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WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin

by | Tuesday, 17th Jul 2007 | 1,001 Comments | Share

Update: If you are having issues with upgrading WordPress 2.7 and above, or if WPAU is not displaying a nag to upgrade, we have released a newer version, please read the release post for WordPress Automatic Upgrade 1.2.5.

Update: This plugin apparently does not work well when the webuser and ftp users are different. I have overcome those problems and working on testing the latest version which works fine on all systems including the above ones. I would be releasing a new version later this week which will fix all the bugs that have been reported. Thanks for all your help in making this plugin more stable. Latest version released with all bug fixes. Click here to go to latest version page.I have away for the past couple of works partly due to being busy and partly due to this new plugin that I was developing for WordPress. With help from Ronald Heureca who has helped with automating the plugin I proudly release WordPress Automatic Upgrade.

What is WordPress Automatic Upgrade?

WordPress Automatic Upgrade is a plugin that automatically upgrades your wordpress version to the latest files provided by wordpress.org using the 5 steps provided in the wordpress upgrade instructions.

WPAU as I call it helps you easily upgrading you to easily upgrade your wordpress installation to the latest version provided by wordpress, without having to download or upload any files.

In addition to this it automatically backups your current file and database and provides you with a link to download those. De-activates your plugins and remembers them so that after upgrading files it will re-activate those without you having to make any notes for which plugins you de-activated and the biggest saves you headaches of upgrading your wordpress installation.

Here is what WPAU does;

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.

The plugin can also can be run in a automated mode where in you do not have to click on any links to go to the next step.

FAQ

What is WordPress Automatic Upgrade?

WordPress Automatic Upgrade is a plugin that automatically upgrades your wordpress version to the latest files provided by wordpress.org.

Why use this plugin?

WordPress releases regular updates and security fixes to the software and after sometime makes it mandatory. Every time you have to manually upgrade your wordpress installation. This plugin helps you to upgrade your installation without any efforts. We also ensure you will always download the latest version.

Which version of the wordpress does it upgrade to?

It upgrades to the latest version that wordpress has made available for download.

What is the lowest version from which I can upgrade?

The lowest version of WordPress I have tested this to work is with WordPress 1.5.

Why don’t you provide a option for me to upload the version I want?

Couple of things here. a. You should always upgrade to the latest version provided by WordPress. b. I do not want users to upload files that requires me to do multiple validations. The wordpress files that this plugin downloads is the best one I could use.

Will it remember the plugins that were active?

Yes it will remember the plugins that were active before upgradation and only activate those plugins.

How much bandwidth does the plugin use?

The plugin using about 2-3MB of your bandwidth to download files. You will use more than that in a regular upgrade process.

How long will my files and db backups be available?

This plugin is to be used for a continious process till completion, it provides you with backups which you should download before moving to the next step. If you do not download the backups, at the end of the process you will be given an option to download it. Clicking clean up will delete those backup files.

Where are the files and db backup stored?

The files are db backups are stored in a folder called wpau-backup in the root folder of your site.

Does wordpress automatic upgrade provide a rollback?

No it does not, the function of WPAU is to seamlessly upgrade your versions. Rollback features will be added in future versions.

Installation Instructions

1. Download the wordpress-automatic-upgrade.zip file to your local machine.
2. Unzip the file
3. Upload `wordpress-automatic-upgrade` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
4. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

Usage Instructions

Go to Manage -> Automatic Upgrade and either click on the link provided to run or use the automated version link to let the plugin run in a automated way.

ChangeLog

  • Version 0.1 released Tuesday, July 17th 2007

License

All files and their contents are licensed under the General Public License(GPL).

Support

If you feel this plugin has helped you can leave a small donation towards further plugin development.


Download

Download WordPress Automatic Upgrade v0.1 downloaded times

Please note this plugin is still in beta state and may have bugs. If you find any bugs or want to report any problems you have faced please feel free to leave your comments or you can send me a email at wpplugins@techie-buzz.com

This plugin is a part of the Weblog Tools Collection plugin competition too.

