Hi, as an amateur I made a blog using Kirby and I love it. But it seems to me that theme and cms are intertwined. What if version 3.0 comes out. Do I need to build my blog again with all its code customizations? Or do I just replace te Panel folder (the only folder I didn’t touch)?
What do you mean? Why is the Panel folder the only one you didn’t touch, what about the Kirby folder? What sort of modifications did you make to the source code?
Kirby 3 might actually require some changes to your template/snippet/controller code, because there will be some changes, indeed. That is usually the case with any CMS, you can’t use any old Wordpress or whatever theme with the current versions anymore.
Usually, updating implies replacing the Kirby and Panel folders and if need be, some changes to your template code.
If you have indeed modified the source code, you would have to include the changes your made in the new version as well, that’s why we usually recommend not to touch the source code.
Ah, I also haven’t touched the Kirby folder. So updating could be painless by replacing the Kirby and Panel folders?
As I said, you will likely have to make changes to your template code, but I can’t currently tell you what these will be like as version 3 is still a while away. There will definitely be an Update Guide, though, that should make the process as smooth as possible.
Having said that, if you use plugins, especially those that extend Panel functionality, those will stop working and will have to be updated first by their creators.
Having done this myself once or twice, my usual way is to just simply turn on debugging and try each page. When and if i get an error, i take care of it and move on to the next. It does not mean rebuilding the site, usually instead just refactoring particular lines of code.
Keep in mind that its not always Kirby updates or out date plugins that can break a site - sometimes (and this has happened to me before) a host will update your server to fix a security issue and remove/add/update PHP or Apache so far that it breaks your sites, so watch out for that one. If a live site suddenly stops working, my first check is always the server logs.
Similarly, a site can break because a plugin uses a third party service like a Google API or a Facebook Library or some other reliance. Things like this can break a site not through the plugins fault but through methods of connectivity changing to the remote server.
These are all general issues with working CMS powered sites and are not limited to Kirby, it’s just something we all have to live with and keep on top of.
I would suggest when version 3 comes out, getting your site running on Vagrant or Laravel’s Valet to perform the upgrade locally. Once you know it works you can move it to the live domain without fear.
Well, you don’t need Vagrant or Valet, you might as well use a local or remote test server with identical settings. I think we already had the case where it worked on Vagrant but not on the live server, because of another OS (and the OS wasn’t even available as Vagrant box).
But the general idea is of course correct: Always test on a non-production server before updating.
Sure - you can always move the site to a temporary subdomain and test it there. This is after all identical to the live site (probably).
There are dozens of ways to get a site running locally, I merely picked the two I have used. You should try to match your live servers specification / OS as closely as possible.