrade apparently does not remove all the old folders, and indeed that may be the problem.
If I run Joomla Update, and the site will still not work, I need to do a backup and restore on my own, or use the Siteground backup. Maybe I'll try that.
The only reason that I have used SiteGround Auto Update (and only temporarily), is that they will do a backup before attempting the upgrade, and will restore it with one command if the upgrade is faulty.

[sozzled]

As I've written, I don't know anything about SiteGround or their "auto update" but I think you've been conned. Akeeba Backup, for at least the past three or four years, has been designed with a backup-on-update feature—a plugin designed by the Akeeba developers—to automatically backup a website whenever you initiate the Joomla! Update facility. If you have been paying SiteGround for this backup-before-[auto]update feature then you have been paying extra for a feature that the rest of us enjoy at zero cost.

I really don't know how you put your Joomla websites together. I don't know what it is about your J! 3.8.13 website that doesn't work. You've written that it doesn't work. Fair enough. In what way, specifically does your J! 3.8.13 website not work? Above all else, I want to know what is broken and I'd sooner look at a broken website than look at one that's working satisfactorily well.

I'm guessing here because I'm struggling to understand with total clearness of vision what's happening. Shine a light for me, state clearly what is "killing your website" (as you've characterised the situation) with details about what messages you're seeing from the "killer", and I may be able to suggest something.

[websroger]

Sozzled: At the beginning of this topic I explained what happens when the website is called after upgrading, and gave the error that comes up instead of the web home page.

[sozzled]

This is what you wrote "in the beginning":

I have a Joomla website hosted on Siteground, with an auto-upgrade facility.

I still don't know what "an auto-upgrade" facility means, but anyway, going on from here ...

When I tried to upgrade from 3.7.5 to 3.8.x the website went down with errors that related to the joomla code, not any of mine.

I don't understand this, either. I thought it was an "auto-upgrade", something you have to wait for; something that is done automatically for you by SiteGround and not something that you initiate? As I say, I don't know what an "auto-upgrade facility" does. And, further, what are these errors? The "errors" have never been explained as far as I can tell. The entire process, as it applies in your situation, has never been explained as far as I can see. I've been making assumptions along the way and, as far as I can tell, my assumptions have probably been highly optimistic ones.

Are there known errors in the autoupgrade? If so have they been fixed?

Well, because I don't know what an autoupgrade (or automatic update) is, because I don't know the substance of these "errors", because I have no familiarity with SiteGround, I have no idea if any unspecified errors are "known" or "fixed" or not or why the "home page" doesn't appear. Can you still use the administrator site after updating to J! 3.8?

Can you please explain what happens? I've read this entire topic, from beginning to end, three times now. (I even asked my wife—who knows nothing about running a J! website—to read this topic to explain the problem to me; she didn't know what's your problem, either. She thought, like me, that you had updated to J! 3.8.13 recently and everything was hunky-dory.)

I'm asking you, again, to please explain what is broken. Please don't ask me to go back to the beginning.

[websroger]

I thought I had included this. My apologies. After upgrading, calls to the website get a blank page with this error message:

Argument 1 passed to Joomla\CMS\Table\Observer\AbstractObserver::__construct() must be an instance of Joomla\CMS\Table\TableInterface, instance of Joomla\CMS\Table\Content given, called in /home/ncmrc538/public_html/libraries/src/Table/Observer/Tags.php on line 83

[sozzled]

Something to do with "Observer"; possibly a third-party extension. I don't know what "Observer" relates to. It's 2:00 am here and I'm going back to sleep.

The problem, as far as that error is concerned, relates to PHP source code that is incompatible with PHP 7.2; you shouldn't see this error with PHP 5.6, with PHP 7.0 or PHP 7.1. Suggest you use Google to look for Joomla+observer+"__construct() must be an instance". It should be easy to fix (I've encountered these PHP 7.2 problems myself with third-party extensions).

I'm an information-junkie; I don't like to be placed on a slow drip-feed.

[websroger]

I'm using php 7.0. Sleep well.

[sozzled]

My mistake: There were changes made in J! 3.8 relating to the "observer" class (see https://api.joomla.org/cms-3/classes/Jo ... erver.html). I was also incorrect in making the connection between the error message and PHP 7.2. It look like it may impact on PHP 7 (any version).

I'm at a loss to explain this.

I also don't know how this is related to the "auto-upgrade facility" of SiteGround. I don't know what this thing is and I've never used SiteGround. I just use Joomla! Update. I don't wait until something happens automagically; I control what happens, when it happens and how it happens.

