FTP doesnt work

[brianteeman]

Unless I am going mad then even in Joomla 3 ftp mode does not work except for installation.

If that finding is correct and as we have had zero reports about this then no one is using ftp mode and we should just remove it from joomla 4 - where it is currently a release blocker.

I tested this by using the docker container created by @PhilETaylor and available here https://github.com/PhilETaylor/joomla-ftptest

Following the instructions in the readme I am able to install joomla 3.9.24

Further tests that failed were
Updating joomla to 3.9.25
Installing an extension
Using the template manager

Note that the php temp directory was not set in the docker container but even after addressing that (and the warning) disappearing there was no further progress.

[dgrammatiko]

Just a reminder here that #21507 was killed without the project checking the claims that FTP is still used...

[dgrammatiko]

@PhilETaylor are you gonna resurrect #21507 or fix the FTP implementation? (confused)

[dgrammatiko]

however it seems the project wants to keep the FTP layer...

Since it's already broken in J3, as Brian found out, what's the point of fixing it in J4 instead of removing it? (rhetorical question)

[brianteeman]

I may be completely wrong in my test and it does work in Joomla 3. I don't think I am as this is the second or third time I have spent several hours trying to see if it works.

I am not proposing doing anything in Joomla 3 at all. I am just saying that if it doesn't work right now and we are not getting reports that it doesn't work then it can't be being used. The obvious conclusion to that is there is no point at all in fixing ftp joomla 4 where it also doesn't work.

Joomla 4 currently has at least one PR to try and fix ftp install plus several issues that have not been addressed at all. At least one of which I believe will make joomla 4 unusable on an ftp only site.

However as @dgrammatiko points out when @roland-d submitted #21507 to remove the ftp layer from Joomla 4 there were two senior members of the community who were 100% in disagreement. At the time I personally accepted that they must be correct and that my tests must have been in error. I really doubt that now.

[dgrammatiko]

I guess we can all agree at this point that rejecting #21507 was a very bad decision. Now we have to redo all the work once again, on short notice. Fun times...

@wilsonge @rdeutz @HLeithner can you re-evaluate the project's requirements on FTP support?

[brianteeman]

@dgrammatiko It was rejected on the basis that the ftp stuff would be fixed. As with every other PR that was either merged or rejected on that basis there has been no significant progress. Other than removing the release blocker labels to give the impression that there has been progress on those issues nothing has changed.

[joomdonation]

So I spent sometime to day to test FTP stuffs on my local computer (Windows 10) and below are the result:

• Installing extension works with FTP enabled
• However, I believe update Joomla! with Installation method set to Hybrid (use FTP only if needed) or Write files using FTP will never works (both for Joomla 3 and Joomla 4). The reason is because we do not write correct data for FTP parameters https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/blob/4.0-dev/administrator/components/com_joomlaupdate/src/Model/UpdateModel.php#L549 (we are trying to get it directly from request but these data do not exist in the request at all)

There are also some code in restore.php file which is not working for Windows, too.

In short, Update Joomla! does not work with FTP at all until now.

[brianteeman]

are you sure that the permissions on your test site were such that ftp was actually being used? I couldnt get extensions to install.

[joomdonation]

@brianteeman I installed FileZilla FTP server for testing. For the account, I just give it full permission

For more information, when I tried to enable FTP on Joomla 3 website, at first, Configuration could not be saved (because the file was marked as Read Only by Joomla! before, I had to changed permission of the file configuration.php to make it writable) after that, it is working welll

But as I said, upload and update Joomla using FTP installation methods will never work.

[HLeithner]

No we shouldn't it's a j3 feature, if we find someone how fix it we should do it.

[brianteeman]

Closed due to lack of interest. Its been broken for so long and no one else noticed.