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I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.

Keith Dsouza has written

The author of this post can be contacted at keith@techie-buzz.com

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  1. mike on October 30th, 2007 at 12:05 am #

    Hi,
    Just want to say thanks for the wonderful plugin.i think it works with latest version of wordpress.I am going to install it and see.
    All the best.

  2. Grace on November 5th, 2007 at 2:31 am #

    I have upgraded thanks to the plugin but right after, I could not get email notifications for new comments!!

    Anyone having the same problem?

  3. David Tan on November 6th, 2007 at 7:28 am #

    Makes my post easier way to upgrade wordpress virtually useless :( Anyhow, nice plugin, I love it!

  4. MarcF. on November 11th, 2007 at 11:03 pm #

    Works out fine for me , thanks for sharing this great plugin with us.

  5. Mark. on November 11th, 2007 at 11:04 pm #

    thanks for this great plugin , works like a charm

  6. Will on November 13th, 2007 at 5:18 pm #

    It does not appear the author of this plugin has responded to questions here in over two months, but I will try anyway.

    The plugin does not work for me because I have wordpress installed in its own directory. After starting the plugin in manual mode it tells me it has backed up the db successfully. But when I click to download the file, it can’t find it. Error message:

    “Nothing found for wpau-backup Wpau-db-backupAHFsdca.zip”

    I did use ftp to download it manually. It was there, just not where the plugin was looking for it.

    Because of this I did not continue the backup procedure thinking that there would be further similar errors in the process.

    What do you suggest?

    Thanks!

  7. David on November 14th, 2007 at 9:47 pm #

    Hi there

    I ran the upgrade script a first time, but ran into trouble with, I think, the FTP instructions because I have WordPress’ index.php file in /public_html, not /public_html/wp where the rest of WordPress is installed.

    So I moved index.php from /public_html to /public_html/wp and edited it accordingly (i.e. changing require(‘./wp/wp-blog-header.php’); to require(‘./wp-blog-header.php’); with the plan to simply move it back once the upgrade was completed.

    So I ran the upgrade script a second time, and things went smoothly.

    But then I got to the part of the upgrade that says Congratulations!!! All the files have been upgraded to the latest version. Please CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE FINAL STEP (opens in new window and will show you a upgrade link only if database has to be upgraded) and come back here to reactivate your plugins.

    So I clicked the COMPLETE THE FINAL STEP link and was served up WordPress’ 404 error with this code at the top:

    WordPress database error: [Table 'stereo_wordpress.wp_terms' doesn't exist]
    SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND t.slug = ‘upgradephp’ ORDER BY t.name ASC

    WordPress database error: [Table 'stereo_wordpress.wp_terms' doesn't exist]
    SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND t.slug = ‘upgradephp’ ORDER BY t.name ASC

    WordPress database error: [Table 'stereo_wordpress.wp_term_relationships' doesn't exist]
    SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy ON (wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = wp_term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id) WHERE 1=1 AND wp_term_taxonomy.taxonomy = ‘category’ AND wp_term_taxonomy.term_id IN (’0′) AND post_type = ‘post’ AND (post_status = ‘publish’ OR post_status = ‘future’ OR post_status = ‘draft’ OR post_status = ‘pending’ OR post_status = ‘private’) GROUP BY wp_posts.ID ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10

    I’ve searched far and wide, but cannot find a solution.

    Does this have something to do with the switch from categories to tags? If so, how do I resolve?

    Meanwhile, when I try to access the WP admin page, I get this:

    Warning: main(./wp/wp-blog-header.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/stereo/public_html/wp/wp-admin/index.php on line 4

    Fatal error: main() [function.require]: Failed opening required ‘./wp/wp-blog-header.php’ (include_path=’.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /home/stereo/public_html/wp/wp-admin/index.php on line 4

    I’m assuming that’s because I changed index.php around, but can’t be sure yet.

    Immediate assistance would be much appreciated.