[websroger]

Since Sozzled suggested that I should be using the Joomla! Update, I tried that as well, and got the same error (see the error report in my post of Oct. 16). The error would appear to involve a problem solely within the 3.8.13 version code, but why others have not reported it is a mystery, since the code is all from Joomla.

[JAVesey]

....but why others have not reported it is a mystery, since the code is all from Joomla.

No it isn't. It's because you are the only one with the issue. If it were a common issue then these forums would have been alight with posts about it, but they're not.

I suspect code from mixed Joomla versions caused by unsuccessful (for whatever reason) updates.

Please can you find the file /logs/joomla_update.php and look at the last few lines. Do they read anything like the following?:

Code: Select all

2018-10-09T17:28:44+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Downloading update file from https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/joomla-official-downloads/joomladownloads/joomla3/Joomla_3.8.13-Stable-Update_Package.zip?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIZ6S3Q3YQHG57ZRA%2F20181009%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20181009T172842Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ce7318da2099dde22b77747ab62b5f37ab832cf4af25ebe3703603be03c5a23b.
2018-10-09T17:28:49+00:00	INFO ::1	update	File Joomla_3.8.13-Stable-Update_Package.zip downloaded.
2018-10-09T17:28:49+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Starting installation of new version.
2018-10-09T17:29:24+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Finalising installation.
2018-10-09T17:29:24+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Deleting removed files and folders.
2018-10-09T17:29:33+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Cleaning up after installation.
2018-10-09T17:29:33+00:00	INFO ::1	update	Update to version 3.8.13 is complete.

[leolam]

Well, it has been asked before to post the results of the FPA. You wrote

Why run the FPA for the j3.7.5 which does work?

and we need to know your system environment of Joomla 3.7 so we can see why this is not working. You want positive help (?) post the FPA viewtopic.php?f=714&t=793531

Leo

[websroger]

Thanks, JAVesey, for looking into this. I did a search on all the files I have access to on the server, and nothing is found. There are some files dated today in a folder"/logs" that have a .gz extension, which my editor cannot read. Any other ideas? I posted the FPA results on Monday.

[sozzled]

My guess is that the problem is not J! 3.8 per se but caused by one of the third-party extensions installed on the website; that's why none of us are experiencing this problem.

@websroger: when someone asks you to post the FPA report for J! 3.7.5, please do not refer to the FPA "results" that you posted "on Monday" that related to J! 3.8.13. OK? Anyway, I notice that you've created another topic about the Observer table/PHP class problem

[leolam]

Can you please post what is stated in your PHP-information(php.ini) in your Joomla backend for "Loaded Configuration File"

Leo

[websroger]

Here is the FPA result for the Joomla 37.5 that is working now:

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 3.7.5-Stable (Amani) 14-August-2017
Joomla! Platform :: Joomla Platform 13.1.0-Stable (Curiosity) 24-Apr-2013
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Read-Only (444) | Owner: --protected-- . (uid: 1/gid: 1) | Group: --protected-- (gid: 1) | Valid For: 3.7
Configuration Options :: Offline: false | SEF: true | SEF Suffix: false | SEF ReWrite: false | .htaccess/web.config: Yes | GZip: true | Cache: false | CacheTime: 15 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: false | FTP Layer: false | Proxy: false | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: none | Shared sessions: false | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: simple | Site Debug: false | Language Debug: false | Default Access: 1 | Unicode Slugs: false | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 3.7.5: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Yes |

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 3.12.18-clouder0 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br | Doc Root: --protected-- | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 203.59 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 7.1.23 | PHP API: cgi-fcgi | Session Path Writable: No | Display Errors: 1 | Error Reporting: | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 128M | Max. POST Size: 128M | Max. Input Time: 120 | Max. Execution Time: 120 | Memory Limit: 768M

Database Configuration :: Version: 5.6.40-84.0-log (Client:5.5.32) | Host: --protected-- (--protected--) | Localhost: Yes | Collation: utf8_general_ci (Character Set: utf8) | Database Size: 9.36 MiB | #of Tables:  79

