Why I Never Update

  • johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)


    15 years, 4 months ago

    Hi Matt

    Why I never update:

       -WordPress updates always BREAK some of my plugins or my theme or my customizations. That’s dumb and unprofessional and unacceptable in a production environment. As a programmer, I would call that a bug. A very large bug.

    How to fix that:

       -restructure your app so there’s better separation of your core from plugins and themes. Enable total plugin flexibility, but Don’t allow any plugins to alter your core at all.

    -explore and learn from the plugin architecture of other products.

       -implement some kind of sandboxing or internal file-mirroring, so customizations can alter your core without altering your core.

       -break your core files down into many more, smaller, and functionally isolated files, to minimize the impact of customizations. 

       -add a tag to all core files called “UserCustomized”. Your updates would then skip those files, and/or Back them up and report file differences to the admin, so the admin can manually reapply the customizations. 

       -your updater would automatically reapply customizations after updating, at a line-by-line level. This would be facilitated by breaking your core down into more, smaller files. 

       -have stronger rules for certifying plugins, to ensure your updates don’t break them. 

    Hope you can fix this. 

    Thanks
    Johny

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • esmi

    (@esmi)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    -WordPress updates always BREAK some of my plugins or my theme or my customizations.

    Then you’re using poor plugins & themes. That’s not WP’s problem. It’s yours. Backwards compatibility can only be maintained so far and there’s no accounting for plain bad coding.

    Don’t allow any plugins to alter your core at all.

    Plugins don’t alter core (or they shouldn’t). They alter output. That’s a big difference.

    add a tag to all core files called “UserCustomized”.

    If you’re hacking core files, then on your own head be it. A core upgrade process cannot possibly take into account an unknown quantity of infinitely variable core hacks that may, or may not, impact of the functioning of the newer scripts.

    have stronger rules for certifying plugins

    There is no certification process for plugins at present. A review system has been implemented for newer themes hosted at wordpress.org and even that is a huge ongoing job with less than 1,300 themes. The Plugins Directory holds almost 10 times that amount. Are you offering to take the job on?

    And bear in mind that this still doesn’t address all of the themes & plugins that are sources outside of wordpress.org…

    Clayton James

    (@claytonjames)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    Holy, mackerel… still using WordPress 2.3! I’ve got to hand it to you, you’ve got guts!

    I think your comments are very interesting, if coming from a programmers point of view. Interesting perspective.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    15 years, 4 months ago

    implement some kind of sandboxing or internal file-mirroring, so customizations can alter your core without altering your core.

    That’s … what they’re supposed to do. That’s what all mine do.

    Thread Starter johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    Then you’re using poor plugins & themes…. There is no certification process for plugins at present.

    Exactly.

    The plugin system was created by wordpress.org. Therefor, wordpress.org has an interest in, if not a responsibility, to ensure the reliability of that system.

    Thread Starter johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    Are you offering to take the job on?

    What does me personally have to do with critiques of an application? This forum exists so users can make suggestions. It would chill suggestions if the answer is “fix it yourself”. WordPress.org is a funded independently-developed product, not a community-built application.

    Besides, A certification process should be automated. Then it would not matter how many there are. Ideally, Plugin Developers would be able to run their plugin through the automated cert process during development, to ensure compatibility.

    Thread Starter johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    still using WordPress 2.3!

    No, I last updated in 2009 to 2.9.2, and it broke my website. Had to go in and manually fix files.

    hpguru

    (@hpguru)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    Plugins isn’t by WordPress.org. 🙂

    Plugins are from add-on authors.

    Clayton James

    (@claytonjames)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    No, I last updated in 2009 to 2.9.2…
    …Had to go in and manually fix files.

    Ahh… I’m sure you’re probably okay then. Not to appear contentious, but I see several spots in your source code, and in your root directory, that indicate that wordpress is still reporting version 2.3.1 to the neighborhood. Might be to your advantage not to advertise that.

    Thread Starter johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    When you say “advertise”, you mean here? Or in my source files? For security reasons?

    I’m not referring to the site connected to my username here. In the site I’m referring to in this thread, mydomain/readme.html says “version 2.9.2”.

    It also says “In most all cases you shouldn’t modify any of the core code”. “most all”, not “all”.

    Although I probably stopped updating the site you examined for the same reason.

    Clayton James

    (@claytonjames)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    When you say “advertise”, you mean here? Or in my source files? For security reasons?

    I mean in your source files, and yes I mean for your own security ( simply because you say you never update ).

    I’m not referring to the site connected to my username here.

    No, no, of course you aren’t. But… that being said, the site connected to your user name certainly is ripe to be hacked. I didn’t bother to visit all the domains that are registered to you, and frankly I was a little afraid to due to the fact that you don’t update your sites. No matter. You’ll be fine, I’m sure.

    Best wishes to you! Happy New Year!

    Thread Starter johnywhy

    (@johnywhy)

    15 years, 4 months ago

    Registered to me where?

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

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