  8. Andrius on December 8th, 2007 at 7:48 pm #

    Thanks a lot for this plugin :P i will be using it in my page (www.tupalm.net), it is one of the most useful plugins I’ve found. Keep going ;) and if you want to read my page :P you will need to use Google Translate >__< because it is in spanish.

    THANKS, KEEP GOING.

  9. Tadd on December 10th, 2007 at 12:04 pm #

    This is probably one of the BEST plugins I’ve used. It’s great. A wonder! Well done!

  10. Anna on December 10th, 2007 at 12:57 pm #

    Hi. I can’t even get to stage 1 because the system won’t take my credentials. I use by user name, my password just like on my ftp server, my ftp host name is my name of the blog (do I need to use ftp b/f the name-tried this too.) As for my worpress docs it seems that they are under /html When the ftp first comes up database, logs, etc are there. I assume that is not wordpress docs. In the html section is htaccess so I thought this is where the wordpress docs are. What am I doing wrong. My server has a linux system and is using apache too. Help! anna http://www.green-talk.com

    • Anna Hackman on December 14th, 2007 at 1:57 am #

      Keith-I realized what is the problem. The little boxes to put in your information are really tiny in my install. In addition, it will only let me put 3 digits of my password when my password is at least 9 digits long. did I get a corrupt install. Does anyone have very small boxes to include their ftp info in? anna http://www.green-talk.com

  11. Roger Knight on December 10th, 2007 at 5:50 pm #

    Astonishingly easy. I have been putting off the upgrade to 2.3.1 as it felt too scary to attempt. Found out about this plugin and took courage in both hands and did the upgrade. It was quick, easy, straightforward and it worked without a hitch. Thank you.

  12. Will on December 14th, 2007 at 6:22 pm #

    Anna – I don’t know specifically about your display problem, but could you change your password to 3 digits just for the upgrade process, then change it back? I don’t know if 3 is too short to be allowed, but you could try.

    I don’t think this plugin is supported any longer. The author has not been here in this comment thread since early September. I hope he is OK, but that is an occasional problem with the internet. If something happens to a person with a presence on the web, they often just disappear without a trace, leaving their fans to wonder what happened.

    This plugin seems to be a miracle for the majority of people, but some of can’t use it without major errors. I don’t think anyone has ever uncovered the source of those errors.

  13. Anna on December 14th, 2007 at 10:14 pm #

    Hi Will-the plug-in does not work in my IE 7 but does in firefox. However, I can’t get past the maintenance intializing part. It fails to initialize the maintenance program. I don’t know how to work around this.

    I did see an earlier comment from an author that he too had the same problem and moved his index.php into his root wp files. I noticed that my index,php file is in 2 different places. One is in root file and a different index.php is where the wp/content, etc files are. Could this be the problem. Plus when the plug-in backs up, the index.php file is blank inside.

    Any suggestion anyone?

    PS Keith, are you okay? You are usually pretty responsive and I am just a little concerned. Even if you don’t have time to help us, can you at least tell you are okay and busy? anna http://www.green-talk.com

  14. Keith Dsouza on December 15th, 2007 at 1:25 pm #

    Hey people I am here and alive and doing good too. The problem is that I have hit a block with the issue Anna has and have been quite busy to really sit and look at it. But nevertheless I will be definitely solving this issue as many users are facing it.

  15. Will on December 16th, 2007 at 6:00 pm #

    Well that is great that Keith is alive and well! I don’t know about Anna’s display issue, but the problem I have is the one that Keith posted about in another thread on this plugin. He had acknowledged that the plugin crashes on a certain number of installations, but there has been no conclusion why this is. I can’t find that post now, but if I do, I’ll link to it here. hopefully it will eventually get resolved. This plugin is so highly praised by those who it works for, the rest of us are really jealous!

  16. John on December 24th, 2007 at 6:43 pm #

    Nice, it worked with no problems. Thanks so much.