PHP Extensions :: Core (7.1.23) | date (7.1.23) | libxml (7.1.23) | openssl (7.1.23) | pcre (7.1.23) | sqlite3 (7.1.23) | zlib (7.1.23) | bcmath (7.1.23) | bz2 (7.1.23) | calendar (7.1.23) | ctype (7.1.23) | curl (7.1.23) | dba (7.1.23) | dom (20031129) | enchant (7.1.23) | hash (1.0) | fileinfo (1.0.5) | filter (7.1.23) | ftp (7.1.23) | gd (7.1.23) | gettext (7.1.23) | gmp (7.1.23) | SPL (7.1.23) | iconv (7.1.23) | session (7.1.23) | intl (1.1.0) | json (1.5.0) | ldap (7.1.23) | mbstring (7.1.23) | mcrypt (7.1.23) | standard (7.1.23) | mysqli (7.1.23) | pcntl (7.1.23) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: 38fea24f2847fa7519001be390c98ae0acafe387 $) | PDO (7.1.23) | pdo_mysql (7.1.23) | pdo_pgsql (7.1.23) | pdo_sqlite (7.1.23) | pgsql (7.1.23) | Phar (2.0.2) | posix (7.1.23) | pspell (7.1.23) | readline (7.1.23) | Reflection (7.1.23) | imap (7.1.23) | shmop (7.1.23) | SimpleXML (7.1.23) | soap (7.1.23) | sockets (7.1.23) | exif (7.1.23) | sysvmsg (7.1.23) | sysvsem (7.1.23) | tidy (7.1.23) | tokenizer (7.1.23) | wddx (7.1.23) | xml (7.1.23) | xmlreader (7.1.23) | xmlrpc (7.1.23) | xmlwriter (7.1.23) | xsl (7.1.23) | zip (1.13.5) | cgi-fcgi () | memcached (3.0.4) | Zend OPcache (7.1.23) | Zend Engine (3.1.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment (Experimental) :: PHP CGI: Yes | Server SU: Yes | PHP SU: Yes | Custom SU (LiteSpeed/Cloud/Grid): Yes
Potential Ownership Issues: No

Core Folders :: images/ (755) | components/ (755) | modules/ (755) | plugins/ (755) | language/ (755) | templates/ (755) | cache/ (755) | logs/ (755) | tmp/ (755) | administrator/components/ (755) | administrator/modules/ (755) | administrator/language/ (755) | administrator/templates/ (755) | administrator/logs/ (---) |

Elevated Permissions (First 10) ::

Database statistics :: Uptime: 2242756 | Threads: 10 | Questions: 1190550164 | Slow queries: 9148 | Opens: 21158847 | Flush tables: 1 | Open tables: 2048 | Queries per second avg: 530.842 |

Components :: SITE ::
Core :: com_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | com_mailto (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Components :: ADMIN ::
Core :: com_languages (3.0.0) 1 | com_postinstall (3.2.0) 1 | com_admin (3.0.0) 1 | com_checkin (3.0.0) 1 | com_contenthistory (3.2.0) 1 | com_login (3.0.0) 1 | com_associations (3.7.0) 1 | com_finder (3.0.0) 1 | com_installer (3.0.0) 1 | com_categories (3.0.0) 1 | com_joomlaupdate (3.6.2) 1 | com_cache (3.0.0) 1 | com_menus (3.0.0) 1 | com_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | com_search (3.0.0) 1 | com_messages (3.0.0) 1 | com_config (3.0.0) 1 | com_media (3.0.0) 1 | com_users (3.0.0) 1 | com_banners (3.0.0) 1 | com_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | com_redirect (3.0.0) 1 | com_ajax (3.2.0) 1 | com_cpanel (3.0.0) 1 | com_templates (3.0.0) 1 | com_tags (3.1.0) 1 | com_content (3.0.0) 1 | com_plugins (3.0.0) 1 | com_modules (3.0.0) 1 | com_fields (3.7.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: com_jhackguard (2.0.3) 1 |

Modules :: SITE ::
Core :: mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) 1 | mod_footer (3.0.0) 1 | mod_finder (3.0.0) 1 | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) 1 | mod_search (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) 1 | mod_languages (3.5.0) 1 | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_random_image (3.0.0) 1 | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | mod_banners (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) 1 | mod_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) 1 | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_related_items (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_category (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: MOD_SOCIAL_ICONS (2.7) 1 |

Modules :: ADMIN ::
Core :: mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) 1 | mod_submenu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_title (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) 1 | mod_version (3.0.0) 1 | mod_status (3.0.0) 1 | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_logged (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Plugins :: SITE ::
Core :: plg_twofactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) 0 | plg_twofactorauth_totp (3.2.0) 0 | PLG_INSTALLER_FOLDERINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | PLG_INSTALLER_URLINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_webinstaller (1.1.1) 1 | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_log (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_p3p (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_weblinks (3.6.0) 0 | plg_search_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) 0 | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_gmail (3.0.0) 0 | plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: plg_editors_tinymce (4.5.7) 0 | plg_editors_codemirror (5.25.2) 1 | JHackGuard Plugin (2.0.4) 1 | System - jSGCache (1.3.0) 1 | DirectPHP (3.01) 1 |

