[wp-hackers] Wordpress minor versions changing things for no reason, why?

[Jared Bangs]

On 10/11/07, Mike Purvis <mike at uwmike.com> wrote:
>
>
> I'm not a frequent participant on this mailing list, but I'm
> frustrated once again that the WP 2.3 release has broken my plugin:
>
> http://uwmike.com/wordpress/wp-cats/
>
> This is not a popular plugin, I'd guess it has only maybe a few
> hundred active users. Yet out comes WP 2.3, and I've got an inbox of
> emails from users annoyed that it's broken again, and by another
> Wordpress release that doesn't seem to justify itself with any
> significant new features or improvements.
>
> I realise that ajax enhancements depend on things like markup
> structure which is impossible to set in stone, but I wish the devs
> could at least make an *effort* to not make trivial changes that might
> break this kind of functionality.
> ...

Sorry for being confrontational; but perhaps a core dev or someone
> could link me to a page explaining any processes or policies regarding
> these things?
>
> Mike


Well, there's this page on the codex [1]. It's more of a general warning
directed towards users that some plugins may not be compatible after an
upgrade, and, while I realize that's not really what you were looking for,
you (as a plugin author) could take it to mean that the "official" policy is
that plugin authors need to keep up with the WP development if they don't
want their plugins to break.

My best advice would be to follow WP development as closely as you can, and
(if time permits) either fix the plugins prior to the WP release or at least
put a notice up that advises users of the upcoming incompatibility.

Subscribing to this list is a big help in keeping up to speed with changes.
I'd also recommend running a test instance out of the SVN trunk that you
could to a quick update on as often as you like, so that you have a heads up
as soon as a breaking change gets into the code base. In most cases this
will be at least a month prior to that code being released, so it gives you
some time to fix it.

I don't mean for that to sound insensitive and/or not helpful, but I'm not
really sure what other options there are that would allow the project to
make progress at a healthy pace.

[1]
http://codex.wordpress.org/Managing_Plugins#Upgrading_WordPress_May_Break_Plugins