Make Discuss work with PHP 7

[carlo-13]

Hi everyone.

I know this plugin hasn't been updated in a while. And it would be great to make it work with PHP 7.

Tks

[mintnl]

Hi Carlo-13, bumped into this problem myself. Found a little fix.
You'll probably see your logs flood with these lines:

ERROR @ /home/username/domains/domain.tld/core/components/discuss/model/discuss/request/disrequest.class.php : 118) PHP warning: Parameter 1 to DiscussController::getInstance() expected to be a reference, value given
[2017-03-18 00:51:31] (ERROR @ /home/username/domains/domain.tld/core/components/discuss/model/discuss/request/disrequest.class.php : 120) PHP warning: Creating default object from empty value

go to file core/components/discuss/model/discuss/request/disrequest.class.php

and change the line 118 to
$this->discuss->controller = call_user_func_array(array($c,'getInstance'),array(&$this->discuss,$className,$this->controller));
mind you that the only change in the line is the ampersand at ....array(&$this....

and your forums are up and running again.

[Nuan8]

Wow cool mintnl you are keeping Discuss going! May I remind you that Discuss2 alpha has been released to the community?

[SnowCreative]

Really? Where? The Discuss 2 page on Github has been dormant for three years. https://github.com/modxcms/discuss2

[Nuan8]

https://forums.modx.com/thread/96666/discuss-2-releasing-a-new-native-forum-solution-for-revo

Petri (Dunnock) as I understand did the coding. Modx LLC apparently had some business issues and needed to give up on the tertiary projects, so it made the most sense to release it, it was that or just kill it. Its a bit of an issue because their own forum is now in the wild in a sense, running on an unsupported platform.

I remember reading somewhere that it stores threads as resources or something to this direction. But its still in alpha

[carlo-13]

Hi everyone.

Thanks @mintnl for the tip!

Regarding Discuss, modx official forum is running on Discuss if I’m not mistaken?
So I guess Modx staff is still maintaining it ?

Anyway, it would be great to keep the plugin alive. Add features to it…

[Nuan8]

Hi carlo-13, unfortunately I don't believe we can call Discuss supported at this point, sad to say.

Modx uses a custom version of Discuss that gets patched only when needed, and I suspect they don't upgrade the Modx version it is running on anymore (keep in mind its got 100k threads). That's why there is never an official update or patch provided.

I love Discuss as much as you do, but its lifespan is likely limited.

I am still hopeful that Discuss2 can live finally, its fairly fresh code. But it needs some development and support. I am not a coder but I would fully document the new system if I could and would support anyone who was interested in trying to pick it up.

Discuss was by far the best option for a fully customizable forums, if one could handle the technical hurdles, so D2 could find some space for growth in the market if it could work and have fixes for common issues at least

[carlo-13]

Hi @Nuan8,

Is there any news about Discuss2? Cause the last update is from 2014… :(

Ultimately, do you think it will be possible to upgrade from Discuss 1 to 2.

Thanks.

[Nuan8]

Hi @carlo-13, I don't have a good answer for you to be honest. Discuss 2 is still in alpha and isn't being developed at the moment. I am hopeful but that's all really, just hopeful.

The good news is Discuss 1 is still going, and with some luck it will still be available for some time. It still works quite well at least.

Only if some developers decide to invest some time into D2 will it be possible to move forward. Modx doesn't have time for it without a doubt.

[carlo-13]

Such a pity :(

I thinking about moving my forum to vanillaforums.

There is a gamification application that seems interesting.

The only issue is import my old forum to a new cms.

I guess I will have to do that manually and recreate each discussion and topics...

[Nuan8]

Well carlo-13, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I haven't given up yet. Discuss obviously still works fine and should work fine for years still. Its not being developed but so far there has never been a real breakdown where it can't work for people, mintnl always finds a solution :)

Vanilla...I looked pretty deeply into Vanilla before I picked up Discuss, its not user-friendly if you want your forums to look and feel just the way you want. Don't want to slag off on them but there is a reason they want you to pay them for development. Even something as simple as moving the login box from right to left side of the page is...hard. I even had a developer look into it and he came back saying they use a smarty library and the system is terrible...keep in mind i am not a real coder, you need php for Vanilla and have to understand the complex routine it goes through to make pages.

So, sorry not a fan haha, hope no one is offended.

For porting your site, there is a provisioner for Discuss that might help you, but that's a bit over my experience

So, I am hanging on for now, hoping for some new improvement in the ecosystem, that's why D2 has so much potential, because there is no really good system that gives you control and access

[carlo-13]

Hi @Nuan8 .

I re-read your message, do you have a link or more info about that provisioner ?

[Nuan8]

Hi @carlo-13

It turns out the provisioner is really old, but the Modx community can help you do what you need, that's actually what is so great about Modx is the people and support in the forums.

Here is the most recent thread with the word provisioner, that has some useful info on moving a db, but its probably better for you to go into the forums...and i see you are in there now, replied to you.

https://forums.modx.com/thread/?thread=101322&page=1

[carlo-13]

Hi everyone!

I have created my own repository of Discuss:
https://github.com/carlo-13/Discuss

If you are ready to contribute let met know tks!

[Nuan8]

Hey, how did you Vanilla experiment go?

Actually I am going back to my forum as well, I need to revamp my site and may make some changes to Discuss.

[carlo-13]

Hi.
Yes, it wasn't easy ... but I manage do it :)

It would be great, if everyone could contribute a little, and try to update Discuss.

Do you guys remember what's needed to be changed to Discuss to make it php7 compatible ?