We all know that updates to Synology Packages are moving in slow motion. Lately phpMyAdmin has released some very important and indispensable security updates. Synology will update its Package in a few months and, until then, we will be “vulnerable” with this outdated phpMyAdmin version.
We must be calm because, fortunately, there is a solution for us, that is, to do a manual update of phpMyAdmin bypassing the Synology Package Center. In this short guide I will explain step by step how to upgrade the current version of phpMyAdmin installed through the Synology Package to the “latest” official version.
First of all download the latest version of phpMyAdmin from the official website. Overwrite whole phpMyAdmin folder except file config.inc.php with the new files previously downloaded. Download the config.ini.php file in a safe place and re-embed it in the phpMyAdmin folder once you have overwritten the old folder files.
Once you have installed the latest version of phpMyAdmin you will see an error message in the admin phpMyAdmin dashboard when you log in:
“The $cfg[‘TempDir’] (./tmp/) is not accessible. phpMyAdmin is not able to cache templates and will be slow because of this.”
Do not worry because below you will find instructions to solve this problem. First of all, right click on the phpMyAdmin folder, then click on Properties.
Once you have installed a new version of phpMyAdmin it will lose Permission. All you have to do is give back the appropriate Permission to the “SYSTEM” (Read and Write) to make the error disappear forever. Remember that the error could happen again every time you update manually phpMyAdmin but now you know the solution. So, to make it clear, go to the phpMyAdmin folder that you will find on the web / phpMyAdmin and right click on it then click on Properties. Then go to Permission/Create and type “SYSTEM”; this way you give the SYSTEM permission to Read and Write and save the settings. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Now, reload phpMyAdmin and the error message will disappeared.
Remember that, although in the Package Center you may see the “old” version of phpMyAdmin, you will actually have the latest version.
Every time you want to do a manual update of phpMyAdmin you will know how to do it by following this simple guide step by step.