I recently upgraded a client’s PHPAudit install from v1 to v2. First let me say, I have no problems with PHPAudit’s software itself and v2 is a huge improvement over v1. It is now a full software store bundled with a licensing server for web applications.
The problem is their new version broke backward compatibility with all v1 integration code. The integration code is snippet of code you place in your application to validate the license with the licensing server. To allow for existing applications to use the new licensing server the integration code would need upgraded on each of the existing installs. How is this feasible with a few hundred installs, let alone others who I’m sure had thousands? To make matters worse, this snippet is usually embedded in an encoded file so the end user cannot remove the license checks. A simple cut and paste won’t do it. Several files would need replacing depending on how the software author integrated the validation code.
PHPAudit’s tech support was not helpful and insisted on steering the support requests away from the specific questions asked to their ‘solution’ of upgrading all of the software’s installs or maitaining both v1 and v2 versions of the licensing server to allow older installs to continue to validate. Maintaining both versions of the licensing server is further complicated because SolidPHP dropped all support for PHPAudit v1 shortly after the release of PHPAudit v2. If one of your official solutions is to maintain the older software, how can you drop support and end of life it?
At multiple points in the support transcript I requested links to documentation explaining that the validation code would need upgraded in all PHPAudit v1 applications. Full disclosure would have allowed developers to make an informed decision if an upgrade was viable for the particular use. No links were provided.
PHPAudit’s support stated it was too difficult to maintain backwards compatibility while moving forward with their new version. I questioned that statement as I was able to produce a server-side validation script that worked with both versions. If anyone else is finding similar problems with their PHPAudit upgrade contact me.
If a version to version upgrade breaks backward compatibilty, an application ought to be renamed. At the very least, a big bold caution to upgrading customers of the potential problems. Upgrade, to me, implies new version, fixes and more features not start over with more features. But hey, maybe I’m asking too much.
Popularity: 1%
{ 0 comments }
