Hi Ciaran

I have a general issue regarding template override warnings in J4. The issue is not new, but newly surfaced in Joomla 4. After (more or less) each Joomla update, webmasters find a list of template overrides to deal with. In my understanding, most Joomlers (including me) are unsure about what to do.

Let me first describe in my own words what happens: As a template designer, you produce overrides of core files, which you typically put into the html folder of your template. These overrides are based on the most recent version of Joomla at the time you produce your override. Some time after that, the core team applies changes to the original core file for any reason (may sometimes be a cosmetic issue, but might even be a security fix). The core team's changes make it to the next Joomla update. When a webmaster updates his Joomla version, he gets a template override warning. (I hope I got the process correct so far.)

What can the webmaster do after getting these warnings? In theory, he has to check each and every override listed. To do a qualified check, he must be able to understand PHP code, he needs to know Joomla internals, and he needs to understand, what the developer of his template intended. That's almost impossible for most Joomlers, including myself.

In an ideal world, you as the developer of the template would have to check each core update resulting in such a warning and merge your updates with the core team's. This would result in an updated version of your template after each non-trivial core update.

What is your position regarding this update process? What is your advice for webmasters like me? Just trust in god and check all the involved files as checked? Or will you provide an update of your template whenever there are relevant changes to the core files?

Best regards

Rolf