Sep 20, 2007 - Development    7 Comments

WARNING: Upgrade WordPress Now!!!

How often do you see little security patches and bug fixes being announced about WordPress? More importantly how often do you actually pay attention to the announcements and more importantly, actually do something about it? Maybe you’re like me and upgrade only when you can’t get a plugin or widget working!

These updates are not only essential for safety and security, but also to allow the continuing functionality of your blog, and make it readable to your users. For example… the latest bug & security fix (2.2.3) addresses and issue with the Invalid RSS2 Comments Feed meaning that your feed readers may not be seeing comments on your blog correctly!

So today I thought I would play around with an automated upgrade on my live site… never a wise move, but I don’t mind being a guinea pig every now and then. Upgrading wordpress is a doddle anyway, but nerve wracking at the same time, and if you aren’t too confident on the techy side of things you will be more inclined to put it off. With that in mind and after spending 10 minutes talking Kieron into upgrading his blog using the same tool, I’m happy to report 0 problems so far :)

How do you do it? Simple!

  1. download the WordPress Upgrade Plugin
  2. unzip and install it as you would with any other plugin (wp-content/plugins)
  3. activate the plugin
  4. go to MANAGE – AUTOMATIC UPGRADE
  5. follow the online instructions

More information is available here.

Before the upgrade starts, it takes a backup of your files so you can always rollback if required, and it means that upgrading is now a 2 minute job. It allows you to do it from anywhere without having to have FTP access, so if you’re out and about, you could even do it from your mobile phone!

Updating your blog, whether it be personal, affiliate, business or an affiliate website, is just as essential as looking after any other website you own. With this tool there is simply no excuse not to do it :p

  • http://www.here.org.uk Kieron

    “With that in mind and after spending 10 minutes talking Kieron into upgrading his blog using the same tool, I’m happy to report 0 problems so far”

    Mate, my blog has just CRASHED!!!

    Only kidding. Thanks for your help though, much appreciated. Not sure why I had to ring you on a 0800VERYEXPENSIVEPERMINUTE telephone number to get your advice though?

  • http://www.befuddled.me.uk Raymond Theakston

    After losing a whole site worth of content from a previous upgrade I don’t think I have the nerve to do it again.

  • http://www.webaffiliate.co.uk Chris Frost

    Ray were you using this utility? I’ve successfuly upgrade all my blogging sites now using this and not had a single problem.

    Manually upgrading, especially tables, is nerve wracking, but when it comes to security flaws, it’s something I want to keep at bay. Failure to upgrade could easily result in a lost site too.

    The difference with this utility is that it backs up all files AND tables before it does anything else. Something I never used to do when manually upgrading.

  • http://www.livecci.com Devid

    Mate, my blog has just CRASHED!!!

  • http://bfreedom.com Brian Free

    My blog updated, but I am having some issues. There is a string of coding that occurs on my homepage above each post. Individual posts don’t have this problem. Can someone please help me

  • http://www.affiliatetip.com Shawn Collins

    For anybody who is gunshy about doing the backup themselves – try asking your host if they’ll do it.

    I use LivingDot to host my blogs for the express reason that they perform upgrades on MT and WP at no extra cost.

    They do it over and over, so nothing is a guess with them.

  • http://www.webaffiliate.co.uk Chris Frost

    BRIAN
    Firstly this plugin isn’t something I wrote, its just one that I recommend. I have however googled your error, and it appears that the error is down to how a procedure is being called in certain themers or plugins;
    http://wordpress.org/support/topic/135658

    Have you tried switching to another theme, just to see if the error still persists?

    DEVID
    I’ve just taken a look at your blog (url link in your name), and it appears fine to me?