building a full ZenMagick release
There have been a number of people asking for a full ZenMagick release that includes all the necessary zen cart code.
I’ve had a look at the current build process and I think it might be possible with just a few changes to zen cart code [mostly to run some additional SQL during the installation process].
One concern voiced was that zen cart is not compatible with PHP5.3 and also that including zen cart would make it possible to apply and distribute other fixes.
Now, there is a list of bugs (and fixes) and I am wondering if there is more. It would be great to get some feedback about what would be good to include and also where the code is breaking with PHP5.3 (has anyone tried this yet??)
The plan would be to have a plain 1.3.8a release sitting somewhere and then:
- take a copy
- apply the ZenMagick file patches
- add the ZenMagick SQL to the installer SQL
- add all ZenMagick code
- zip and release
This would be a completely separate process and not affect the current build of ZenMagick as zen cart mod. Also it would allow to put the zen cart source into a separate repository to keep things tidy.
I would expect that it makes sense to remove everything that is needed and over time even more. For example, the current patch to generate template/theme dummy files, etc could be made obsolete by changing zen cart to look at ZenMagick’s theme folder in the first place.
I am really interested in this.
Would you be able to develop and add things to this cart?
Comment by Michelle — November 2, 2009 @ 11:30 pm
Hmm, how do you mean? ZenMagick includes a plugin API that allows to extend/add/replace functionality without the need to touch core files. Obviously you will need some PHP knowledge, but extensibility is one key aspect of the object oriented design of the ZenMagick code base.
Comment by DerManoMann — November 3, 2009 @ 12:11 am
I am willing to test ZenMagick on PHP 5.3.
But…here’s the catch, PHP 5.3 also breaks Drupal and at present I am testing lots (if not all) open source e-commerce solutions, all of these on XAMPP for Linux 1.7.1, with PHP 5.2.9.
So, since I cannot have two servers running on same machine, I would need to have a machine dedicated to testing on PHP 5.3.
I do have more than one machine, but, due to the sheer amount of testing I am doing at present, I am not sure I can dedicate a machine to this right now.
Hey, I’m poor!
Anyway, I think that to build an independent distro is absolutely necessary, so I will have to look into this issue of the dedicated machine.
Comment by Carlos Kosloff — November 3, 2009 @ 1:51 am
Don’t worry about that too much right now. I’ll do my development on 5.3 from now on, so I should be able to catch most issues soon enough
Before we get there I would also at least look at an automated way of building a release as otherwise I wouldn’t trust myself to not mess things up.
BTW: You can have multiple httpd instances running on the same box, just on different ports. It would be interesting to see how that works out…
On the other hand you seem to have enough on your plate already…
Comment by DerManoMann — November 3, 2009 @ 2:09 am
Hey Mano,
Yes, I know that there are virtualization options and have tested some.
However, those repeated calls don’t work very well on my limited environment.
I need a real monster to run all that in order to test effectively, sometimes I don’t know if time-outs are poor code or less-than-par hardware.
Anyway, and here is the good news, a friend of mine apparently laid her hands on a PHP 5.3 compatible version of Zen Cart, and she will be sending this to me shortly.
Will forward to you, if email not enough, will give you FTP access.
Comment by Carlos Kosloff — November 4, 2009 @ 2:31 am
Missed this one, have you looked at GIT for code-versioning?
Recommended by Linus Torvalds.
Comment by Carlos Kosloff — November 4, 2009 @ 2:33 am
You can grab a copy of ZC 1.3.8a with the patches and bugfixes from http://blog.rubikintegration.com/category/zencart/zencart-downloads
Please do not distribute the old buggy insecure one as the arrogant refusal to release a patched version is a major reason people are frustrated with the ZC admin team.
Good idea to develop on 5.3 as this is where PHP is headed although it will hopefully not be a requirement so that those of us on the 5.2.x branch can still enjoy the work.
All for grabbing the ZC code and morphing it into ZM.
Good luck!
Comment by Dave — November 4, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Cool, thanks. I also got another version from a different source (also a commercial zen-cart developer). I might take a look at both.
I guess it would be helpful to get some details about what actually was patched to see if there is a 100% overlap of changes…
Ah, reading your comment again, your version includes the fixes, etc. but not changes for PHP5.3 or does it?
Comment by DerManoMann — November 4, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
Sorry. The link I pointed to is not mine. I just found out about it and used it.
It is the original ZC1.3.8a plus the security and bug fixes and does not include PHP 5.3 changes.
Comment by Dave — November 6, 2009 @ 5:30 am