WordPress 2.7 comes with an auto-upgrade feature, which makes upgrading much easier but is not without it’s potential problems. So far, I have come across three issues that seem to be the ones most frequently encountered.
The three issues are related to losing theme customizations, the upgrade won’t occur because of a plugin incompatibility, and lack of core support from your webhost.
Loss of Customized Theme
I started hearing reports of a loss of theme customizations after people used the auto-upgrade to 2.7.1 At first, this didn’t make sense to me because I couldn’t see how an upgrade would affect the theme files. I realized that my opinion was biased because I always manually upgrade and don’t touch the wp-content file, which contains the theme and plugin files.
It seems that more than a couple of users have customized the default WordPress theme and have not renamed it. The auto-upgrade feature will replace the default theme and the customizations will be overwritten. If you do use auto-upgrade, make sure that you backup all of your files and your database first (as always). Additionally, if you have customized the default theme, give it a new name so future upgrades don’t touch the files. This issue has been discussed in the WordPress forums.
Upgrade and Nothing Happens
If you click the auto-upgrade button and nothing happens there is probably a compatibility issue with the WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin. Deactivating the plugin may not be enough – you may also need to completely delete it from your plugin directory. Once the plugin is deleted, the auto-upgrade works as expected. This doesn’t resolve issues for everyone but this has worked for a lot of people that used this solution. The issue has been documented and is a sticky thread in the WordPress forums.
Upgrade and Get Error After Error
I attempted to use the auto-upgrade on a site I’m building to see what would happen and I got error after error. Most were related to file permissions but I would change the permissions, start again and then get another error. After awhile I just gave up. Changing the file permissions on multiple files to use auto-upgrade was taking longer than a manual upgrade and I would need to change the permissions back when I was done. I have not pinpointed the exact cause of this problem but my best guess is that it is related to the webhost that I am using. WordPress has a list of hosts that support the core update functionality and mine is not on that list. That in itself doesn’t mean anything because they are a small company and maybe no one other than me as tested it but at this point, I can’t determine another reason why it won’t work. I also have not discussed this with my webhost yet. If something like this happens to you, check the compatible host list, and then go ahead and upgrade manually. It may also be a karma issue for me because I am so adamant about not auto anything when it comes to WordPress ;-)
How about you? Are you using the built-in auto-upgrade feature? Have you run into any of the issues listed here? Have you encountered any completely different auto-upgrade problems?
photo credit: gwENvision
Hi Kim – I’ve found I have to mass-disable plugins before doing the auto-upgrade. Then after the upgrade is finished, I mass-enable them. Kind of a pain, but not too bad. I’ve had some issues with my TweetThis plugin lately, not sure why, so I’ve semi-permanently disabled it. Other than that, pretty worry-free.
Betsy Wuebker´s last blog post – ON THE WINGS OF EAGLES
I’ve had the same issue with Tweet This.
Tracy´s last blog post – I am in need of an authority and a niche
Hi Betsy – Interesting. I should try that and see what happens.
The auto-upgrade is supposed to disable and reactivate the plugins.
Maybe there is something keeping it from happening.
Twitter was having trouble yesterday so maybe that affected TweetThis – or has it been having problems since 2.7. I used to use Twitter Tools but
had too many problems with it so I just post my articles manually.
Hi Kim – Perhaps the issue is with Twitter. I’m just going to manually Tweet my posts, but it’s too bad I had to remove the option for readers. I will keep trying to reactivate it but it seems to want to put gobbledy-gook at the beginning of a post. Random, not consistent.
And yes, the auto-upgrade doesn’t seem to be doing the plug-in disable on its own. It’s only a few clicks, so not a big deal to reactivate them.
Betsy Wuebker´s last blog post – ON THE WINGS OF EAGLES
Hi Betsy – Have you tried other Twitter plugins? A lot of people
like Twitter Tools.
