Are you saying that the one-and-only change VM 1.1.1 represents is the automatic updater?
Are you saying that I will not be able to update to VM 1.1.2 and later versions if I do not install this automatic updater?
In light of Soren's comment in my recent blog post that affirms my hunch that this auto-updater will simply overwrite files (
http://www.southlasalle.com/blog/beware-vm-auto-updater/), what do you intend to do for my clients -- and for those in the VM community -- who have source code tweaks.
Surely, you are not contemplating that the sole method of installing VM updates is via your auto-installer?
Surely, you intend to provide patch files so that we can preserve our source file changes and keep our VM up-to-date with the latest release.
You also have to be absolutely crystal clear that this auto-installer will blithely overwrite all effected files.
One of the conditions of posting add-ons to the new VM extensions site is that extensions so listed:
Hacks which alter VirtueMart source code must do so through the standard Joomla! install and uninstall process. Uninstalling should revert any changes made to VirtueMart source code.
This is certainly an ideal to strive for; however, there is no facility to track changes to source code. So there is no way to roll back affected source code changes, except to overwrite a modified php file with an original php file.
I have a somewhat lengthy blog post about this at
http://www.southlasalle.com/blog/over-extended-virtuemart-extensions/.
So it appears that VM wants to automate VM version updates and create VM extensions akin to Joomla. These are welcome features -- very welcome features!
However, the reality is, I don't create separate php files for my VM "extensions". I modify core php files. Even if I could place all my modifications in a separate php file and just use INCLUDE statements in the core files, I would still be modifying core files!
So as welcome as automation is, my clients cannot utilize it until there is a facility to track source code changes.
-Bob