[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #44118: WordPress performs some unnecessary plugin update checks

[WordPress Trac]

#44118: WordPress performs some unnecessary plugin update checks
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 Reporter:  siliconforks  |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Plugins       |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 In the function `wp_update_plugins()`, it seems clear that the intent is
 not to check for updates if there has already been an update check
 recently (e.g., on the wp-admin/plugins.php page, "recently" means within
 the last hour).  However, in some cases it will check for updates anyway
 because of subtle issues in the implementation.

 The easiest way to reproduce the issue is to install the
 [https://wordpress.org/plugins/query-monitor/ Query Monitor] plugin (to
 view HTTP requests) and then perform the following steps:

 1. Visit the admin section "Updates" page (wp-admin/update-core.php).
 Look at Query Monitor's "HTTP API Calls" - you should see a call to
 https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/update-check/1.1/ to check for plugin
 updates.  (You might also see additional HTTP API calls for theme and core
 update checks.) Note: if you don't see the plugin update check, it's
 possible that there was already a check for updates in the last minute -
 update-core.php is supposed to check for updates no more than once per
 minute.  Try waiting a minute and reloading the page.

 2. Once you have seen the plugin update check being made, visit the
 "Plugins" page (wp-admin/plugins.php).  Look at "HTTP API Calls" - you
 will see another plugin update check being made.  This doesn't make much
 sense, because WordPress just checked for plugin updates on the update-
 core.php page.

 3. Note that the additional update check in only occurs once.  Try
 reloading the plugins.php page and look at "HTTP API Calls" again - this
 time there will be no plugin update check (which is the expected behavior,
 since WordPress just checked for plugin updates).

 Looking at the code for `wp_update_plugins()`, it seems that the
 `update_plugins` transient is sometimes stored with a `checked` property,
 sometimes not.  This doesn't make sense to me - when the `checked`
 property is not stored in the transient, the next call to
 `wp_update_plugins()` will always check for updates regardless of how
 recently the last update check occurred.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/44118>
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