No, deactivating the plugins isn’t a big deal – I’m just surprised
the auto-upgrade isn’t doing it consistently.
No, I haven’t tried Twitter Tools, but I may give it a shot. I’m not trusting Tweet This, and I would like to have the option available for readers to tweet my posts. Thanks for the recommendation. :)
Betsy Wuebker´s last blog post – ON THE WINGS OF EAGLES
Thanks for the heads-up, Kim!
Jim´s last blog post – Awareness Test
Hi Jim – Sure thing. I can tell you right now that since we use the same
host that your best bet is to just do a manual upgrade. ;-)
I have suffered first hand the “error after error” issue (from 2.6 to 2.7)! Thank God for backups! In the end I did a manual upgrade and I’m in the process of restoring my posts, themes, etc…I’m still a WP fan though.
So, backup, backup, backup…Lesson learned.
Hi Egberto – I’m sorry you had the problem but I feel better knowing
I’m not the only one. And, yes, always backup!
Well to my surprise i had a very smooth automatic upgrade with the plugin from 2.6 to 2.7 and an equally smooth update from 2.7. to 2.7.1 with the automatic plugin feature. I hadn’t modified the default theme though so i guess anyone with such a thing done they have to do what you said. As for the file permissions you can use a small php script to do the thing very quick (i am guessing you are hosted on Linux). If you are interested i will put up a small post on how to do that.
Very good post Kim!
stratosg´s last blog post – Hosting variables 101
Hi Stratos,
Sure a post would be great! I think there is more to it than permissions
though – I just haven’t taken the time to ask my host about it because
it requires to much patience. I’ll ask my question, they will give a
cryptic response, repeat ;-)
I also have the problem that wordpress wants to load plugins to the wrong folder, so I’m uploading them the old timey way. It is fun, opening the FTP makes me feel very fancy and important.
Sadly, I am not trying to be funny.
Tracy´s last blog post – I am in need of an authority and a niche
Hi Tracy – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with FTP coolness ;-)
I actually like using it and get annoyed when I need to use a different type
of file manager (I’m looking at you godaddy). Even more fun was using
ftp through the command line in DOS, which, actually, probably still works.
Using the automatic upgrade to 2.7.1 erased theme customization for one of my clients. Thankfully we had backup.
I think the most important lesson is one you have always emphasized – always backup first.
Vered – MomGrind´s last blog post – Modern Art: Sometimes I Just Don’t Get It
Hi Vered – Unfortunately, you were part of my inspiration for the article :-)
funny thing with backups is when you keep one you don’t need it and when you need it you don’t have one :D
stratosg´s last blog post – The new theme
LOL – That is SO true. I have a pile of backups and haven’t needed
one in ages.
I haven’t had any issues with the automatic upgrade, but thanks for the heads up incase I run into problems in the future.
Hi Carla – I’m glad it’s working for you :-)
I’m glad you warned me about that problem. I’d noticed that button a few times and been tempted to click it. Now I’m glad that I read this first. I think I would cry if I clicked a button and my customized theme disappeared.
Hi Cath – Just backup first and it will be ok. Plus as long as your customized theme isn’t named default it shouldn’t be a problem.
I would definitely cry and yell and freak out and then calm down and
figure out how to resolve the problem.
It would be great if we could get beyond a fear each time we update that our sites will incur major problems. It’s not just with upgrading WrodPress, but also with plug-ins. So far, I’ve been lucky with only one problem with updating the feature content gallery, but I’ve heard horror stories.
Just another reminder to back everything up.
Gennaro´s last blog post – 8 Best Chocolate Shops In NYC
Hi Gennaro – People avoid upgrading because they are afraid of what
might happen. If you research the important plugins first and make
backups of everything, then anything that does go wrong can be corrected.
Until now I am doing it manually, I did not know it creates problems like this but just being cautious. Now it is clear that I was right, I will wait until it comes with a bug-free aut-upgrade plugin/function, thanks for reminding it.