Templates :: SITE :: blog-sunny-orange (1.0) 1 | blog-sunny-blue (1.0) 1 | beez3 (3.1.0) 1 | protostar (1.0) 1 | siteground-j16-45 (1.0.0) 1 |
Templates :: ADMIN :: isis (1.0) 1 | hathor (3.0.0) 0 |

the php.ini file contains two lines:
;zend_extension=/usr/local/php56/lib/php/extensions/ioncube.so
;zend_extension=/usr/local/php56/lib/php/extensions/ZendOptimizer.so

[sozzled]

Let's compare the FPA report above (for J! 3.7.5)—which I will refer to as "j37"—with the one posted a few days ago (for J! 3.8.13)—which I will refer to as "j38":

1) j38 was using PHP 7.0.32, j37 is using PHP 7.1.23. So we're "all over the shop" as far as trying to compare one situation with another.

2) In both cases, Session Path Enabled = No (it should be Yes). This is fairly important (and it only take a few moments for the webhosting provider to make this change). So, either this is something that @websroger has forgotten to follow-up or it's something that SiteGround is dragging its feet with. (I would be surprised to discover that this is SiteGround's fault because that company has a good reputation in supporting the Joomla project.)

3) j38 had Error Reporting = Maximum; j37 had Error Reporting = Simple; in other words, the site that is "working" now may have unknown errors that have gone unnoticed, perhaps.

4) j38 has the mod_sampledata [admin] module added in; it's not important but I thought I would mention it.

5) j38 has plg_system_sessiongc added (and enabled); this may be relevant.

6) The third-party extensions installed on the two sites are the same. I don't know anything these extensions. I don't know what jSGCache (it's a system plugin designed by SiteGround) does, for instance, but I would be very wary of third-party caching plugins. I would disable it. The JHackGuard component and plugin (v2.0.3) is another product designed by SiteGround) last updated, as far as the JED is concerned, three years ago. I don't know anything about this product either but I would probably get rid of it as something that is past its use-by date. I think it's important that the OP recognises that the solution to these issues lies within his own control.

7) God-only-knows what can be written about the site templates that the OP is using. They're probably past their use-by dates, too.

While it may be possible that J! 3.8 is defective, in relation to the new J! 3.8 Observer PHP API classes are concerned, this is the first time I've seen a case where there's been an issue.

I would strongly suggest to the OP to install Akeeba Backup and not to rely on webhost-provided site backup and restoration facilities. Take back control of your website and place it fairly and squarely in your hands.

[sozzled]

Further to what I last wrote, in trying to follow through with these SiteGround products and whether they have any bearing on the situation, I note that the JHackGuard plugin has been updated; the latest release is v 2.0.4.

The following screenshot shows some information about this product:

jhg_installs.png

Whatever else can be written about this package, those dates are very old! I installed the product on a test site, enabled J! debug and set error reporting to max., checked the error_log ... but I didn't find any errors. Waste-of-time extension, in my opinion, for what it attempts to do but, then again, I only spent 5 minutes "evaluating" it

[websroger]

Sozzled: Re. your point 2), Siteground gave the following answer to my request for changing the session path:

"We can not modify the global configuration on your current hosting plan as it is in a shared environment where all accounts can be affected by such changes. "

So I seem to be stuck there.
Re. the version of jHackguard plugin, when I look at the upgrade extension feature of Joomla admin control panel it does not indicate a later version for updating exists. But I will disable it and see what happens.

I had error report set to maximum with J3.7 and got only seemingly inconsequential error reports, and rarely. Again, errors I could not seem to do anything about, and the site worked correctly anyway. I could reset it to max and report the error warnings here - don't have confidence that that would lead to a fix.

[websroger]

Further to your last post, point 1) I've changed between php7.0 and 7.1 and there was no difference in the results regarding the correct performance of either J3.7 or J3.8. I noted, I think you pointed out too, that 7.0 is soon to be no longer supported. In my selection of php either 7.0 or 7.1 I got a warning that I could not follow in the current J3.7 when error report was set to max, but the page on which it was reported worked correctly otherwise. If you are curious, I can reproduce it and report the error/warning to you here.

