Migrating to Joomla 6

Introduction

The first thing to state is that the migration process gets easier and easier.

The second thing to state is that these notes are from me to myself - basic reminders - and that they may help other people.

Some notes:

Location of tmp folders

Therer are two places where a tmp folder is defined, namely under Global Configuration:

Server, Path to tmp folder, viz ../site/tmp.
Logging, Path to Log Folder *, viz ../administrator/logs. But also sometimes as above.

Setting text in the <title> in the <head>

This is a bit like setting your favicons - it improves what the user sees. There are three things to note:

The text in the <title> in the <head>. This displays next to the favicon in the browser's title.
For any menu item, including "home". there are three options on the "Page Display" tab for a menu item:
- Show Page Heading. Best to use is "hide", i.e. of the word "Home" on the "default page" - there MUST be one, and only one set.
- Browser Page Title. This is text that goes into the <title> which is displayed next to the favicon.
- Page Heading. This overrides the "Article Heading" if it is shown
I seem to have found at least some of the rules . . .
- When an article is selected from menu, then the Article Title is used unless menu Browser Page Title field is completed.
- When NO article is selected from menu e.g. when it is a Blog, or Featured Articles etc, then the Menu Item name is displayed unless the menu Browser Page Title field is completed.
- When the template is configured, IF the "Brand" is set to ON, the the Brand Name is included at the start of the "title". An example is parkdavidson.co.uk.

favicons

Some jiggery pokery has been foiling me . . . However as at 6.1.0, all eight sites show their favcicons on a mobile phone correctly. These are:

on tdocplus.co.uk:
- 01_ROPA
- linnpark
- rgtr
- wp [CEMDC]
- 0a_Empty400 [test site]
on separate servers:
- Parkdavidson.co.uk
- Acountabilityscotland.org.uk
- Unaccountablescotland.org.uk

On the location of the favicons etc, I am now less confused. There are two locations, neither of which are accessible from within Joomla as far as I can see, namely:

../media/system/images [files are update when upgrading]
- rename or remove "favicon.ico"
- rename or remove "joomla-favicon.svg" [Required for Firefox and Opera]
- rename or remove "joomla-favicon-pinned.svg" [Required for Firefox Masks]
../media/templates/site/cassiopeia/images
- rename or remove "favicon.ico". The other icons [svgs] are not installed by default.
- upload the "favicon.ico" that you wish to be displayed. This is the "icon".
- upload the "joomla-favicon.svg" that you wish to be displayed. This is the "alternate icon" [Required for Firefox and Opera]
- upload the "joomla-favicon-pinned.svg" that you wish to be displayed. This is the "mask-icon" [Required for Firefox Masks]

For more information see https://guide.joomla.org/user-manual/templates/templates-favicons

To convert ico's to svg's I used https://www.convertsimple.com/convert-ico-to-svg/

On the file "logo.svg" [which gets renewed when updating] in the .../cassiopeia/images directory: this represents the word "CASSIOPEIA" as the brand logo. See here for more info: https://docs.joomla.org/J4.x:Template_SVG_Logos

Upgrade Servers

The rule for upgrade servers are here: https://manual.joomla.org/docs/building-extensions/install-update/update-server/

There are upgrade servers one each for the two TDOC addons as follows:

TDOCGmap [tdocgmap_update.xml]
- located at: .../tdoc_j4_dev/tdoc_gmap
- and at: .../tdoc_j5_dev/tdoc_gmap
TDOCfbk [mod_tdocfbk_update.xml]
- located at: .../tdoc_j4_dev/tdoc_fbk

The upgrade is simple as shown in red below.

<targetplatform name="joomla" version="5.*|6.*"/>

Note the naming errors . . . I just did not understand the Joomla naming convention coming from a Clipper and then Visual Objects background.
Also the fact that I "forgot" that J5 and J6 would come along in due course. There are users who use different gmap locations depending on when they first installed.

Compatibility

The Backward Compatibility module is replaced by a new version and which gets enabled when J6 is installed.

This needs to be disabled unless it is actually needed. It is NOT needed with either of the Version 5 TDOC Extensions.

However, if disabled for the Linnpark Website at tdocplus.co.uk/linnpark then although the backend is fine the site itself does not display.
Noted that this is the oldest web site started in 2013 with Joomla 1.5.

