View source for Deploying an Update Server

=== Extension === <!--T:15-->
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The <tt>"extension"</tt> server type allows developers to define an extension's manifest to pull updates from a single extension's manifest.  All collection manifests eventually point to this XML file.  All updates in this file must be defined after an <tt><updates></tt> tag at the beginning of the file.  The below example is the update definition for the Joomla! 3.9.6 release:</translate>

<source lang="xml">
<updates>
	<update>
		<name>Joomla! 3.9</name>
		<description>Joomla! 3.9 CMS</description>
		<element>joomla</element>
		<type>file</type>
		<version>3.9.6</version>
		<infourl title="Joomla!">https://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5765-joomla-3-9-6-release.html</infourl>
		<downloads>
			<downloadurl type="full" format="zip">https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla3/3-9-6/Joomla_3.9.6-Stable-Update_Package.zip</downloadurl>
			<downloadsource type="full" format="zip">https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/releases/download/3.9.6/Joomla_3.9.6-Stable-Update_Package.zip</downloadsource>
			<downloadsource type="full" format="zip">https://update.joomla.org/releases/3.9.6/Joomla_3.9.6-Stable-Update_Package.zip</downloadsource>
		</downloads>
		<tags>
			<tag>stable</tag>
		</tags>
		<sha256>05157273aadd3045564ee44373ea3643b437fa5321d17993a3119b38b04578e2</sha256>
		<sha384>ebd9b0666fbe84e20a420a4bcd6c10d306fc4dee4edbbe8e2133c85f0fb84e59be5a50aa97cb38c068b77f77f6bbc091</sha384>
		<sha512>a4c47644ceeaeec28944e0c74160203cf12037e0ea1439022e95055dfb6716de172667ce6d9164f12bb519d9cfcf1fdc728abea00f853b41debc7d2740f2b711</sha512>
		<maintainer>Joomla! Production Department</maintainer>
		<maintainerurl>https://www.joomla.org</maintainerurl>
		<section>STS</section>
		<targetplatform name="joomla" version="3.[789]" />
		<php_minimum>5.3.10</php_minimum>
</update>
</updates>
</source>

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The following section describes the elements of a single update entity.</translate>

