[wp-hackers] Re: 2.0.10 and 2.1.3 Release Candidates

[Robin Adrianse]

Yes, it's technically possible. Simple Machines forum software does this
quite well, but you need to either use the FTP functions bundled with PHP,
or get the user to chmod a+w all the WordPress files, which is a huge
security issue. Or just get the user to go to WordPress.com...

On 4/1/07, Scot Hacker <shacker at birdhouse.org> wrote:
>
> From: "Robin Adrianse" <robin.adr at gmail.com>
>
> > Personally, I don't know how upgrading could be easier... you just
> > upload
> > the new files over the old files, and run wp-admin/upgrade.php.
>
> > You can avoid this altogether by using SVN, and switch'ing to the
> > new branch
> > when a major release comes out.
>
> Easy in principle. In reality, few users have svn access. And believe
> it or not, most people (yes, most) are intimidated / confused by
> FTP.  And if you take a look at the public upgrade instructions:
>
> http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress
>
> your average user is understandably intimidated. Especially when you
> factor in the instructions that people should deactivate all plugins
> and then re-activate them one by one. And that they back up their
> database before proceeding. I've never followed these steps, and have
> never had things break, but people do take the instructions at face
> value, which means the process is a *lot* more involved for them than
> it probably needs to be.
>
> People are afraid they're going to break something, or don't have the
> time or skills to go through all the steps. I actually had what I
> thought was a very internet-savvy user confess that he had not
> upgraded from 1.2.x or something because the instructions made it
> seem like if he didn't do everything exactly right he'd break his blog.
>
> ... Or we could have a one-click option in Dashboard that would
> require no skills or time to operate. A lot of people out there are
> spending 30 fearful minutes upgrading WP, when it could be 30 seconds.
>
> The downside is that inevitably, an automatic upgrader is going to
> break a few blogs with unexpected configurations, and there's going
> to be heat from that. Still, I think it would be better than the
> current situation, which is that people aren't even trying to upgrade
> because it seems too complicated.
>
> ./s
>
>
>
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