What will I learn to do?
If you have been working with SPIP for a while you will have seen its evolution from version to version.
Each new version comes with enhanced functionality, usability and performance. It is therefore important to know how to keep SPIP up to date with the latest version.
The different releases of SPIP:
SPIP 1.0: July 2001
SPIP 1.2: October 2001
SPIP 1.3: January 2002
SPIP 1.4: September 2002
SPIP 1.5: December 2002
SPIP 1.6: May 2003
SPIP 1.7: January 2004
SPIP 1.8: April 2005
SPIP 1.9: July 2006
In this lesson you will learn:
What SPIP upgrades are all about
When SPIP upgrades should be done
How to carry out a SPIP upgrade
What is a SPIP upgrade all about?
SPIP is supported and used by a large community of developers and users who constantly express new requirements and whose expectations are increasingly demanding.
New versions of SPIP go through a two-stage process:
Beta version; still being tested by developers. Beta versions can still have a number of bugs in them. Those who download it do so to have an early view of the new functionality and to report bugs.
Fully released; this version can be used in production.
When a requirement is expressed and is deemed to be valid by the community as a whole, it is implemented and a new version of SPIP is made available.
New versions of SPIP therefore can have added functionality or simply include a number of bug fixes.
Why should I upgrade SPIP?
To fix bugs or security holes discovered in the version you are currently using.
To benefit from new functionalities for the administrator as well as for the visitors. Some of these functionalities may not be of particular interest to you.
As a webmaster you may not see the point of some of the enhancements offered. Nevertheless we recommend that you always implement the latest fully released version:
The negative effects of security holes and bugs are real and can be very detrimental.
You may see product enhancements that you don’t necessarily understand right away, but as your site gets busier and as things evolve, you may very well find that the enhancements you didn’t understand a while ago actually become unexpectedly critical to your operations.
Moreover if you decided to stay on say, version 1.7 because 1.8 does not bring any functionality that you’re interested in, you need to think about what you will do when 1.9 is released and 1.9 happens to include new functionality that you are interested in. Upgrading to the second next version up is likely to be much more time and effort consuming than simply upgrading to the next version up.
