"checking extensions" never ends

[blackrat999]

I have 7 sites with latest VM 3.0.18 installed and as far as i am aware fully updated totally.  All of these sites never finish "checking extensions" (bottom left of control panel) All of my other sites that dont have VM installed dont have this issue.

I have only noticed this issue when i try to connect the sites to myjoomla.com - apparently because of the checking extensions issue the sites will never connect - i have 60+ sites that do properly but none with VM 3.0.18. 9 some have older VM installations.

The owner of myjoomla.com has identified the issue and posted error messages here - https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/issues/13428 He hasnt been very helpful to be honest other than slating VM so please dont take his abuse out on me i am a big VM fan !

I have tried disabling VM components in one of the sites and also switching to the beez template but neither of these issues help at all.

any suggestions please?

[blueflameit]

hasnt been very helpful to be honest other than slating VM

If by "hasnt been very helpful" you mean

-> Putting up with your impatient tweets during the Christmas shutdown
-> Responding during the Christmas shutdown, while travelling and moving house internationally,
-> Responding while travelling with my 10 year old daughter who I only see 58 nights a year
-> Taking up to TWO HOURS on YOUR SITE to accurately identify the root issue that has nothing to do with myJoomla.com
-> Having you assume that all support - no matter what the problem - is free of consultancy charges
-> Debugging code ON NEW YEARS EVE - FOR FREE - line by line YOUR SITE in order to identify the root issue, and then explaining that root issue in depth to you in 5 different emails
-> Raising a GitHub issue for the core Joomla project to improve this and several other update related issues based on my investigations
-> Raising a SECURITY related issue to the Joomla Security Strike Team while debugging your issue
-> Clearly and accurately explaining, over and over again, what the problem is AND HOW TO FIX IT in FIVE EMAILS

Yes, if doing all that means I have not been very helpful then you are right.

But you are wrong.

Quite frankly Im appalled by your attitude - therefore your myJoomla.com subscription is now CANCELLED and you are now banned from using our services in the future. All future consultancy and emails to you will be charged at full rate.

Kindest regards
Phil Taylor

[blackrat999]

I am unable to edit my original post, it seems i wasnt very fair to Phil at myjoomla and for that i apologise. I do appreciate his assistance and after all he has pointed out an issue that i have with all my latest VM sites.
I have been a member of myjoomla for a long time and it is a cracking system which i have relied on for a long time, i have recommended it to colleagues too and I shall miss the security that it brought to my business.

I am no further of course with my issue but I hope i have set the record straight with my initial post.

[Milbo]

Blackrat, nice that you see that. Blueflamit I try to explain, why we have this xml files and why we forgot to update them.

They are just there for the case that a plugin is unsecure and we must update it asap. In special a lot people cannot update their stores completly, so they should see it is also possible to update just the plugin. The xmls are just there to announce the update server and we dont need to update them, because the normal way is to use the aio to update all vm core plugins at once.

So why we had the error? Just because we forgot to update the targetplatform, so we just need to change it to
<targetplatform name="joomla" version=".*" />
or we just commented them.

But good that you (Blueflamit) added a ticket. The joomla core must be failsafe and we must always think about that a server is not reachable. So now, I am going to update the xmls.

ehrrm, and Blue, would be nice you reconsider your ban of blackrat, he apologized.

[blackrat999]

Milbo.

Will this change be updated in the next VM update or is this an issue you are fixing at your end so it will just work better soon at my end?

Many thanks for your update and your sentiments on my mess up, I have tried a couple of times to call Phil today, i need to apologise in person it isnt good enough in a forum but thanks anyway.

Richard

[GJC Web Design]

Once Max updates the xmls the problem will be solved as they will not timeout and "block" the joomla updater.. u need to do nothing ( you could empty the update cache to check but this will empty anyway after its setting time expired)

[blackrat999]

Thats great - many thanks both of you for your help with this.

[blackrat999]

This issue is still happening guys - have you been able to clear the XML's yet please?

[Milbo]

Did you bought a membership? http://extensions.virtuemart.net/support/virtuemart-supporter-membership-detail

[blackrat999]

I didnt realise there was such a thing but its a great idea which i will of course support, whats the difference between the three levels ?

[Milbo]

Just the amount. The idea is the 50 euro, usually when you want a feature or something fast, then you give more. In your case,.. a silver would be nice. The shit costs me almost a day.

The reason was that in j2.5 it was just enough, when there is a file. In j3.5, the file must have the correct information, when I understood the whole problem correctly. So I had to write a lot xml files. Additionally the problem that there is no download link.
Atm you see, we need to add an information link, so that people understand that the plugins are in the aio installer. So I am even not done yet. Greets

[blackrat999]

I dont really follow what you mean to be honest but mostly my lack of knowledge im sure!
I cant run to a silver payment at the moment, the last few weeks have been expensive, but will be able to do a bronze in a few days and then hopefully on renewal can upgrade to a silver.
I assume this error is happening for everyone using VM3 and not just me?

[Milbo]

Uhm, that is the strange thing. Most people have the error, but it is not blocking. It took a while to understand the problem and I am not sure If I really got it.

It seems to be a mix of joomla, which does stop calling the page, and our server, or your server settings (or maybe the settings of curl) and a change in the joomla behaviour. Because in j2.5 it was enough to have the files in place, without content. Now it is so, that a provided xml needs the correct version set and at least a download. Which is in our case confusing, because we dont have a download. Remind, these files are there for an emergency security problem with a plugin. So I had to add an info page here https://docs.virtuemart.net/tutorials/installation-migration-upgrade/226-update-single-plugin-delivered-by-aio.html and added this page to the updater. So I hope people understand the idea.

So in short, I had to write any xml update file again, and of course we write them with phing, so we can now generate new files within a click. Bronze is fine :-)

[blackrat999]

Thanks i understand it better now  I appreciate there is a lot of work to do, it will be good when it is finished so i can protect my sites in myjoomla.com, until then i cant
I will sort out the Bronze as soon as people pay their bills 
Can you update this thread when it is fixed please and i will test my sites to let you know all is well ?!

[Milbo]

Should work already and there come other people having trouble with the fixed xmls, lol. http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=136404.0