The latest version of WordPress is now out! It’s time for update. Get it here while it’s hot.

Yet another WordPress announcement that version 2.8.3 has been released. This is a security update and it is highly recommended that we all update. Get the update here.

Wordpress 2.8.2 released, update now for increased security precautions!

Get it here

As a general info, Drupal has released its new upgrades. These upgrades address several vulnerabilities.

Get the update here.

Joomla! has released another update. This update contains security fixes and bug fixes. As always, it is recommended to update into this version as soon as possible.

Get the release here.

One of the many hurdles that many developers experienced in applying patches to different site is testing out the compatibility of the patch. In most cases the live system would already be customized and the last thing you want to have is losing important customizations due to site update. What we want is a way to test safely without too much trouble if anything goes wrong.

The answer will be “virtualization”, in this case we are talking about virtualization at the desktop level. By creating a virtual machine you will be able to create a virtual web server on your desktop. Installation of the operating system is done in a very similar manner as you would install on a physical machine.  Following installation, all of the configurations are done like a typical web server. In general you will have to install a linux/unix operating system, apache, php and MySQL.

In a very simple way, a virtual machine emulates physical machine configuration including various hardware commonly found in a computer. This means you can get pretty close to a real machine without actually buying one, which is very beneficial for testing purposes. If you are interested on finding more detailed explanation of virtualization, visit here.

Once a successful virtual server installation is ready, anytime you want to test a system, all you have to do is make a duplicate copy of the existing virtual machine and use that to test out the system. If in any case your patch /  update fails, all you have to do is delete the virtual machine and start over using the fresh copy. Your live server will be unaffected and your work machine will not be affected as well.

Here is a list of virtualisation products that you can use (for this purpose look at desktop virtualization, not server virtualization):

• VMWare [commercial]
• Parallels [commercial]
• VirtualBox [free]
• VirtualPC 2007 (free)

From the above list, VMWare and Parallels are the most mature, while VirtualBox is a new player with good compatibility and is actively developed by the community. On the other hand, from Microsoft, VirtualPC2007 is only good for Windows OS. I wouldn’t recommend using VirtualPC2007, but it might have some use to test in windows environment.

If the idea of installing a complete operating system manually to a virtual machine starts to feel daunting, don’t be. There are ready made boxes available for testing which would be discussed in the next post. So stay tuned!

Recently ZenCart team has released a security update. It is highly recommended to apply this patch as this affects administrator side of the system.

Applying this patch will be straightforward, a couple new files and short modification on one  file. This will take only around 10 minutes to apply. The instructions that came with the patch package are very clear.

Remember to backup the files and database before applying the patch!

To get the patch, click here.

For those who are feeling adventurous, WordPress team has released version 2.8.1 beta. This incorporates a couple fixes in memory and a few backend functions.

To get this update, click here.

They Can Be Your Savior

If you are a developer like me, surely your work would involve remote-to-local file transfer. Most of the time we would use FTP, even though some are blessed with SVN and CVS facility where files are most of the time in sync and backed up in the repository. However, no matter what method you are using it does not dismiss the importance of keeping your files safely in your local machine. It staggers me that some developers still download their files to the “desktop” folder, edit them and then delete them. When things go awry with the server, they are helpless.

A server no matter how well built is still a machine and machines have its down times. Your files are not untouchable in the server, they can get corrupted or deleted. Sometimes it is an innocent act of your fellow developers overwriting a few files and other times, malicious users. At this point some would say: “Wait! a server should have its backup, its the responsibility of the administrators”; in a sense yes, but in reality shared servers (with the exception of a few) keep your backup only at most 3 days, some even hardly backup at all. The point is, customers do not care much about the technical details, they just want their applications running well. So we developers have to do what we can to ensure maximum service delivery.

So, what can we do? Here’s a few tips that I’d like to share:

1. If you are using cPanel, there is a backup functionality which will do a full backup (files, databases, etc) into your private folder in your server, outside the public html folder. Use that, and then download the backup. There’s not much point having a backup in your server if the server is down.
2. In a Plesk server, there is also a backup functionality. Again this is a manual backup, you have to run it yourself. Plesk backup is slightly different, where with cPanel backup files you can decompress it and use the files individually, in Plesk the backup is meant for full restoration. You have to upload the file back to the server and execute the restore procedure. There are tools to decompress Plesk backup manually if you do a quick search in Google.
3. When you are patching or modifying, download all the files anew first, then work on it. Therefore if something does happen at least you still have the latest copy.
4. Organize your local machine; don’t put your files in your desktop. Have a work folder for all your projects.
5. Backup your work folder. If you are using Windows you can use Sync Toy for simple backups, in Apple machines you can always use the Time Machine.
6. Get a server with SVN capability. This makes things much safer and simpler in some sense; at least there are less chances that your fellow developer overwrites your work with an older version of a file.

That being said, even though the above are simple, some people just won’t do it. Remember, it only takes less than 10 minutes to save your data and keep your customers happy.

Stay tuned for more updates and tips and tricks.

A general announcement that the open source ERP application OpenBravo is now at version 2.50MP1, while its POS application is at version 2.30. This one is an interesting application to follow. Stay tuned for other updates. OpenBravo can be obtained from here, you’ll need to register to get a copy of this.