Confusing changes in phpMyAdmin

I love phpMyAdmin as a quick, easy-to-learn front-end for MySQL, but it’s just broken a cardinal rule of updates by making two changes to the installation procedure in the space of three months. In principle, the changes are well-intentioned. Instead of diving into an 800-odd line configuration file, users now have the choice of creating a simple text file themselves or using a web interface to build the configuration file automatically. The idea is that whenever you upgrade, you simply move your personal configuration file to the root folder, and everything works smoothly. It doesn’t…

The new system was introduced in version 2.7.0, but if you move the configuration file, config.inc.php, from 2.7.0 to 2.8.0, it doesn’t work! What’s particularly confusing is that MySQL reports that access was refused because the root password wasn’t used. After a bit of head scratching, I tried the new web interface to create config.inc.php for me. To my mind, the web interface is badly thought out. It’s counter-intuitive and time-consuming to use. Still, using the web interface did at least create a configuration file that worked - and that was the point of the exercise.

Looking inside to see the difference, it turns out that phpMyAdmin now uses an index of 1 instead of 0 to identify the primary server. I’ve no idea if this is a permanent change or just a mistake, but it certainly defeats the purpose of a configuration file intended to make upgrades easier if it breaks on a simple point upgrade.

I’ve updated my updates for Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 and Foundation PHP 5 for Flash. The really annoying thing is that three pages were reset in the second printing of the Dreamweaver book to take account of the changes in phpMyAdmin 2.7.0. These latest changes now make the updated version already out of date. I don’t mind changes like this when they’re a clear improvement, but changing the installation procedure in 2.7.0 and breaking it in the very next release, just seems like sloppy management at phpMyAdmin

23 comments March 13th, 2006

Plaudits follow the brickbat

Shouldn’t have concerned myself too much with Seattle Biker’s comments. He complained about Foundation PHP 5 for Flash being unwieldy and badly edited. Then completely out of the blue, I got praise in the friends of ED forum from “kinetic”, who described it as “concise and well written”.

I also got some very nice comments about Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8. Robert deLaurentis, also writing in the friends of ED forum, described my writing as “crisp, clear, easy to digest, and jammed full of content”. And an email sent direct to friends of ED said I deserved an Oscar for the book. Kind of gives a nice, warm glow inside. Thanks, one and all.

Add comment March 13th, 2006