Meteotemplate - process of updating

[Jachym]

Hi guys,

I will post about the update process here, so that you can reply if you want to.

I am very busy the last few years, the situation is much different than it used to be when I was a uni student and created Meteotemplate back in 2015. Now I have a family, 2 dogs, a house, a leading position in the Czech NWS and another job as a data analyst for the Czech Academy of Sciences. I also created two other projects (in Czech) - envidata.cz and infoviz.cz, which I am working on.

BUT! That does not mean I no longer care about MT, although it might seem like it. I provide support on a daily basis (via email). And I still remember I need to do some major updates on this page, which I promised.

So I no longer want to just "promise" something and you will start seeing changes soon.

The process will take some time because it requires many steps. I already spent many hours with it. I will post about the updates and what is going on here.

Changes made so far in the last 2 months:

• meteotemplate.com migrated to https protocol

• Meteotemplate blog updated to latest Wordpress version and all security updates installed

• Meteotemplate forum updated to latest version with all security updates

• meteotemplate.com upgraded to PHP 8.2

• meteotemplate.com DEMO now finally online again - it took a year before I was able to finally install a new weather station at our new house, but it is already sending data

In the process:

• working on update of the core template scripts to make them fully compatible with PHP 8.2

[Jolumarali]

Hello, Jachym
Nice to see you again and ready for the continuation of meteotemplate.
Friendships

Jose Luis

[WessexWeather]

Hi Jachym,

Long time no see, as we say in the UK!

Glad to see you're still working on MT and look forward to updates.

[alexvanuxem]

Thank you!

Enjoy yr new life and new working environment!

Hope to see the new MT soon!

Regards!

Alex

[meteoesine]

Nice to hear you again. Good work, surprise us with 'special effects'..

[Jachym]

Hi,
version 19, which should be available within a few days, will focus purely on compatibility updates. The priorty number one is to make the template now compatible with PHP8, because it is now a standard and it throws a fatal error, which makes it totally unusable so people who want to keep their PHP version up-to-date and some who use external webhosting do not even have any other choice, cannot use the template.

Also I fixed one vulnerability, which has been in Meteotemplate for some time and required many changes throughout the template so was not easy to fix.

There will be a few other minor fixes, for example the season image in the footer, which does not work at the moment.

Then I will update some blocks/plugins which are also affected by PHP8 incompatibility (I do not quite understand some of the changes in PHP8, it is fine to introduce new functions, but I do not get why they depracted so many functions, replaced them with newer ones and the original ones now throw fatal errors and make pages non-functional, but not much I can do about it).

Then in version 20 I will again think about new functions and features.

[FSC830]

Great. Looking forward for the next release .

Regards

[meteoesine]

Dear Jachym,
please integrate into your new release the @fsc830's change about the interactive banner which finally works great now.
http://www.meteotemplate.com/forum/view ... =25#p12368

also don't forget the extra ecowitt sensors added by @davidefa and the related pages and blocks that manage them.

I thank you in advance also on behalf of the other MT users.
Best regards
Norbert

[Jachym]

Hi,
I have already fixed the header, the issue was with the sun rise/ sun set functions. I will have a look at this other script for the rain rate.

As for other stuff, this new version is really just to make the template compatible with PHP8, so I want to release it ASAP. Then some blocks/plugins need to be updated to tue PHP8 as well and then I can start implementing new functions.

[FSC830]

Dear Jachym,
please integrate into your new release the @fsc830's change about the interactive banner which finally works great now.
...

Hi Norbert,
I sent already all my files and mods to Jachym. So he can check if code can be improved.
For me, it works fine. But the time I was engaged in PHP and HTML is more than a decade ago and I was stucked in some oldfashioned coding . So some lines/functions can surely replaced by a more modern and lean code.

I am glad, that all of my used blocks and plugins do not throw an error any longer in PHP 8.2 (as far as I have found by now).
PDF printing is not possible at some of the reports, did not find the time to take care about that.

So lets wait until the new version is released. And I confess, if my provider had not removed support for PHP 7.4 I would never have had the idea to modify any of the files.

A big big THANK YOU Jachym for MT, I know, maintenance of this is a nightmare and more a full time job than a hobby.

Regards

[lemimi]

Hello Jachym,
It's great to see you back here!
And once again, a big thank you to you and all the other contributors who make Meteotemplate evolve.
Michel

[Juan Maria Vilaró]

Gran noticia verle de nuevo en el foro, gracias por su inestimable colaboración.
Juan Maria Vilaró

[andyk1]

Glad to see you back Jachym!!! Pat the wife on the head and kiss the dogs for me...

[Jachym]

The update is almost ready. The DEMO is now running PHP 8.2 and it seems to be working. Feel free to check the DEMO if things seem to be working (though some scripts might be problematic because there is a large gap in data series and data only available for the past 2-3 weeks).

[WessexWeather]

Will we HAVE to to PHP 8.2 to use the new version when it’s released?

[FSC830]

In PHP 8.x there are a lot of changes which are not backwards compatible to PHP 7, so my guess is yes, if you want to use the new version, you need to upgrade to PHP 8.x.

Anyhow, because PHP 7.4 is outdated and many providers ended (or at least announced to end) support, I would recommend to upgrade the PHP version if you are running still on 7.x.

Regards

[milesb]

My provider is basically forcing an upgrade to PHP 8.x. If I didn't update, they were going to charge a support fee for PHP 7.x that is greater than my normal monthly hosting fee.

[FSC830]

Thats the usual way providers want to keep their (customers) environment in a supported status - or at least in a not to outdated environment.
If my provider would not have behave in the same way I would not have had an idea for updating.

Regards

[staccermaccer]

Hi, Jachym

Welcome back indeed!

Your partner in crime from the early beginnings...

Marc AKA Staccermaccer,

[livejerseyweather]

Welcome back and glad all is going well with the updates. Looking forward to trying it out.

Thanks and greetings from Jersey

[Jachym]

Hi guys,

I guess by the end of June I should have the update file ready. It will not fix all the issues (also because many of them are currently in blocks/plugins that need to be updated separately), but it will make the template functional under PHP8.

I will then need 2-3 volunteers to whom I will send the files directly so that they can test it works on their end as well.

[FSC830]

Hi Jachym,

sure, you can send me a link/token and I will install a new VM for testing.
You know my mail (I have sent you my updated files) .

Regards

[alexvanuxem]

Hi Jachym,

I can be a voluteer too.

KR

Alex

[livejerseyweather]

I can help too

Thanks
E

[Oli]

Then three volunteers are now found. If one has no more time, I could also help out.