Support » Installing WordPress » How often upgrade?

  • Resolved andreand

    (@andreand)


    Hi,

    my client wants a cms to manage his website. I’m thinking about 2 options. One of them is WordPress.

    The main problem is upgrade. My client isn’t interesting on learning about it.

    So, if I have to upgrade every month, WordPress is not the right option.

    How often is it supossed to upgrade?

    Thanks a lot!

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    The next major release (3.1) is on track to be released on December 15th, but minor security upgrades can be released as often as necessary.

    Most server environments support the automatic updater in the Dashboard. It notifies you of a new version, gives you a “click here to upgrade” link, and the whole process takes less than a minute.

    Thread Starter andreand

    (@andreand)

    Thanks, James!

    However, I read that this authomatic installation is not recommended, because it could damage some files. So, it is supossed to do “by hand”.

    So, I have to upgrade once a month more or less?

    Thanks!

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    However, I read that this authomatic installation is not recommended, because it could damage some files. So, it is supossed to do “by hand”.

    We recommend the automatic updater quite often around here. In many cases it’s actually safer than upgrading manually. Now, we do recommend completing a manual upgrade if the automatic upgrade fails, but that’s a rarity.

    So, I have to upgrade once a month more or less?

    That sounds about right.

    Thread Starter andreand

    (@andreand)

    So, by upgrading automathically, won’t my theme be damaged? Nor my language files, plugins, … and so on.

    Or have I to take care on something?

    Thanks a lot!

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    WordPress.org Admin

    Auto-upgrading preserves themes and plugins (except for the twentyten theme).

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    Just to clarify Ottos reply, and because I was writing it while he posted his 🙂

    Upgrading WordPress itself only replaces the core files, which you shouldn’t be editing anyway.

    Upgrading the plugins replaces the plugin files, though all customizations should be made in the plugins’ settings, not the plugins’ files.

    Upgrading the themes replaces the theme files, which is of course where most of the customization is done (unless you have one of the newer function-controlled themes that work basically like plugins), which is where the new child theme feature comes into play (effectively separating your theme customizations from the parent theme that may be updated periodically).

    In all of the above cases, settings and other function-based customizations are left untouched. Only the files are replaced.

    Thread Starter andreand

    (@andreand)

    🙂 It’s sound great!

    Thanks a lot, James + Otto!

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    You’re welcome!

    Sorry for reopening this topic, but I must add a word of caution. Assuming the theme you’re using isn’t the default theme provided with the WordPress installation, upgrading WordPress, whether automatically or manually, might render parts of the theme unusable if the theme isn’t compatible with the new WordPress version (which is true for any CMS). Same goes for the plugins. For instance, if a certain template tag or function in the theme (or plugin) is deprecated in the new WP version and replaced with another, then the part of the theme using this function or plugin will not work. Therefor, if I were you, I’d strongly discourage my clients from upgrading by themselves and even disable this option from being displayed in the admin panel. New WP installations do try to take care of compatibility issues, but I would trust that just to a certain point – I wouldn’t expect, say, WordPress 5 to treat incompatibilities issues down to WordPress 3.

    Note that you don’t need to upgrade WP for the blog or website to continue functioning properly, so even if there is an upgrade available every month you don’t need to upgrade every month. In fact, the website will continue working the same way it did so far even if you never upgrade. Of course it’s recommended to upgrade when there’s a security update, but other than that you can upgrade only when there’s a major release or when minor updates have accumulated to a certain degree. So you might need to upgrade once or twice a year. Then you should check beforehand if each of the plugins works with the new version (often there’s an upgrade for the plugin you should download separately), and if there are any changes you should make to the theme so it would work properly with the new WP version. You should also make a copy of the old WP version before upgrading, just in case you missed something and need to revert to the old version. And this is true for any CMS – upgrades should not be done by the clients unless they know exactly what they’re doing.

    Otherwise, if you let your clients upgrade by themselves, then at some point or another – and this is bound to happen, whether next month or two years from now – you will get hysterical phone calls right in the middle of the first night of that perfect romantic holiday you’ve been planning for and saving for for months, desperately crying about the website falling apart. And then, after canceling your vacation without a refund, getting screamed at by the missis or hubby and finally dumped, and after spending hours to find what could possibly go wrong and pulling half your hair out, while your clients is losing visitors by the minute, you’ll find out it’s only a minor change in one function that requires changing two lines in one of the plugins. A mess that could have been avoided if upgrading was done by someone who knows what he or she is doing.

    Thread Starter andreand

    (@andreand)

    Thanks a lot hooknose, for the details! I’ll do what you suggest.
    It seems so logical!

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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