[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37301: A way to test plugin/theme installs and updates before applying

[WordPress Trac]

#37301: A way to test plugin/theme installs and updates before applying
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 Reporter:  Zuige            |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Plugins          |     Version:  4.4.3
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                   |     Focuses:  ui, administration
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Comment (by Zuige):

 Replying to [comment:6 jdgrimes]:
 > I have been thinking about something like this for a while now. What I
 was thinking though was that rather than the user manually testing, each
 plugin would just include a suite of tests that WordPress would run
 automatically in the background each time it detected a new update. So the
 update would be hidden if it wasn't compatible, or the user would be given
 a warning message if they attempted to update. If the tests passed, the
 user would just see the update as they normally do and just has to click
 update to install.
 >
 > However, until plugins adopted this and started shipping automated tests
 with the source, manually checking by the user would still be necessary, I
 guess.

 My company [https://seravo.com] has been doing automated update testing
 for up to thousands of wordpress sites for the last 2 years very
 succesfully. Automated updates are definitely the way of the future. The
 key to making them possible is using sandboxed environments, which only
 the best hosting providers have. Even less have testing tools like
 PhantomJS or testing suites available.

 I would like to bring a sandboxing feature to WordPress core, so we could
 have non-hosting providers do the automated testing side of things as a
 service for even the cheapest hosts (on which still the majority of
 WordPress sites run). Acceptance update testing for WordPress could well
 be the next big business opportunity.

 Even as is, the sandbox feature shown possible in the WP Safe Updates
 plugin would be immensely useful for those sites that don't have access to
 on-demand staging environments.

 > If you start working on a feature project @Zuige, let me know. I'd be
 interested in participating. I think automatic update verification is the
 future of the web.

 Please do participate. The development of this feature plugin is and
 always will be open source. Your contribution would be more than welcome!

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37301#comment:8>
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