For all of us who have installed and maintained the stand alone version of WordPress since “quite some time ago”, the automatic upgrade feature was a “small step for WordPress and a giant leap for webmasters”. OK, so in the beginning and really until early 2009 all WordPress upgrades were manual. That is the new files had to be copied to a local machine and unzipped… then they were uploaded to the server to over-write the existing core files, and then the database had to be updated in many cases. Lots of work, lots of places for human error. But always exciting nevertheless.
Enter WordPress version 2.7 – Yeah !! With WordPress 2.7 in February 2009 we had automatic upgrades available for all future upgrades. (Not Automattic). So we can login to the admin Dashboard and see immediately when we have to upgrade WordPress itself, or any of our plugins.
A word to the wise is appropriate here. Please resist the urge to upgrade everything immediately when you see the notices that you can upgrade. Be sure your backup is rock solid before you start upgrading anything. You can check my backup routine or of course use your own but make sure you can restore the entire site if something goes terribly wrong during your upgrade.
To execute an automatic upgrade with WordPress or any of the plugins that support automatic upgrade, you will be challenged for login credentials like this:
And following a successful upgrade, you will be rewarded with this screen… note this does not mean your new files will work. This just means that the upgrade process appeared to have completed successfully. Immediately after any upgrade, I check to make sure my plugins are all playing properly together. But that’s another story. Cheers -
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