Important Update: Fabrik V4.2 Release and Libraries Change

[achartier]

Dear Fabrik Users,

We are excited to announce that Fabrik V4.2 will be released within the next week or so. This release includes a significant packaging change that you should be aware of.

Starting with V4.2, we are separating the Fabrik Libs and Vendor libraries into a new package called Fabrik Libraries. These libraries alone represent almost 62MB, while the Fabrik Base package, without the libraries, is now only 9.5MB. Previously, the combined package was over 72MB.

Not all Fabrik users utilize these libraries, and they don't change very often. This separation will make updating Fabrik easier for everyone. There will be no additional cost for the Libraries package; all users with a valid subscription will be able to download it.

How to know if you need the Libraries: If you require dompdf, mpdf, Twilio, or Amazon Web Services (AWS), then you need the Libraries Package.

When you update the Fabrik Base Package to V4.2, ensure you also download and install the Libraries Package if you use any of these libraries. From then on, the Libraries package will display available updates in the J! Updater. You will be able to update the Fabrik Base package to subsequent releases, while the Libraries package will follow its own release schedule with separate version numbers.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,

Team Fabrik.

 

[tagger]

Good News. Much Thanks for this.

 

[hominid4]

This is awesome!

 

[iChuzCHRIST]

This is welcome news! Installation was much easier!

 

[achartier]

I hope you did not already install from the development stream. Neither package is ready for distribution yet. If it is working for you great, but you will need to reinstall once we release the stable version.

 

[EricWebsite]

Great news!
Does this also mean that after upgrading an existing 4.1 installation to 4.2, it will be possible to remove unneeded libraries? Individually or as one package?
After all, not everybody needs a pdf-writer (let alone 2), AWS, Twillio, etc
That would reduce the size of backups a lot, without having to exclude a lot of files first as I do now.

 

[achartier]

I haven't tried this but I doubt it as the autoloader that composer builds is going to expect these libraries to be there. There aren't that many any more so just exclude them during your backup. Akeeba Backup makes this very easy.

 

[fstorch]

I’m still using Fabrik 4.0, not because of the required fee, but due to lack of time to test.
Can I skip 4.1 and start with the upcoming 4.2 right away, or are there any reasons to better upgrade step—by-step?
Regards, Franz

 

[Slacker]

I just found out something chocking. Only 0,3 % of Joomla sites are using Joomla 4 and 5 (3000 sites totally). 84 % is using Joomla 3, Joomla 2 9,4 % and Joomla 1 6,7 %. People can avoid upgrade of Joomla to avoid changing a lot of extensions. It is not only to upgrade Joomla. My own guess were that 60 % was using Joomla 4 and 5. Then 30 % Joomla 3 and the rest Joomla 2 and 1.

Usage Statistics and Market Share of Joomla, January 2025

How many websites are using Joomla

w3techs.com

 

[achartier]

I’m still using Fabrik 4.0, not because of the required fee, but due to lack of time to test.
Can I skip 4.1 and start with the upcoming 4.2 right away, or are there any reasons to better upgrade step—by-step?
Regards, Franz

Yes, you can skip 4.0 and go directly to 4.2.

 

[achartier]

I just found out something chocking. Only 0,3 % of Joomla sites are using Joomla 4 and 5 (3000 sites totally). 84 % is using Joomla 3, Joomla 2 9,4 % and Joomla 1 6,7 %. People can avoid upgrade of Joomla to avoid changing a lot of extensions. It is not only to upgrade Joomla. My own guess were that 60 % was using Joomla 4 and 5. Then 30 % Joomla 3 and the rest Joomla 2 and 1.

Usage Statistics and Market Share of Joomla, January 2025

How many websites are using Joomla

w3techs.com

These sites must be running on very old server that have hosting companies that do not update their platform software such as PHP. J3 and below are going to have a hard time running on PHP8.3 and the webmasters of these sites are going to be in panic mode when the hosting companies do update their systems. There is also the issue of security patching.

But I understand the position of "If it ain't broken don't fix it"

 

[fstorch]

Yes, you can skip 4.0 and go directly to 4.2.

Thanks

 

[Slacker]

Joomla 2 stopped 2014 and have 9,4 % today. Joomla 3 stopped 2023 and in 10 years should have 9,4 %. Means that in 10 years 75 % of todays Joomla 3 users will use Joomla 4 or 5. However it might go faster because I remember the upgrade of Joomla 1 and 2 are trickier than upgrade from Joomla 3 and up.

 

[EricWebsite]

I noticed that under /libraries/fabrik/libs/libs there are still 2 'non-fabrik' libs:
getid3 and salesforce.
Should these not also be moved to /libraries/fabrik/vendor/vendor?

Edit: on second thoughts, are they used anywhere by Fabrik at all?

 

[achartier]

These are not actually used at this time and I have been thinking about eliminating them from the Libraries package. I am also going to eliminate the guzzle packages and they are included with J!. On my plate some day.

 

[troester]

getid3 is still used in FabrikWorker and fileupload.

salesforce as far as I see only in salesforce form plugin which is not included in Fabrik at the moment.

 

[achartier]

GTK, thanks @troester