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* '''name''' – The name of the extension, this name will appear in the Name column of the Extension Manager's Update view (required)</translate>
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* '''description''' – A short description of the extension (optional) — if you choose to use <![CDATA[]]>, double-quotes will break the HTML formatting.  Use single quotes with your HTML entities.</translate>
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* '''element''' – The installed name of the extension (required). For plugins, this needs to be same as plugin attribute value for main file in plugin manifest. For <filename plugin="pluginname">pluginname.php</filename>, element value should be '''pluginname'''.</translate> 
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* '''type''' – The type of extension (component, module, plugin, etc.) (required)</translate>
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* '''folder''' – Specific to plugins, this tag describes the type of plugin being updated (content, system, etc.) (required for plugins)</translate>
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* '''client''' – The client of the extension. Required for modules and templates as of 3.2.0. Possible values at this time are "site" or "administrator". '''Warning!''' Plugins and front-end modules are automatically installed with a client of site, but you will need to specify the client in an update or it will default to administrator and then found update would not be shown because it would not match any extension. Components are automatically installed with a client of administrator, which is currently the default.</translate>
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** '''Warning''': As of Joomla! 4.0 only a string is allowed. Using numbers as client has been deprecated in 2012 and got removed in Joomla! 4.0 (Replace 0 with "site" and 1 with "administrator")
** '''Warning''': The tag name is <'''client'''> for Joomla! 2.5 and <'''client_id'''> for 1.6 and 1.7. If you use <client_id> (rather than <client>) on a 2.5 site, it will be ignored.</translate>
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* '''version''' – The version of the release (required)</translate>
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* '''infourl''' – A URL to point users to containing information about the update (optional) (In CMS 2.5, if set, this URL will be displayed in the update view)</translate>
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* '''downloads''' – The section which lists all download locations</translate>
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** '''downloadurl''' – The URL to download the extension from; the <downloadurl> tag has two required parameters:</translate>
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*** '''type''' – The type of package (full or upgrade)</translate>
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*** '''format''' – The format of the package (zip, tar, etc.)</translate>
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** '''downloadsource''' – Optional. Since Joomla 3.8.3. Alternative URL to download the extension from when the connection to <downloadurl> fails. Multiple <downloadsource> tags are allowed. The <downloadsource> tag has two required parameters:</translate>
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*** '''type''' – The type of package (full or upgrade)</translate>
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*** '''format''' – The format of the package (zip, tar, etc.)</translate>
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** '''NB''' – there must be no newline before or after the URL; it needs to all be on one line or you will get Error connecting to the server: malformed when the update is run</translate>
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* '''changelogurl''' - A link to an xml file holding the changelog. Joomla 4.0 and later will allow you to show a button for the changelog in the extension updater page. More details in how to use it can be found here: [[Adding changelog to your manifest file]]
* '''tags''' – A list of tags relevant to this version. Joomla! 3.4 and later uses this to determine the stability level of the update. The valid tags are:</translate>
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** ''dev'': Development versions, very unstable and pre-alpha (e.g. nightly builds)</translate>
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** ''alpha'': Alpha quality software (features not implemented, show-stopper bugs)</translate>
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** ''beta'': Beta quality software (all features implemented, show-stopper bugs possible, minor bugs almost certain)</translate>
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** ''rc'': Release Candidate quality software (no show-stopper bugs, minor bugs may still be present)</translate>
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** ''stable'': Production quality software All other tags are currently ignored. If you provide more than one tag containing one of the aforementioned stability keywords only the LAST tag will be taken into account. If you do not provide any tags Joomla! will assume it is a stable version</translate>.
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* '''maintainer''' – The name of the extension maintainer (similar to the <author> tag in a manifest) (optional)</translate>
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* '''maintainerurl''' – The website of the extension maintainer (similar to the <authorUrl> tag in a manifest) (optional)</translate>
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* '''section''' – Optional (unknown use)</translate>
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* '''targetplatform''' – A tag to define platform requirements (from {{ JVer| 3.10 }} this is also used to detect extension compatibility for the Joomla Update component), requires the following elementsː</translate>
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** '''name''' – The name of the platform dependency; as of this writing, it should ONLY be "joomla"</translate>
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** '''version''' – The version of Joomla! the extension supports</translate>
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** '''min_dev_level''' and '''max_dev_level''' – These attributes were added in 3.0.1 to allow you to select a target platform based on the developer level ("z" in x.y.z). They are optional. You can specify either one or both. If omitted, all developer levels are matched. For example, the following matches versions 4.0.0 and 4.0.1. <code><targetplatform name="joomla" version="4.0" min_dev_level="0" max_dev_level="1"/></code></translate>
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*** '''Note:''' If your extension is Joomla! 2.5 and/or 3.1 compatible, you will be required to have separate <update> definitions for each version due to the manner in which the updater checks the version if you specify a number. However to show your extension on all Joomla versions that support automatic updates (and thus mark as compatible with all future unreleased versions of Joomla in Joomla Update) add <code><targetplatform name="joomla" version=".*"/></code>. If you want your extension to show on all {{JVer|3.x}} versions then rather than specifying a version in the version tag add in <code><targetplatform name="joomla" version="3.[012345]"/></code>. This will show the update to all 3.x versions from version 3.0 to 3.5. If you want to include version 3.10 you can use an <code>|</code> like this: <code><targetplatform name="joomla" version="3.[012345]|10"/></code>. If you want to show the updates for all 3.8.x versions and all 3.10.x versions you can use <code><targetplatform name="joomla" version="3.(8|10)"/></code></translate>
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* '''php_minimum''' – Beginning with 3.2.2, a minimum supported PHP version can be supplied in the update stream.  If the server does not meet the minimum, a message is displayed to the user advising that an update is available but cannot be installed due to unsupported requirements.</translate>
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* '''supported_databases''' – Beginning with 3.7, a minimum supported databases + version check can be supplied in the update stream.  When the server does not meet the minimum, a message is displayed to the user advising that an update is available but cannot be installed due to unsupported requirements. Note: [https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/26079 As of 3.9.12] there is also a special case for mariadb so you can set a specific minimum version for that too now.</translate>
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** An example could look like this:</translate> <code><supported_databases mysql="5.5.3" mariadb="10.1" postgresql="9.2" mssql="10.50.1600.1" /></code>
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* '''sha256''', '''sha384''', '''sha512''' – Optional. Since Joomla 3.9.0 you can add file checksums in these hash formats. Be aware that in Joomla 3 only a notice is shown on '''updates''' if a checksum is not correct. That's all. The update doesn't stop then. In Joomla 4 updates and installations will stop if a provided checksum doesn't match.</translate>

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A separate <update> definition will be required for each version of your extension you release.</translate>

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The values of '''element''', '''type''', '''client_id''' and '''folder''' should match those in the table #_extensions.</translate>

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'''Important for plugins:''' Plugins have to include <folder> and <client> elements to work properly</translate>
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