Best Practices for Upgrading WordPress
We’re all understandably excited about the latest release of WordPress. There’s a temptation to download the newest version as soon as it becomes available, and upgrade all of our blogs immediately. New is always better, right?
Well, yes and no. The new version of WordPress is undoubtedly an important upgrade, with an impressive array of new features and usability enhancements. On the other hand, if you don’t take care in the upgrade process you might just find yourself regretting the day you jumped on the upgrade bandwagon.
In most cases, upgrading WordPress is a simple and painless process. Occasionally, though, something goes wrong. This video will guide you through the best practices in planning your WordPress upgrade. The goal is to ensure that your upgrade goes smoothly, and that you remain a happy WordPress blogger.
In addition to watching the video, please take a moment to complete our WordPress upgrade survey. We’re interested in hearing about your upgrade plans, and we’re looking for guidance on how best to present training material during this time of transition.
Resources:
- WordPress upgrade survey
- WordPress 2.5 Plugin Compatibility List
- WordPress 2.5 Theme Compatibility List
- Semiologic forum
- Upgrading WordPress Video — Includes backup plugin
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Comments
First of all, thanks for taking the time to put together these videos. They’re very helpful.
I do have an upgrade question, though. When uploading the files for the new version, are there particular files I should NOT let the upgraded files replace? Are there files that, if replaced, will result in resetting my blog to the Hello World default version?
One other thing – I don’t see the link to the MySQL backup video you mentioned in this vid. It’s not a big deal, but you mentioned that you’d place it in the notes here. Just FYI.
@freakengine: Generally speaking you shouldn’t have to worry about overwriting anything when you upgrade WordPress. Your blog content and settings are stored in your MySQL database. Your configuration is stored in /wp-config.php. Your new version of WordPress has a file called wp-config-sample.php, so no worries about over writing your config.
The one caveat would be that you need to take care not to over write your /wp-content/themes/ directory. I’ve seen some FTP clients replace folders when uploading (notably, Transmit on Mac).
Also, re: the MySQL backup plugin. There’s a link to the plugin above the ‘Upgrading WordPress video’, and that same video includes a quick demonstration of how the plugin works.
http://wordpresstraining.com/videos/install-and-configure/upgrading-wordpress/
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@Kirk
You mention the cPanel method of upgrading… do you think that this method is as good as a manual upgrade?
@Keith In some ways cPanel/Fantastico is better because it’s easier to do an upgrade. The downside is that you frequently have to wait several days (and in some cases weeks) for upgrades to show up in Fantastico.
Also, if you’ve installed manually you won’t be able to use cPanel’s automated upgrade system.
The good news is that newer versions of WordPress can run an automated upgrade from the dashboard.
Hi Kirk
I’m regularly updating with cpanel and I mean regularly. With so many security releases of wordpress, I’m glad I chose a host who has cpanel.
Any idea what the split is for upgrading i.e. manual / cpanel / wordpress auto upgrade? It would be interesting to see some figures.
@Keith My only problem with cPanel and Fantastico is that it can take a while for an update to show up. I’m not aware of any numbers on how upgrades are performed, but I would guess that increasingly we’ll see the upgrades performed from within WordPress. The one-click upgrade from the dashboard works very well.
Thanks again for a great post, upgrading wordpress is something I think a lot of webmasters don’t think they need to do
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