Joomla 2.5.5 Upgrade Full of Bugs: Wait for the Patch!

Joomla Updates are proving to be the Achilles Heel of Joomla. The so-called automatic updates are anything but automatic. For example, some extensions do not play well with Joomla automatic updates; eg, they don’t indicate that they need to be updated. And even Joomla core does not play well with automatic updates. Beware of the 2.5.5 Update: It’s Not Ready for Prime Time.

I tried to upgrade a Joomla 2.5.4 site to 2.5.5 and found the following problems:

• Although the upgrade showed up in the control panel, when I went to Extensions > Extension Manager > Update, it said that there were no updates. This is not actually a bug, just another example of the constantly changing Joomla interface. BEFORE, the Core updates showed up in Extensions > Extension Manager > Update, but now they don’t. It makes sense, since Joomla core is not really an extension, but why did they get us used to one way and then switch it.
• In Article Manager, the New and Save as Copy buttons were missing. Furthermore, the Publishing Options settings were missing. It turns out they are still there but there is an option to turn them off so they don’t show. I NEVER  turned them off, but somehow they got turned off in one of the upgrades. Another annoying example of things changing but no indication that they changed.

My advice is ALWAYS wait several weeks after a Joomla upgrade is released and watch as the Joomla forum virtually chokes on all the posts from users who are having problems with the upgrade. Unlike WordPress, Joomla upgrades are NEVER painless. And ALWAYS make a complete backup before you install any Joomla update or install any extension.