I love WordPress, not just because it is free (everybody loves freebies, don’t you?), but because it is a great software that produce beautiful websites. However, I gets scared whenever there is need to upgrade to a newer version. I often experience WordPress Upgrade Headache! 

I was complaining that the frequent release of new versions is getting me frustrated. But the tech guys advised that it is for my own good. Well, I have swallowed that, but then the upgrade has never been smooth and it seems the WordPress team are not doing anything about it. I don’t mean to be ungrateful, afterall, I am not paying for their service, but then, there are too many users having problem with upgrading.

Since I started using WordPress in March 2008, I have done at least 4 upgrades. Each had a different story. Some were smooth, some had hitches, while one totally broke my site. Well, this morning, I decided to upgrade to the new WordPress 2.6.1 from my WordPress 2.6. I had been ignoring the warning on the admin dashboard that I needed to upgrade for about a week now, but after reading Glitch post, Automatic Upgrade to Wordpress 2.6.1, I took courage to upgrade using the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade Plugin (commonly refer to as WPAU plugin).

Well, things did not go smoothly as I expected. After backing up my files and downloading them, the plugin hit a wall and produced an error message. I was advised to check the log and this was the ugly message I got;

Task Name: maintmode
Task Description: Puts the site into maintenance mode
Task Status: Failed

Well this is not my first time of having trouble with upgrade, so I started searching for solution. Someone in a forum here suggested that I should search my WordPress installation folder for “index.php.wpau.bak” file and delete it as it may be the culprit.

Well, I used an FTP software, SmartFTP (it is free) and checked the installation folder. I discovered that the file was there and it was months old. So I deleted it and tried WPAU again. Well it worked but at the end of the whole process, I received a confusing statement. Your upgrade has been successful, and then a lot of error messages:

Congratulations!!! Your Wordpresss installation has been upgraded.

.blah

.blah

Copying over files from xxx/public_html//wpau-backup/wordpress/wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs to /home/naijaeca/public_html/wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs
ERROR -> Could not copy xxx/public_html//wpau-backup/wordpress/wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/wp-langs.phpto xxx/public_html/wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/

blah, blah, blah

What do you make out of that? An upgrade is supposed to be SUCCESSFUL or NOT SUCCESSFUL! This experience has only further increase my fear of upgrading my WordPress websites. Now I understand why some WordPress users are still using old versions of WordPress ( I have a friend that has refused to change from WordPress 2.3.3). Well, I have upgraded, but I am still checking to see if anything is broken. Please, if you notice any strange behavior on the site, give me a shout (thanks in advance).  

I really wish the WordPress Team will do something like providing an automated script for upgrading from one version of WordPress to a newer version. That will stop the Upgrade Headaches users currently experience. Please, don’t misunderstand me, the WPAU Plugin does a great job of automating the upgrade process (and I highly recommend it), but then, sometimes, it produce some weird result and you begin to wonder if it were not better trying to upgrade manually (that is the one I dread the most). 

Please, do share your experience in the comments section, someone may learn a trick from it. If you think the post useful, give it a STUMBLE, DIGG, etc. Bookmark it! Thanks for visiting.

8 Comments on WordPress 2.6.0 to 2.6.1 another Upgrade Headache!

glitch on Mon, 18th Aug 2008 1:51 pm


I’m sad that happened to you. I agree that wordpress should come up to automatic upgrade on our admin panel. Some uses FTP and some are not. I don’t. My other blog is hosted by Bluehost and ebooktechie is hosted by GoDaddy (my research project). Anyway, I didn’t use any FTP on both sites and installed the automatic upgrade plugin on these blogs. They did worked just fine.
And, I used to upgrading my wp version manually, this is my first time to upgrade it with a plugin.
I hope everything is fine. I didn’t noticed any strage in your site.
Thanks for the link.

luz on Mon, 18th Aug 2008 8:31 pm


Sorry that you had trouble. The first time I had trouble was due to inexperience the second time was because I used WPAU. I don’t trust the plugin. Not to mention that you have to give the plugin your admin information for your FTP and blog. Sure, the programmers say this info is safe, but how do we know that they or any other hacker hasn’t found a way to retrieve and misuse the information saved by that plugin. I am a little wary about handing over the keys to my blog so easily.

luzs last blog post..Hard Water, Shampoo, Conditioner, Styling Products & Your Hair

kontan on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 3:41 am


Having trouble with auto upgrade. One site was no issue at all, the other took a little work and the most recent is being a pain. I don’t have time to deal with it so will have to manually take care of the rest later. Not fun.

Oluniyi David Ajao on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 7:30 am


If your WordPress is installed via Fantastico (inside CPanel), you shouldn’t have a problem upgrading from time to time. Frankly, upgrading is for your own good.

Security holes are plugged in upgrades, bugs are fixed and new features are introduced. None of these are worth over-looking. Leaving your WordPress un-upgraded makes it VERY vulnerable to hackers. A word is enough for the wise.

Oluniyi David Ajao on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 7:33 am


WordPress blog software updated too often…

Wordpress. Security update. All the time. Reminds one of Microsoft.
Well, the latest security update is Wordpress 2.1.3 and 2.0.10, depending on which version you are using.
Wordpress.org says,
We are also now aggressively monitoring all downloads for …

Margaret on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 6:26 pm


Since installing one click plug in, I never ftp a plug-in for any of my wordpress blogs.

I’ve upgraded all 3 to 2.6.1 now with no problems whatsoever. Not so when I upgraded my 2.2 to 2.5 not too long ago — WOW! Was that ever a painful one. These last two, though have been very smooth.

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Margarets last blog post..Batten Down the Hatches!

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