v1.7x-v8x-v9x Upgrading and Optimizing PrestaShop 1.7.8 – Tips, Issues & Fixes

[tektek5435]

Hey everyone


I’ve been working with PrestaShop 1.7.8.x for a while now and thought it might be useful to start a thread where we can share common issues, fixes, and performance tips for this version.


Here’s what I’ve encountered so far:

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1. Upgrade Experience​

Upgrading from 1.7.7 to 1.7.8 went relatively smooth using the 1-Click Upgrade module, but I had to manually fix a few things afterward:

• Theme overrides not loading correctly → cleared /var/cache/ manually.
• Some custom modules not compatible due to Symfony changes.
• Back office translations reverted to default in some sections.

Tip: Always make a full backup and disable non-native modules before upgrading.

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2. Performance Improvements​

I noticed that enabling Smarty caching and CCC (Combine, Compress, Cache) gives a big performance boost.

• Smarty cache: Enabled + Force compile OFF
• Combine CSS & JS: ON
• Media server (CDN): Optional but helps if you have one

Also, switching to PHP 8.1 improved speed noticeably, but some older modules still don’t fully support it.

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3. Common Issues​

• The “Add to cart” AJAX sometimes breaks on custom themes.
• Some modules still reference deprecated classes (e.g. Tools::jsonEncode).
• Mail sending fails with certain SMTP configs (TLS vs SSL).

Workaround: Check Advanced Parameters > Logs and clear var/logs regularly — errors sometimes get buried there.

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4. Looking for Input​

How’s everyone else’s experience with 1.7.8.x?

• Any specific bugs you’ve run into?
• Has anyone tried upgrading to 8.0.x yet, and was it worth it?
• Any module recommendations that are fully stable on 1.7.8?

Let’s make this a living thread for anyone still running 1.7.8 before jumping to PrestaShop 8.

 

[maworker]

Good job, friend. I liked, download and test. Thanks

 

[Danielle]

Beau travail, mon ami. J'ai aimé, téléchargé et testé. Merci.

 

[nriljkaung]

Beau travail, mon ami. J'ai aimé, téléchargé et testé. Merci.

 

[Biju]

good job, thank you for sharing this info !

 

[nguyentrid]

great extension, thanks. great extension, thanks

 

[tektek5435]

I’m still running a few shops on 1.7.8.9 and your notes definitely resonate. Here’s what I can add from my side:

Upgrades & Stability
I also used the 1-Click Upgrade for a couple of sites. The upgrade itself was fine, but I had to re-build the cache/class_index.php manually because some custom modules weren’t loading after the update.
Another weird one: after upgrading, the favicon and logo URLs broke until I re-uploaded them in Design > Theme & Logo — looks like a caching issue with img_dir.

Performance Tweaks
Completely agree about CCC + Smarty. I’d add that switching the Smarty template compilation to “Recompile templates if the files have been updated” helps a lot in dev mode.
For production, disabling “debug mode” in Advanced Parameters > Performance and using OPcache (PHP side) gives a noticeable bump.

Bugs / Compatibility

• The “Add to cart” AJAX bug happens often with themes that override product.tpl. Using the core JS from the default theme usually fixes it.
• I’ve seen email issues too — sometimes it’s just the mail domain’s SPF/DKIM misalignment. Testing via Mailhog locally helped a lot.
• Some old modules throw warnings with PHP 8.1 (mainly because of deprecated each() and split() usage).

Future Moves
Haven’t jumped to 8.x yet either. From what I’ve read, it’s faster but requires reworking several custom modules due to namespace changes. I’m waiting for more stable module compatibility before upgrading production sites.

Would love to hear if anyone’s running 1.7.8 with heavy traffic (50k+ products) and what caching setup works best — Redis, Memcached, or just file cache?

— Cheers!

 

[Gjsn688]

Thank you very much for sharing this theme.