Chinese Girl´s last blog post – Zhengzhou Travel
Hi – Do you think that a bug free upgrade function will ever exist?
I think there are too many different setups and combinations of
plugins for auto anything to ever work properly.
I face a similar issue but am not sure if it has anything to do with WP 2.7, but the issue cropped up only after moving to WP2.7
Its about auto plugin update. I am using one-click plugin updater to auto upgrade plugins, it was working fine before but now (since 2.7.1) I am having issues wrt file/folder ownership.
Raju´s last blog post – Avira Premium Security Suite – Free License Code
Hi Raju – I’m not sure if it’s caused by the upgrade but it sounds like it.
If you change the file permissions does it work. Though by the time you
do that you can just upgrade the plugin manually.
The only issue I had with it was the second one, but after I deactivated the Auto-Upgrade plug-in it updated to the new version without a hiccup. I actually re-activated the Auto-Upgrade plug-in as I’m not sure of the new WP feature offers auto-upgrade of the various plug-ins as well?
Danny Brown´s last blog post – Demystify Yourself
Hi Danny – Thanks for commenting!
WordPress has a built in plugin upgrade that is separate from the
auto-upgrade of the program. You don’t need the Auto-Upgrade
plugin to upgrade the plugins.
Hi, Kim,
I am not sure will it be possible with wordpress, but I think maybe even manual upgrade should be easier. I guess when we upgrade from 2.7 to 2.71 most probably not all the files need retouching/reuploading so they can simply tell us ” for those who is upgradging from 2.7 to 2.71 change this and that, or replace this and that file”. Unless the database should be altered, this method can be used and save a lot of time and trouble. Am I being too simplistic?
Chinese Girl´s last blog post – Zhengzhou Travel
Hi – The files that have been changed from one version to the next
are recorded in WordPress trac. It’s unintuitive to use it but this page
provides instructions.
http://manwithnoblog.com/2008/12/11/not-another-wordpress-upgrade/
I’ve done this in the past – a security release last fall only changed
three files so I only uploaded those files rather than upgrading
everything.
Thanks for the link, I did not know it is there, just thinking there should be something like that. Personally I think this is a better approach, rather than making back up and re-uploading many things and handling plugins, do not you think this will save more time and effort?
Chinese Girl´s last blog post – Zhengzhou Travel
Hi, Kim, I think you are right, it is not recommended to edit changed files. Following your link I have searched a list of changes from version 2.5.1 to 2.7.1 and found there are lots of changes which might take a lot of time to make those changes , when editing so many codes it is hard to avoid mistakes.
Chinese Girl´s last blog post – Zhengzhou Travel
Hi – I really think it’s best to avoid editing the core files and to find
a theme customization or plugin solution instead.
From 2.5 to 2.7 there would be so many changes that you
might as well upgrade everything. On smaller updates, like 2.7.1
to 2.7.2 it will probably only be a couple of files.
With the number of changes I have done to my theme I am not confident of an auto upgrade. Moreover, I am not sure if I can fix all errors by myself.
I ran through the list of hosts and fortunately I saw mine listed there :)
Ajith Edassery´s last blog post – He who is an ‘MMO blogger’…
Hi Ajith – I’m glad your host is listed! But I do think you will have to
manually upgrade due to all of your customizations. Otherwise the
upgrade will overwrite them.
I have so many customizations in the theme, it would be a nightmare to lose them! Thanks for the warning. :)
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s last blog post – Fetching Friday – Design, Blogging Resources & More
Hi Kristi – If you didn’t modify the default theme you shouldn’t have any
problems. And just back it up first (your database too).
I’m still on 2.6.5 so I’m told i shouldn’t have issues bumping it to 2.7.1. However, I’m waiting for at least one more upgrade to see if these issues were fixed, before I end up right in the middle of it. :)
Dennis Edell´s last blog post – Blog Comment Tip: Add A CommentLuv Link With No Plugin (sneaky!)