  17. Anna on December 25th, 2007 at 12:42 pm #

    Hi everyone. Happy holidays. I figured out what was the problem with my site being unable to get past the maintenance mode. I had to get my server to give me permission. I talked to my host (aiso.net-who is the best and solar too!) and he did something and voila, it worked like a dream!

    One thing I want to warn everyone about is you lose alot of your incoming links because WP changed the way it brings in links. All your links from technorati disappear and you have to get a plug-in to bring them back in. So, don’t panic when you don’t see the links.

    This is an amazing plug-in, Keith!

  18. colbert on December 30th, 2007 at 3:05 am #

    I just upgraded to WP 2.3.2 – works like a charm. Thanks!

  19. Manu on January 1st, 2008 at 1:32 pm #

    I’ve tried upgrading my WordPress installation with almost all previous versions of WPAU, but have not succeeded. After specifying my FTP details, clicking “Let’s Go” a;; I get is thew WordPress dashboard followed by a blank page.

    To fix this, I’ve tried different browsers, disabling all extension, and even trying out the upgarde from some other compute,m but it just desn’t work.

    Everybody seems to be having no problems using it, so surely the problem is at my end. Would really appreciate any help.

    • Will on January 4th, 2008 at 6:37 pm #

      Manu – Don’t feel lonely. The plugin does not work for some of us. I have never been able to figure out why in my case, although I am pretty sure it is related to having WordPress installed in its own subdirectory off root. I have communicated with several others with the same kind of install where it does not work. We are in the minority, though. The author of the plugin tried to track down the problem several months ago, but was not successful. So for now at least we can do it the manual way even if it is a pain in the#&*@!

      • Manu on April 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm #

        I finally got the plugin to work on my blog, guess what the problem was??? I was using PHP4, the minute I upgraded to PHP5, it started working, hopefully will work for others also.

  20. Tish on January 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm #

    Wow. That was incredibly easy. Thank you!

  21. Geoff on January 3rd, 2008 at 8:40 am #

    Many thanks for excellent plugin – worked well on first three sites I look after Some confusion at end when reinstalling plugins and updating database. But nothing serious

  22. Ken on January 18th, 2008 at 1:45 am #

    Hi, I tried to use it to upgrade my wordpress but it has this error:

    “Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.”

    Therefore the process could not complete near the “Maintenance mode” stage.
    Based on the comments, it proved to be a great help to many bloggers but unfortunately not me.

    Thanks a lot for this great plugin though.
    Ken

  23. Bong (JB) on January 21st, 2008 at 1:24 am #

    I was just about to upgrade to 2.3.2 when it struck me that somebody must’ve wrote a plugin on it. So here I am. Thanks.

  24. fra on January 21st, 2008 at 7:52 am #

    i wanted to thank you for great job i am using it and i am very happy with it but my question is…are you going to leave us by ourself? I mean are you going to support your plugin with other versions or not?
    i hope you do!

    • Will on January 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm #

      @fra: Keith did pop in on Dec 15th after an absense since mid September, to say he was alive and well, just busy with other things.

      There is an increasing number of people who can’t use the plugin because the process fails along the way. Keith has been unable to fix the issues and the plugin does seem to work for most people. So I think we are stuck with what we have.

      Remember that WordPress plugins are not a profit center for the authors. Generally they write them because they enjoy doing it or needed some functionality for themselves that was not already in place. They are then made available to the rest of us to try and use. So we really can’t complain if a plugin does not work for all of us or if it is not readily supported.

      Having said that, I stick around this thread because I hope that eventually a fix or new version will come around that enables me to use it. Upgrading WP is an incredible pain in the **&&% the manual way.

      The developers of WP really need to make upgrading smooth and easy. But they seem to think things are fine the way they are. Complaints in the WP support forums about the difficult upgrade process are generally met with the suggestion that if you can’t do it quickly the manual “Codex” way you are technically hopeless and belong on WordPress . com.

  25. fra on January 21st, 2008 at 7:53 am #

    I said so because the next wordpress release namely 2.5 is round the corner…

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