Taking the J5.3.4 backup, and removing DB Replacer resulted in a satisfactory upgrade to J6.0.0.

The other seven web sites, of which two were also started in 2013 and thus are J1.5 but seem to have been started at a later minor version. None of them is affected by disabling the J6 compatibility module.

See the web site status page.

Spell Checker in JCE

There are two things to do:

Make sure that the BROWSER has its spell checking enabled, and that there is a suitable language library available.
Make sure that the JCE profile's Plugin Parameters, Spell Checker is set to Browser Spellcheck, and that its state is set ON.

Breadcrumbs

The UWiX version is still required as far as I can see.

Install if required - see the Google Error Messages page regarding Joomla's Breadcrumbs.

Session Life

Just as a matter of personal preference, I like this set at 120 Minutes.

Articles Anywhere

Regular Labs produces the most excellent range of useful extensions.

However, the syntax with Articles Anywhere appears to have been tightened up. It appears that the tag to describe the content to be presented is now mandatory.

DB Replacer

The following message displays after upgrading:

DB Replacer has been successfully updated to v8.2.6
Latest changes since v8.2.5:
v8.2.6 [18-Oct-2025]
# J6 Fixes issue with component not loading at all with Backward Compatibility 6 plugin off

DB Replacer was then removed as it was only used for once off fix.

Is this the source of the display problem once one gets to J6 ? Doubt it as it was installed on Unaccountable Scotland.

Community Builder

Another excellent extension to the user system where one needs some extra stuff to handle this that and the other.

Noted that at 18th October 2025, version 2.10.0+build.2025.02.10.18.59.11.b0d14120b does work with J6.

TDOC Facebook Display

It works perfectly with J6. It appears that although I released a new version of TDOC Gmap - just updated the installation and configuration, and was doing the same for TDOC Facebook Display, When I forgot to see things through.

A total cock up on my behalf. To be SORTED !

Please ignore the message that Joomla cannot find the necessary stuff to state that it is Ok for J6.

The message does NOT appear when upgrading to J5.4.0

Apologies.

Warning from phpMyAdmin

Trying to find out where there are calls to Articles Anywhere, and got this message:

Warning: #3719 'utf8' is currently an alias for the character set UTF8MB3, but will be an alias for UTF8MB4 in a future release. Please consider using UTF8MB4 in order to be unambiguous.

I have no idea what this is all about !

Upgrading the LP Test site

Once the problem with the site had been identified, in that WITH DB Replacer, the process followed was as follows, back tracking to the J5.3.4 version:

Download the 5.3.4 backup, and restore. All Ok. Compatibility ver 5 OFF.
Updated DB Replacer, simply to obtain the above mentioned message, and then removed it.
Updated Akeeba by 2, and JCE by 2, leaving Articles Anywhere at 17.2.7.
Inserted the "[text]" tag in the numerous calls to Articles Anywhere in the "Linn Park Nature Trail" article.
Updated to Joomla 5.4.0.
Made a Local Backup, and saved it.
Disabled the "Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6" Extension. [Reversed later].
All works . . . the Conditional Content to change to appropriate season operates as expected.
Changed the Joomla Upgrade source to Joomla Next.
Updated to Joomla 6.0.0, Noted in the pre-update chacks as follows:
- TDOC Facebook Display: Extension compatibility not available.
- TDOC Google Maps KML Display: Extension compatibility stated by developer as Ok.
- All Regular Lab's stuff: All are compatible stated by developer as Ok.
- Update stuck . . .
  - Forced to enable Compatibility 6 extension.
    Message: Required Settings
    The 'Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6' plugin is enabled
    Go to 'System - Manage - Plugins' and enable the plugin.
  - Forced to update Articles Anywhere.
    Message: Articles Anywhere has been successfully updated to v17.2.8
    Latest changes since v17.2.7:
    v17.2.8 [18-Oct-2025]
    # Fixes issue with non-word characters being stripped when limiting by words
    Noted: Extension date given as: 2025-10-01
Performed Update
Disabled Compatibility 6 extension. All works !
Uploaded and restored sucessfully.

Upgrading of Live Site

Looks like an upload of the local site will be required !

Done and all works 100%.