Hi Dennis,
Well, waiting can have it’s drawbacks. Some problems are fixed and
new ones appear. Don’t you use fantastico? I think I remember
reading that on Shirley’s site …
I was up until the last upgrade or two when the auto upgrade feature hit. Thanks for reminding me though, I may go back to fantastico.
I’ve never been too too worried about being late. I did it right away once when they was a MAJOR security flaw discovered. The ease of that one was the fact that everyone was posting the downloads for the only two files you really needed to upgrade if you didn’t want to do it fully.
Dennis Edell´s last blog post – Blog Comment Tip: Add A CommentLuv Link With No Plugin (sneaky!)
Hi Dennis – I’m not one to upgrade the moment things come out –
I like to see what other people are saying first. I really like it when
there are only a couple of files to update – I always do it that way
when I can.
Thanks for the information Kim, I will keep these things in minf before upgrading
Hi Madhur – Great! I hope it’s helpful.
Hi Kim. When I first tried the auto upgrade to 2.7.1, it didn’t work, it would just sit there forever and ever. So I ended up upgrading manually, like you did. Then, on the WP forum, I found out I needed php cgiwrap with my host. Since then, automatically upgrading plugins has worked wonderfully and really fast. I am now curious to try the next WordPress core files upgrade, to see what happens!
Palma | Buddha Trance´s last blog post – The Law of Attraction and polarity
Hi Palma – Is that something your host needed to install? I wonder if
I should ask my host about it. I am able to upgrade plugins but
sometimes it is really slow. And now I’m really curious if this will resolve
your auto-upgrade issue. Thanks for the info!
Hi Kim, it was something I just needed to configure, adding some lines to the .htaccess file, as told by my host. The script is already installed on their end. Mine was on the list of hosts you mentioned in your post, with this configuration needed to make it work (Pair Networks). Now the plugins are upgrading flawlessly, so I am assuming that the next auto upgrade will go fine.
It may be worth it for you to ask your host as well, it may just be a configuration issue.
Palma | Buddha Trance´s last blog post – The Law of Attraction and polarity
Hi Palma – Thanks! That’s really helpful.
Kim,
Thanks for the tip. when wordpress released 2.7.1. I tried doing wordpress auto upgrade. But as your second case says. Same thing happened to me.
I then tried disabling the wordpress automatic upgrade thing. But didn’t help.
Thanks. I will delete that plugin and will do when there is a next release!
Nihar´s last blog post – How to set CapsLock, NumLock and ScrollLock Keys On/Off using Windows Registry Tweak
Hi Nihar – I know that completely deleting the auto upgrade plugin worked for quite a few people.
I never had any issue with the auto upgrade, everything went on smooth. maybe its beacuse I am a plugin minimalist. I use just 15 plugins i guess.
btw, the loss of customization is still there. I will loose the custom comment messages too! (hope you remember that :)
Best,
Arun Basil Lal
Arun Basil Lal´s last blog post – Spy on Conversations with your Mobile Phone
Hi Arun,
That’s right – you will lose your customizations if you use the auto-upgrade – if it were me, I would probably forget that I even had them.
Hi Kim,
When using WP Auto-Upgrade from one version to another, or for any plugins make sure that you have proper file/folder permissions. For an example.
If you are using auto-upgrade for plugins and don’t want to upload that specific plugin via FTP, please make sure that wp-content and plugins directories are set to 0755 or for some servers 0775. This will do the trick and you won’t have any problems whatsoever.
As far as the core upgrade from (i.e.) 2.7 to 2.7.1 do the same for upgrade folder directory.
Cheers,
Emil
Emil´s last blog post – Participants
Hi Emil – I don’t have trouble with the plugins.
I have changed the file permissions of the folders for upgrading. Sometimes that works for people but it doesn’t correct the auto-upgrade problem for me. I have a host that doesn’t work with the core upgrade. I wish the solution was that simple.