Long-term Fantastico Support

[brianrlawson]

Hey, sorry if this is answered somewhere else. I poked around, but didn't catch anything.

Anyway, with the introduction of SimpleScripts, I'm wondering about the longevity of Fantastico. Will it continue to be supported in the future, or is there a plan to discontinue it at some point? SimpleScripts is fine, but doesn't yet have scripts for all of the software I use (most notably, gallery...hint hint!).

[redsox9]

Fantastico is being phased out though, being that I am not associated with BH, I have no idea at what point it will be completely dropped. One of the main reasons is that updates to software through Fantastico took forever and a day to be posted, whereas SimpleScripts seems to do a better job with this.

It might be a good time to learn how to upgrade your software manually rather that relying on a script to handle it. Another option may be that your software has a plug-in that allows for auto-upgrades (I use one such plug-in to upgrade Wordpress). Either way, the loss of Fantastico should not bring an end to your ability to continue to use your preferred software packages.

At the very least, it is good practice to update as often as possible because they usually tie directly to the security of the software. Not having the latest updates can leave your site, your account, and potentially the server you reside on vulnerable to attack.

[altidude]

Hey, sorry if this is answered somewhere else. I poked around, but didn't catch anything.

Anyway, with the introduction of SimpleScripts, I'm wondering about the longevity of Fantastico. Will it continue to be supported in the future, or is there a plan to discontinue it at some point? SimpleScripts is fine, but doesn't yet have scripts for all of the software I use (most notably, gallery...hint hint!).

I am running Gallery on one of my sites and had the same concern. I started doing the manual updates. I've done two manual updates with no problems. It's actually pretty easy to do but you will probably need shell access (somebody will correct me if I am wrong here). The reason for shell is that I was not able to find a way to force file overwrite when unzipping the update files for Gallery using the file manager from the control panel. There is very good step by step instructions on how to do the manual upgrade.

[felgall]

To force the overwrites simply unpack to a separate empty folder and then move the folder content.

[riot82]

To throw my two cents in:

Fantastico is being phased out as far as my understanding goes, but it won't be gone anytime in the "near" future. Simple Scripts is still evolving and won't be ready to completely replace it for a little while.

That being said, Simple Scripts is adding new software and applications all the time. If you look inside of it, you will also see that they are starting to add scripts that will convert your Fantastico applications over to Simple Scripts. Not all applications are listed, but the number of Fantastico applications that you can convert is growing and from what I've "heard" work well ( take that with a grain of salt. I haven't personally tried them )

@altidude:

Unfortunately with the current cpanel bug the only ways to do it is through your suggested SSH method (which is the method that I personally use) or felgalls suggestion which works equally as well.

I do know that Bluehost has been rolling out cpanel updates these last few days, so this bug could possibly be fixed.

[bluejerry]

One of the main reasons is that updates to software through Fantastico took forever and a day to be posted...

I can't be sure but isn't this Bluehost's problem? I am using Fantastico with Bluehost and other hosting company, the software upgrade (in Fantastico) is always the slowest...

[felgall]

I can't be sure but isn't this Bluehost's problem? I am using Fantastico with Bluehost and other hosting company, the software upgrade (in Fantastico) is always the slowest...

Since Netenberg own Fantastico, Netenberg are the only people who have any control over how quickly the latest versions are available via Fantastico.

BlueHost have solved the issue by writing their own replacement called SimpleScripts. Since BlueHost own SimpleScripts they can make sure that all the scripts that can be installed from there are kept completely up to date.

Since BlueHost also make SimpleScripts available for other hosting providers to use they have not only solved the problem of Fantastico taking too long to be updated for people hosted with BlueHost, they have also solved it for any other hosting provider who has also got fed up with all the security issues that Fantastico causes (or at least will have once they get all the scripts installed into Fantastico and then turn Fantastico off on their hosting).

[Evil_Dictator]

This is the first I've heard of it going away.