I have been trying to upgrade from 7.13.x to 7.14.0 using the download on the upgrades page. When I do though the upgrade screen goes blank half way through the upgrade process, and I can’t work out why. I am on PHP 8.0 which the notes say is supported.
I posted a more detailed question a week back with no responses, so I thought I’d just check if anybody has managed to do this update at all?
Thanks in advance.
Andy
All the upgrade paths are tested on e by one, and there are thousands of people using this software, so I guess it’s safe to say that yes, somebody was able to upgrade.
In order to discover what can be wrong with your particular upgrade attempts, you’ll need to provide more detailed information. This post might help:
Even though it’s generic (not specific for upgrades) you’ll find some applicable suggestions.
Hi @pgr,
Sorry if that last post came across the wrong way, I meant to imply maybe others were just moving straight to v8 somehow without bothering to go to 7.14 first.
I am running this on PHP 8.0, MariaDB 10.6.15, and Apache 2.4.57 on Linux (not sure of exact version). The current SuiteCRM version is 7.13.4.
Any suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks
Andy
I wouldn’t jump to v8 without a careful assessment of all your customizations, all the available or missing features you might need, etc.
The jump to 7.14 is a lot more conservative move.
If you have an interrupted upgrade or a broken installation, you need to start looking at your logs to find out specific clues.
appreciate the feedback, if I spot any obvious problems that might affect others I’ll post back here in the forum.
Andy
I’m guessing the problem here is that 7.13.x supports upto and including PHP 8.0, whereas 7.14.x only supports PHP 8.1 and above.
At some point the code will flip from requiring PHP 8.0 to 8.1 and then the upgrade barfs, I wonder if that was a late change to the release done after the upgrade testing for other changes.
I visited the forums today to find out exactly what was supported re upgrade paths, looks like this one certainly doesn’t work!
Mark.
I am 99% sure that the upgrader code can handle PHP 7.4 even in the versions that say they require a higher PHP, precisely to facilitate navigating those conundrums.
Meaning that you can probably interpret the compatibility matrix with some leniency in what regards the upgrade process - though definitely you should be strict when talking about running the entire CRM. It simply will not work outside the matrix.
Since upgrades need to be tested in test deployments, or inside VMs or containers that you can snapshot (and go back if they break), this is a simple test to make: just run the upgrade with a lower PHP version, keep your eye on php_errors.log to see if anything is cause for concern, and after the SuiteCRM upgrade finishes, upgrade your PHP.
I was intrigued by this so decided to take a snapshot of my box and go for the upgrade, running PHP 8.0. Upgrade worked fine, then removed PHP8.0 and replaced with 8.1 (running in php-fpm mode), everything seems to be working fine.
I’ve since upgraded PHP to 8.2 and MariaDB to 10.11 and still everything is good. 
Mark
I did wonder if the jump from 8 to 8.1 as a requirement might be it, I’ll maybe have a try at doing it that way too. Thanks @pgr and @markdissington for the suggestions.
Andy
Looking at the log file I seem to be getting the following error:
Call to undefined function exec() in /mypath/include/utils.php:597
when I look in there I believe its this line that’s triggering this:
$runningUser = exec(‘whoami’);
Sorry if it’s a silly question but what might cause this? My hosting company recently moved me onto a new faster server, and I have already checked and exec isn’t disabled.
Thanks a lot.
Andy
That’s a hosting company limitation. Sometimes exec is abused, so they prefer to disable it.
Sometimes they let you reenable it, ask them. Or just edit the code to skip that check.
I just wanted to post back on here as I managed to upgrade from 7.13.x to 7.14.1 finally. I saw another forum thread (sorry can’t remember which one) suggesting running the update with PHP 7.4, as the problem I encountered is only an issue with PHP 8+. I rolled back to PHP 7.4 and the update ran perfectly first time using the 7.14.1 Upgrade from 7.13.x dated 3rd October. I then moved back to PHP 8.0 once it was done.
I’m going to hold off on going to v8 for now, but at least 7.14.1 is a step forward.
Hope this helps somebody else.
I have quick question on it. As per below link; we need PHP 8.1 or 8.2. So, are you able to run crm7.14 with PHP 8.0 smoothly? Thanks in an advance!
To be honest I have only just run the upgrade and having logged in everything seems to be working fine at first glance. I must confess I had thought 8.0 was the minimum and will update to 8.1 now, so thanks for flagging that up. I’d guess they have put 8.1 as a minimum for a reason, so no point pushing my luck and finding a problem later.