[sozzled]

I'm surprised that SiteGround, a reputable webhosting provider that has been associated with and helped to promote Joomla over many years, would advise that the setting Session Path Enabled can only be changed for all account holders who use their shared webhosting products. This may be true but it goes against other advice that I've seen expressed in these forums over the years (i.e. to have this feature disabled). Perhaps other experienced members of the community may be able to share their wisdom in this regard.

No-one is ever stuck. I've dealt with a couple of webhosting providers who, in the past, have advised me that something I needed (to future-proof my J! websites) couldn't be done and I switched hosting companies. We should always be on the lookout for webhosting providers who listen to their customers, who can offer more bang-per-buck, more effective (often lower cost) solutions. Lower cost doesn't always mean "cheap" or second-rate (unless we were discussing GoDaddy, perhaps).

Anyway, I welcome other experienced members of the community such as Leo and Per to comment as they may be able.

[websroger]

Sozzled: A side note: I loaded Akeeba Backup onto my site, and it looks fine, however:
1) Obviously backing up is not the nub of my problem here, and
2) When I had j3.8.13 I found I could not access the admin control panel [- the signin page came up, and the username and password were in place (from the browser), but nothing happened when I clicked "log in".] The point being, what good would Akeeba be for restoring a previous version if I can't get to the admin control panel to invoke the Akeeba restore??

[gws]

The point being, what good would Akeeba be for restoring a previous version if I can't get to the admin control panel to invoke the Akeeba restore??

You can always reach the backup .jpa file via cpanel or ftp and akeeba works good.

[websroger]

I can get to the joomla admin panel login page via the siteground host cpanel, yes, but it will not log me in that way either. Can someone explain how to get into the admin side of the site without the login page working?

I finally got the site host to activate the session path variable, and created another FPA output:

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 3.8.13-Stable (Amani) 9-October-2018
More than one instance of version.php found!
Joomla! Platform :: Joomla Platform 13.1.0-Stable (Curiosity) 24-Apr-2013
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Read-Only (444) | Owner: --protected-- . (uid: 1/gid: 1) | Group: --protected-- (gid: 1) | Valid For: 3.8
Configuration Options :: Offline: false | SEF: true | SEF Suffix: false | SEF ReWrite: false | .htaccess/web.config: Yes | GZip: true | Cache: false | CacheTime: 15 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: false | FTP Layer: false | Proxy: false | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: none | Shared sessions: false | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: simple | Site Debug: false | Language Debug: false | Default Access: 1 | Unicode Slugs: false | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 3.8.13: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Yes |

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 3.12.18-clouder0 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br | Doc Root: --protected-- | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 207.08 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 7.1.23 | PHP API: cgi-fcgi | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: 1 | Error Reporting: | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 128M | Max. POST Size: 128M | Max. Input Time: 120 | Max. Execution Time: 120 | Memory Limit: 768M

Database Configuration :: Version: 5.6.40-84.0-log (Client:5.5.32) | Host: --protected-- (--protected--) | Localhost: Yes | Collation: utf8_general_ci (Character Set: utf8) | Database Size: 9.46 MiB | #of Tables:  83

PHP Extensions :: Core (7.1.23) | date (7.1.23) | libxml (7.1.23) | openssl (7.1.23) | pcre (7.1.23) | sqlite3 (7.1.23) | zlib (7.1.23) | bcmath (7.1.23) | bz2 (7.1.23) | calendar (7.1.23) | ctype (7.1.23) | curl (7.1.23) | dba (7.1.23) | dom (20031129) | enchant (7.1.23) | hash (1.0) | fileinfo (1.0.5) | filter (7.1.23) | ftp (7.1.23) | gd (7.1.23) | gettext (7.1.23) | gmp (7.1.23) | SPL (7.1.23) | iconv (7.1.23) | session (7.1.23) | intl (1.1.0) | json (1.5.0) | ldap (7.1.23) | mbstring (7.1.23) | mcrypt (7.1.23) | standard (7.1.23) | mysqli (7.1.23) | pcntl (7.1.23) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: 38fea24f2847fa7519001be390c98ae0acafe387 $) | PDO (7.1.23) | pdo_mysql (7.1.23) | pdo_pgsql (7.1.23) | pdo_sqlite (7.1.23) | pgsql (7.1.23) | Phar (2.0.2) | posix (7.1.23) | pspell (7.1.23) | readline (7.1.23) | Reflection (7.1.23) | imap (7.1.23) | shmop (7.1.23) | SimpleXML (7.1.23) | soap (7.1.23) | sockets (7.1.23) | exif (7.1.23) | sysvmsg (7.1.23) | sysvsem (7.1.23) | tidy (7.1.23) | tokenizer (7.1.23) | wddx (7.1.23) | xml (7.1.23) | xmlreader (7.1.23) | xmlrpc (7.1.23) | xmlwriter (7.1.23) | xsl (7.1.23) | zip (1.13.5) | cgi-fcgi () | memcached (3.0.4) | ionCube Loader () | Zend OPcache (7.1.23) | Zend Engine (3.1.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment (Experimental) :: PHP CGI: Yes | Server SU: Yes | PHP SU: Yes | Custom SU (LiteSpeed/Cloud/Grid): Yes
Potential Ownership Issues: No

