Joomla extension update 3.x and 4.x

Question

I have an update server for my extensions, which targets Joomla 3.8 and 3.9

<targetplatform name="joomla" version="3.[89]"/>

With the release of Joomla 3.10 and 4.0 coming soon, how would I add support for both of these?

I know I can add two separate <update> blocks for 3.x and 4.x, but I'd rather use a regex to support both in a single block.

Would something like this work?

<targetplatform name="joomla" version="(3.[89]|10)|4.*"/>

Answer 1

Based on this link that Roland Dalmulder sent me to:

https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/blob/5fdba4e5ee022517a05ae893d8f7077eaf864bf7/libraries/src/Updater/Adapter/ExtensionAdapter.php#L113

preg_match('/^' . $this->currentUpdate->targetplatform['VERSION'] . '/', JVERSION)

There is no implementation of preg_quote(), so the dots (any character / wildcard) will need escaping.

I recommend:

<targetplatform name="joomla" version="(4|3\.([89]|10))\b"/>
// same but slightly less efficient:   ((3\.([89]|10))|4)\b 

I have removed the trailing .* because that matching will do nothing to improve the validation.

Breakdown: (Regex101 Demo with battery of test cases)

/         # opening pattern delimiter
^         # match start of the string (zero-width match)
(         # begin capture group 1
  4       # match a 4
  |       # or
  3\.     # match a 3, then a dot
  (       # begin capture group 2
    [89]  # match an 8 or a 9
    |     # or
    10    # match a 1 then a 0 (which obviously forms 10)
  )       # end capture group 2
)         # end capture group 1 
\b        # a word boundary metacharacter to prevent longer integer values (zero-width match)
/         # closing pattern delimiter