Hi Wyatt,
Thank you for using the Prime Mover plugin and sharing your experience. Below are some thoughts we had regarding your feedback:
However, it’s quite inconvenient because you have to install WordPress first, unlike Duplicator, which doesn’t require this step.
Comment: Yes, that’s correct. Prime Mover was designed to be like this for the following reasons:
- Efficiency: Packages must be as efficient and lightweight as possible. Only containing the essentials (the site data itself). Therefore, we exclude the WordPress installation for lighter packages.
- Reduce redundancy: WordPress is known for preserving backward compatibility – so exclude the core versions themselves because administrators can easily launch fresh installations these days (via hosting panels, auto-WP installers, etc.), and due to backward compatibility ( stability is preserved from export to restore). This avoids redundancy by including the core files in the package.
- Portability: Prime Mover packages can be restored anywhere,- including multisites. So, the packages need to be as portable as possible. By excluding WordPress core files – single-site data and its files can be easily portable to a multisite installation and vice versa. It is because we know internally that these core installations differ in structure (e.g., WordPress multisite databases are structured differently than single-site databases) as well as their files and configurations (e.g., wp-config, etc.). Excluding the core installations and structure could simplify any migration (e.g., from single-site to multisite, multisite to multisite, multisite to single-site, single-site to single-site) – making it more portable across the board.
- Security: WordPress core files can be hacked (or edited maliciously) without the user knowing it -we want the packages to be as secure as possible. By forcing users to install clean WordPress installations before any migration or restoration, it ensures that restored packages are as clean and malware-free as possible.
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Additionally, if your admin details aren’t the same on the other side, the plugin forces you to reinstall WordPress, which is something it never warned me about beforehand.
Comment: This is strange – could you please provide a screenshot that indicates Prime Mover is “forcing” the reinstallation of WordPress? As far as we know about this – Prime Mover will perform a user difference check during import, which is “optional” and can be disabled (using a setting). The user difference check may recommend a fresh install, but a user can override this. A warning dialog is displayed to inform the user of this.
User difference check is an important feature that aligns the source site users’ IDs with those of the target site users. This feature was first introduced in Prime Mover 2.0.3, which you can read the details here.
Thank you again for leaving your review. We are glad it got the job done! Cheers.
