Quote Originally Posted by coucho View Post
... My initial install (year ago) is working fine. Are there any real world advantages to upgrading and possibly breaking the site. ...
I would not recommend upgrading if there was no real world advantages. There are some important notes in the 2.215 release announcement. The short answer to "Why upgrade?" is: bugfixes, enhancements, wider compatibility, and performance improvements.

The long answer to "Why upgrade?" is download a copy and read the included documentation. The Beta Team and I spent a long time creating and refining new documentation for this release (complete with more friendly instructions, compiled lists of workarounds, a changelog, and the use of images and color). So please do download a copy and take a few moments to enjoy the vast improvements (if I do say so myself)!

As with any other changes made to a live website: mistakes, other modifications present, and server configurations can potentially complicate the process of upgrading or making changes.¹ As previously noted, before upgrading make sure you do not have an ancient version of this module installed.²


NOTE 1: One should always keep up to date backups (especially before and after installation / changes) and test all changes in a "staging" (test, development, temporary, etc) copy of your live website. Regular backups so will help avoid extended downtime if something goes wrong. And when the changes are being made on a "copy" of the live website (not the live website itself), if anything goes wrong it does not impact the live website. This gives one time to "test" first and address any issues which occur (as well as take very good notes as to why and what needs to be done when later applying the changes to the live website).

NOTE 2: One can check what version is currently installed by going to the configuration menu for this plugin in the Zen Cart administrative interface. If the version is not listed, the installed version is ancient (3+ years old) and I would recommend first uninstalling whatever version is installed (files, file changes, and database entries) before installing the latest version. This will help avoid potential complications.