Core Folders :: images/ (755) | components/ (755) | modules/ (755) | plugins/ (755) | language/ (755) | templates/ (755) | cache/ (755) | logs/ (755) | tmp/ (755) | administrator/components/ (755) | administrator/modules/ (755) | administrator/language/ (755) | administrator/templates/ (755) | administrator/logs/ (---) |

Elevated Permissions (First 10) ::

Database statistics :: Uptime: 2333301 | Threads: 12 | Questions: 1244223069 | Slow queries: 9595 | Opens: 22062095 | Flush tables: 1 | Open tables: 2048 | Queries per second avg: 533.245 |

Components :: SITE ::
Core :: com_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | com_mailto (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Components :: ADMIN ::
Core :: com_languages (3.0.0) 1 | com_postinstall (3.2.0) 1 | com_admin (3.0.0) 1 | com_checkin (3.0.0) 1 | com_contenthistory (3.2.0) 1 | com_login (3.0.0) 1 | com_associations (3.7.0) 1 | com_finder (3.0.0) 1 | com_installer (3.0.0) 1 | com_categories (3.0.0) 1 | com_joomlaupdate (3.6.2) 1 | com_cache (3.0.0) 1 | com_menus (3.0.0) 1 | com_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | com_search (3.0.0) 1 | com_messages (3.0.0) 1 | com_config (3.0.0) 1 | com_media (3.0.0) 1 | com_users (3.0.0) 1 | com_banners (3.0.0) 1 | com_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | com_redirect (3.0.0) 1 | com_ajax (3.2.0) 1 | com_cpanel (3.0.0) 1 | com_templates (3.0.0) 1 | com_tags (3.1.0) 1 | com_content (3.0.0) 1 | com_plugins (3.0.0) 1 | com_modules (3.0.0) 1 | com_fields (3.7.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: Akeeba (6.2.1) 1 | com_jhackguard (2.0.3) 1 |

Modules :: SITE ::
Core :: mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) 1 | mod_footer (3.0.0) 1 | mod_finder (3.0.0) 1 | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) 1 | mod_search (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) 1 | mod_languages (3.5.0) 1 | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_random_image (3.0.0) 1 | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | mod_banners (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) 1 | mod_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) 1 | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_related_items (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_category (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: MOD_SOCIAL_ICONS (2.7) 1 |

Modules :: ADMIN ::
Core :: mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) 1 | mod_submenu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_title (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) 1 | mod_version (3.0.0) 1 | mod_status (3.0.0) 1 | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_logged (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_sampledata (3.8.0) 1 | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Plugins :: SITE ::
Core :: plg_twofactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) 0 | plg_twofactorauth_totp (3.2.0) 0 | PLG_INSTALLER_FOLDERINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | PLG_INSTALLER_URLINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_webinstaller (1.1.1) 1 | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_sessiongc (3.8.6) 1 | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_log (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_p3p (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_weblinks (3.6.0) 0 | plg_search_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) 0 | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_gmail (3.0.0) 0 | plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_weblinks (3.6.0) 1 | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: plg_editors_tinymce (4.5. 0 | plg_editors_codemirror (5.38.0) 1 | JHackGuard Plugin (2.0.4) 1 | System - jSGCache (1.3.0) 1 | PLG_SYSTEM_BACKUPONUPDATE_TITL (3.7) 1 | PLG_SYSTEM_AKEEBAUPDATECHECK_T (1.1) 1 | DirectPHP (3.01) 1 | plg_quickicon_akeebabackup (1.0) 1 |

Templates :: SITE :: blog-sunny-orange (1.0) 1 | blog-sunny-blue (1.0) 1 | beez3 (3.1.0) 1 | protostar (1.0) 1 | siteground-j16-45 (1.0.0) 1 |
Templates :: ADMIN :: isis (1.0) 1 | hathor (3.0.0) 0 |