An upgrade test environment
This page is for designers who maintain themes. You need an installation where breaking things is fine.
What it consists of
| Part | How |
|---|---|
| An Exponential installation | Installed with Composer, on a server or your computer; SQLite is the default database and needs no server |
| Your theme | As a Git checkout, so you can switch branches (Develop with Git) |
| Demo content | The theme's demo package or seed data (Demo content) |
| A second PHP version | To test the oldest and newest PHP you claim |
| A reset | A copy of the database and var/ you can restore, or a scripted reinstall |
Step by step
Install Exponential into a new directory following Getting started.
Let Composer clone your theme as a source checkout:
composer config 'preferred-install.yourvendor/*' source composer require yourvendor/mytheme:dev-mainActivate the theme and choose it for a siteaccess (Activating a theme).
Import the demo content.
Save a reset point: copy the database file (SQLite) or dump the database, and
var/storage.Write the steps into your theme's
doc/testing.md, so the next test starts in minutes.
Rules
- Never test on a live site or with a copy of real customer data.
- Send mail of the test installation to files, never to real addresses.
Related pages
- Upgrade testing, step by step
- Upgrading
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.