Author Topic: Upgrading and managing custom_php code (Read 1196 times)

sonicthoughts · June 28, 2009, 06:19:51 pm

Greetings:
We are running 2.2.3 and would like to upgrade to the latest release. In order to manage our custom code, we have it in a seperate directory (wonderful feature!)

When we upgrade, however, some of the core files in the template or custom_php directory may have changed. What is the best process for tracking if any of those files have changed in a later release?

I figured that looking at fisheye or crucible would help, but I've never used those tools before and I can't see how to list changes in a 2.x.x release. I'm sure I could write a script to compare between two versions, but I was wondering if there is a best practice to 1) identify if any of the custom files have changed in the update and 2) automate the patching if required (i realize that's a stretch.)

I'm sure that this would be helpful for others who have custom code.

Thanks,

S.

ken · June 28, 2009, 09:49:42 pm

Here's what I do for my local custom code ...

On my web-server I have a directory called .../local with sub-directories .../local/php and .../local/templates. The CiviCRM Custom Files and Custom Templates URLs point here.
I mirror this structure on my development machine. All development and testing is done on this machine.
When I change the custom code or templates, I compress these 2 directories into a tar.gz file (not zip as the tar command overwrites while zip baulks at that) and install on my web-server.
For each release of CiviCRM I have separate copies of the custom files. I create patch files that show me the differences between the custom code and the release code (see script below).
When I plan to do an upgrade to a new release of CiviCRM, I create a new copy of my custom changes for the new release. When I run my script, I often get extra differences, because even if my custom code hasn't changed, the release code has.
I change my custom files to account for the changes in the release code. I know I'm done when I run the script and the only differences are those due to my changes.
Often, my custom change turns out not to be necessary in the new release, because the CiviCRM team are so good at patching and fixing their software!
I have test scenarios for all my custom changes, and I make sure these all work in the new release.

Ken

(This is my script for showing differences between my custom code and the release code.)

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/bash
#
# This script creates patch files showing the difference between the
# files in the custom directory and the CiviCRM release directory
#
# To create a script for a new release, copy this script to a new
# file, and edit VERSION and RELEASE
#

VERSION= # Version number of CiviCRM, eg 2.2.0
RELEASE= # Location of release code on development machine, eg, /var/www/xxx/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm
CUSTOM=  # Location of custom code on development machine, eg /data/Work/IT/CiviCRM/Custom

cd $CUSTOM/$VERSION/php
find CRM -type f -exec diff -urs "$RELEASE/{}" "$CUSTOM/$VERSION/php/{}" \; > $CUSTOM/$VERSION.php.patch
cd $CUSTOM/$VERSION/templates
find CRM -type f -exec diff -urs "$RELEASE/templates/{}" "$CUSTOM/$VERSION/templates/{}" \; > $CUSTOM/$VERSION.template.patch

sonicthoughts · June 29, 2009, 08:15:22 am

Thanks Ken - very helpful. you should post on the wiki!

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Author Topic: Upgrading and managing custom_php code (Read 1196 times)

sonicthoughts

Upgrading and managing custom_php code

ken

Re: Upgrading and managing custom_php code

sonicthoughts

Re: Upgrading and managing custom_php code