cakephp-updater

Create a script that automagically updates your cakephp3 app to the latest version

These instructions are made for Cakephp v3. Use on your own risk.

Improvements are welcome - just make a pull request :)

Introduction

Cakephp releases minor updates to its framework nearly every two weeks. When I started developing my own cakephp app (cakephp was in alpha stage back then) I started updating cakephp as inplace upgrade until I noticed some odd behaviours:

• my vendor folder wasn't cleaned up, so it got bigger and bigger - uploading the app via ftp was getting slower
• some changes to the cakephp core are not visible when updating because existing files are not overwritten - e.g. changes to the app_default.php that may be important for your app.php.

I ended up with an app, full of pieces of junk that behaved sometimes irrational - at one time during alpha, cakephp changed the integration of plugins which caused me some hours until I figured out what happend. By using my script I see changes to the app_default.php and other files.

Requirements / Assumptions

1. use git
2. use Composer for dependency management
3. directory structure of your repository looks like /.git /app <= this is your cakephp app |bin |config |src |vendor |plugins |tests |webroot /scripts <= the script will be dropped here /composer.phar

Stop talking - gimme that script

Because each cakephp app has it's customizations I can just give you a skeleton and some instructions to adopt it to your needs.

Script Skeleton

#!/bin/bash
# Source of this script: https://github.com/michha/cakephp-updater

# Exit the script as soon as an executed command does not succeed.
set -o errexit
# Exit the script when an unintialized variable is used 
set -o nounset

echo "Hello $USER"
echo "Please run me from the root directory (containing your app folder)"
echo "and be sure that no webserver (apache, cake server) is running"

########################### CONFIGURATION ###########################
backupDir="app.old.$(date +%Y%m%d)"
########################### CONFIGURATION ###########################

continueQuestion() {
    while true; do
        read -p "Continue? (next step: $1) " yn
        case $yn in
            [Yy]* ) break;;
            [Nn]* ) exit;;
            * ) echo "Please answer y(es) or n(o).";;
        esac
    done
}

continueQuestion "Execute Script"

echo "updating composer..."
./composer.phar self-update

echo "renaming app/ to $backupDir..."
mv "app/" "$backupDir"

echo "creating app..."
./composer.phar create-project --prefer-dist cakephp/app app

echo "replacing default folders with old one..."
rm -r -d app/plugins/
rm -r -d app/src/
rm -r -d app/tests/

cp -r $backupDir/plugins/ app/plugins/
cp -r $backupDir/src/ app/src/
cp -r $backupDir/tests/ app/tests/

copyFile() {
    cp -f $backupDir/$1 app/$1
}

echo "copying some files from old app..."
# do not copy files created by *create-project*
# we would not detect changes in cake  files
# exception: favicon.ico
copyFile "webroot/favicon.ico"
#copyFile "webroot/custom.file"
#copyFile "webroot/js/custom.js"
#copyFile "config/acl.ini"
copyFile "config/app.php"
#copyFile "config/app_custom.php"
#copyFile "config/app_local.php"

echo "cleaning files up..."
#rm app/webroot/js/empty

# TODO uncomment if you have additional packages
#cd app
#echo "adding required packages via composer..."
#../composer.phar require cakephp/cakephp-codesniffer=2.* dereuromark/cakephp-tinyauth=dev-master
#cd ..

# TODO uncomment after adopting the script
#echo "patching files..."
#patch -p1 < scripts/update-cake-aftermath.patch

cd app
echo "dump composer autoload..."
../composer.phar dump-autoload
cd ..

echo "update successful :)"

Preparations

1. add the line app.old* to your /.gitignore file so backups wont be picked up by git
2. make sure you have no pending changes in your repository

Adoption

1. save the script from above to a file in /scripts/ and run it
2. run git status to get a list of the differences
3. now is the time to review the diffs and think about each one
   • is it intended? somethings you mistakenly added files to your repository or set wrong file mode bits
   • if you see something that shouldn't be in your repository clean it up now before moving on
4. so right here, every pending change should be done by the script:
   1. if you see some removes, e.g. in your webroot, expand the script block copying some files from old app... to include these files
   2. if you see some adds, e.g. empty files, expand the script block cleaning files up... to include these files
   3. if you see some changed files, eg. /app/.gitignore, /app/composer.json, you need to create a patch file git diff -R > update-cake-aftermath.patch
5. time for testing the automagic stuff
   1. delete your app folder
   2. rename the backuped up app.old.DATE to app
   3. run the script again
   4. git status should now just show diffs that result from updating your cakephp
6. congratulations - updating your cake app to the newest bits is now just a matter of seconds. Independent how easy updating is - always review the changes before commiting to your repository.

Explaining the innards of the script

1. update composer, just to make sure it has everything needed for updating
2. renaming (instead of deleting) the current app directory
3. create a new cakephp app
4. copy directories plugins, src and test containing your code into the app
5. copy some files outside of these directories that are not part of the default cakephp app
6. cleanup some empty files
7. adding required packages
8. applying patch file for updating files that are elements of the default cakephp app
9. clear autoload cache - fixes MissingHelperException if you have custom helper classes