[theme-reviewers] Problems with 3.9 requirements

[Bruce Wampler]

Back for another grandfathering request.

Previously, the requirements were that themes not touch the database for
Preview. The new requirement is to not touch the database until the user
actually does something to save settings.

I've tried really really hard to meet this, and it is turning out to be a
major disaster for a significant fraction of my users as they try to update
to the latest version of the theme. I have literally spent 20 or 30 hours
on this problem, and simply cannot reliably skip touching the database when
the admin page is opened.

For unreproducible reasons, about 10% of the time, people are losing all
their previous settings when the update to the newest version that doesn't
touch the database. In previous versions, the theme always would either
create a new settings option in the database, or update existing settings
(somewhat like an update to WP often does for the database).

Given that people do not always update their theme, and that there is also
a Pro version, and that the items in the saved option have changed over
time, there is some incompatibility across versions that is simply breaking
things. My best guess is that there may be some interaction with the
Settings API. Given that it is essentially impossible to reproduce, and
likely has something to do with old and new versions, I just can't find a
solution that doesn't wipe out the settings of some of existing theme users
when updating to the latest version.

I don't anticipate being able to reliably find any solution to this. 90+%
of the time, the update works perfectly, but for some combinations of
previous versions, it breaks. Rather than subjecting that small, but real
percentage of users to losing all their work (some have made backups and
can their work restored, but some haven't), I would like to request an
exception to that requirement. The update process has worked reliably for
several years now, but trying the meet the new requirement is apparently
beyond my ability.


Bruce Wampler
Weaver II theme
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